Hen Rehomers UK

Next Rescue - 6th June

2009-05-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hen Rehomers UK will be rehoming hens on 6th - 7th June 2009. If you are interested in offering a loving, permanent home to some ex-battery hens, please check out our website www.henrehomers.net.

There is an application form on there which would require completing. We ask a minimum donation of £1.50 per hen.

We have a network of co-ordinators throughout the country, a fantastic group of volunteers who come together to rehome ex-battery hens.

If you would like to be a volunteer - either to help with the rescue, to help with fund-raising, help putting posters up in pet shops, feed merchants, vets, etc., please contact us.

THANK YOU!

A Huge Thank You!!

2009-01-28T03:42:00.000-08:00

A huge thank you to everyone involved in the rehoming of over 2,000 hens on Saturday 24th January 2009.

Our thanks to farmer for allowing us to rehome the hens, to the farm team, drivers, regional co-ordinators, admin team and, finally, but by no means least the lovely rehomers who have offered these hens a home.

Next rescue pencilled in for March 2009.

Coming Soon!!

2009-01-13T03:31:00.000-08:00

Our next rescue is due to take place on 24th January 2009. Over 2,000 hens will be going on to new homes.

The waiting list will close in the next few days, so if anyone still interested in rehoming you had better complete the application form on the adopting hens section of www.henrehomers.net - and quick!!!!

R.I.P. Ginny

2008-10-08T00:19:00.000-07:00

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Little Ginny featured below in one of our stories has passed away - after only three months of freedom.

These little ladies wrap themselves around our hearts and everyone at HR-UK are thinking of 'Pup', Ginny's caring owner, at this time.

Chickens aren't Stupid!

2008-09-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Wendy and Spencer write:

Our friends are happy to share their names with our hens, but this has led to moments of confusion in the past.

When we have phoned friends up and told them that Brenda's dead, we have had shocked replies of "Oh no, Brenda's died"? We then have to explain to them that it is Brenda the hen.

Nonetheless, before passing away the hens live in a much healthier (and happy) state than the one they were found in.

Our hens - Hilary, Mandy, Marion, Janice, Gladys, Makayla, Maureen, Lisa and Helen are very happy hens.

People think chickens are stupid, but you can train them. They are clever, friendly and funny. We believe that if you can care for a rabbit, then you can care for a chicken.

It was with this in mind that we set up our own popular internet forum to share advice on keeping chickens to prospective re-homers. Our website is www.ex-battery-hens.com. There is a caring community of people who regularly use the site - they range from people just starting to look into keeping hens and researching into it, all the way through to people who are more experienced and have kept ex-battery hens for years.

We are both actively involved with NLHR and at the last rescue, as well as taking the hens out of their cages, we helped with the transportation and re-homing of some of the 1700 hens concerned. One of those turned out to be a cockerel, which had gone un-noticed!

It is gratifying for us to know that these hens are now with loving families who care about them.

Darrell's Love of Hens

2008-09-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

Jeanette writes:

I've included some some photo's of the girls from the same rescue as Claire (Cardiff). We met her in the shed, we were the mad ones putting the girls in boxes for people. I will never forget the sight of these poor girls, the only thing that stopped me crying when I saw them all was the fact we were so busy.

Our Maggie, Agnes, Jemima and Gladys are doing very well now, 6 weeks later. Also in some photos are Florrie and Woody, two hens rescued last November.

I had wanted chickens for years but hubby Steve always gave an adamant 'NO'. That is until he saw how enamoured our Darrell was by a friends hens. Two weeks later he had hand built a coop and we had our own hens a few weeks after.

Darrell passed away in February, aged 16, after a lifelong terminal illness. But in his short life he achieved much. He helped with fundraising for Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and local charities.

Most important to him was the plight of these poor chickens. He had me put the posters all over the kitchen and used to tell all his nurses and carers how dreadful their lives were. He used to get everyone watching the CIWF videos too. He adored his chickens and when too ill to be out of bed any more they could often be found in his room and on his bed. His chicken, Brownie, passed away peacefully a couple of months after he did, but thanks to him she had 8mths of freedom and a lovely life.

Chickens are the most wonderful loyal pets. I do not think we will ever be without chickens now.

The story of Naked Dave

2008-09-06T05:58:00.001-07:00

Ness writes:

Through NLHR I adopted 7 hens at the end of July. I wanted 3 for me, and I gave 4 to my neighbour who already had some hens, he had been wanting to get some ex-bats for a while. When we collected them, most of them were in a good condition - there were a couple who looked a little scraggly, but most of them looked okay. We gave our neighbour the 4 hens in the best condition, and kept the three scragggiest for ourselves - we figured as he already had hens, it would be a little easier to integrate the new girls if they were in good condition.

Everyone needs a Henny Penny in their life, so we called our largest and healthiest girl Henny Penny, she only had three baldy patches so was in good shape. The next hen was a little ugly and had big baldy patches all over, I called her Muriel. The last hen was in a real state. She was completely oven-ready, and it was so pitiful to see. She was absolutely tiny compared to the other hens and was so skinny and scrawny. My husband felt a real bond with her instantly, so he asked to name her. Unbeknownst to me, he has always wanted to have a pet called Dave. Thus, Naked Dave was christened, and even today they have a special bond and she will always come up for a scratch from my hubby whenever he is in the vicinity.

Our 3 girls were all put into their new coop and there was a bit of scrapping and fighting going in, which we knew was normal for the settling in period. 5 days later, I came downstairs one morning to find the run completely tipped over, water feed and grit containers thrown all around, and blood all over the place. I panicked, thinking something had gotten in to my girls, but after close inspection I found that poor Naked Dave was being picked on by Henny Penny, and she had ripped her toenail off! Muriel was also being pecked and bullied, so we made the decision to seperate them for a while. Henny Penny was moved out to her very own penthouse apartment, and the other two scraggly girls were left in peace to enjoy their condo. It's been a month since we seperated them, and they free range together each afternoon and are getting along a lot better, so we're going to try reintroducing them to the same coop this week, fingers crossed they continue to get along well!

Henny Penny's baldy patches filled in quite quickly and she is now fully feathered and proud of her good looks. Muriel has filled in most of her spots, but still has a large patch on her back which needs to feather up. And Dave... wow. Naked Dave started off her life with us completely bald. She then grew little straws all over, that the feathers come out of. At this stage she looked so stubbly and itchy, poor girl! Then the straws darkened, and she had the appearance of little feather dusters all over her body. Now the feathers are almost completely out, and she looks amazing! She has changed so much. I think she still has some filling out to go, but gee she looks great - all these changes in just 5 weeks!!

Muriel and Henny Penny have been laying again for a few weeks now... most days we get 1-2 eggs. Dave has laid us two eggs so far, both have had soft shells, so she's starting to lay again, but I guess it will take her a while to get into the swing of things. I don't care if she never lays again, but it's a good sign that she's starting production again as it means she's healthy enough to do it, wheras before she was so poorly that her body had closed down egg production. All my girls have seperate personalities and are such sweet souls, they are so forgiving after the hell they went through for the first year of their lives.

I take great pleasure in talking about them to all my work colleagues and friends and family, telling them of all their latest adventures - the time Naked Dave went to a party down the road and got so drunk she passed out in the gutter on the way home and wandered in with a hangover the following morning and put herself straight to bed, or the time the three of them got into my strawberry patch and gorged themselves stupid on the strawberries I had been carefully nurturing for a month for a special occassion... and I love, love, love handing out half dozen boxes of eggs with "Eggs laid from our recovering ex-bat hens" written on the box - they really are the most tasty treats with all their corn and organic food and table scraps and free range foraging.

I encourage anyone with the space and time to dedicate to some girls, just go out and get some and bring them home and love them and show them what life is all about. They will grow and change and "normalise" right before your eyes. They have fabulous personalities and it'll make you feel good about yourself every time you look at them!!

Phillis - My Little Disabled Hen

2008-09-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

Mel writes:

In July 2008 I helped out on a local ex battery hen rescue, I wasn't intending on getting any new hens for myself this time, as technically speaking I'm full at the Inn, so with those being the famous last words, I ended up being passed this little hen who had been found lying on her side in the cage, with what looked like a broken leg, we were told she was being stamped on by the other hens, so we put her in our crate, she just laid on her side & was absolutely terrified, so I carried her out of the barn in my arms & placed her in her own cat carrier with some water in the shade, she was quite still but pecked everyone, she was from one of the top tiers so had never really seen people before, as far as she was aware, we weren't there to do her any favours either.

I took her & all the other hens I'd collected for other people back home & placed her on the grass with the others, even though the leg you can see is her "good" leg, her bad one was sticking directly out behind her at an dreadful angle.

I gave her some pain relief Metacam & popped her in the shade under the apple tree to calm down, have some food & for me to think where we go from here with her, if I went within 6 foot of her she shrieked & panicked, but with some gentle persuasion over the Saturday & Sunday she finally let me stroke her head.

My initial thinking was it was broken & she would have to be put to sleep, but for me that was a far better end than the possible alternative.

I took her to my vet on the Monday, but could only see the nurse, she put her through a full range of movement & guessed that it maybe wasn't broken, she revised her pain relief & booked her in to see my Avian specialist vet a few days later after a good rest, we felt the less fiddling the better for now, she was comfortable & eating.

She was starting to use her wings as crutches & was generally speaking content.

Then came her monumental push for up & about & she stood up for the first time, we all burst into tears, it was so moving to see this little girl trying so hard. Her skin was all baggy & didn't really fit properly, but we could soon sort that out with plenty of food, she was starting to bruise up too, so I covered her in Arnica cream.

"D" day at the vets, I was dreading it, thinking the worst as usual, I had become really attached to Phillis already.

My vet compared her little drumsticks & something went crunch, we both looked at each other & I asked what on earth was that, she said the leg had been dislocated & that it was going back in, she sent her for an immediate x-ray to check for breaks & we sat in the waiting room fearing the worst, she didn't need any gas as she was so well behaved & just sat quietly, we were then told no breaks to be had & she could be given her chance at a life, she had some acupuncture & I had to e-mail my vet daily with a report.

She rallied round for quite a few days, enough for me to leave her at home for the first time, she had been coming into work with me. The one day she suddenly just stopped eating, wouldn't touch a thing, her pain was under control with the tablets & her acupuncture, I was at a loss as to why.
My vet was away for a few days, so i had to find another vet who performed acupuncture to see us through, we managed that after phoning every vet i could find, she did do acupuncture, but never on a hen, so she said she would willingly try, Phillis fell straight to sleep again having this done & this bought us some more time until my vet came back to work.

Phillis was getting more & more mobile but still wouldn't eat, I was worried sick for her, to me no animal stops eating without good cause, I was dreading our next vets appointment, I honestly thought she would say the same, what do i know??? nothing apparently as she was amazed at her progress & all her new feathers coming through, but why wouldn't she eat? I had been tube feeding her 3 weeks by this point, she was happy her leg was more mobile, so why? The vet thought that it must have been something to do with her pain relief tablets, so she gave her some different ones, she said to try & wean her off them & gave her another round of acupuncture.

4 weeks on & still she wouldn't eat, I tried everything, well I thought I had, so I contacted an ex battery hen expert who must have seen this problem before. She had indeed & suggested to stop tube feeding her & roll up some mash into balls & popping these in her beak, eventually she should try these if I left her with them in her bowl, I stopped the pain relief tablets at the same time & fed her these food balls for quite a few days. I had e-mail updates going to my vet & now other e-mails now going to her ex batt support team.

I honestly felt I was letting her down in some way with lack of knowledge, but wasn't prepared to give up on her.

Then one day she was watching my other girls eating their breakfast from the safety of her little pen with their area & she just started to eat for herself, I cannot express what a relief this was for me, I'd been tube feeding her using a lambs oesophageal feeding tube directly into her crop for about 4-5 weeks which was quite stressful & really quite invasive, but it had kept her alive. My vet also thought there were probably some psychological issues going on with her lack of interaction with the other hens, but it was probably also due to her pain relief tablets upsetting her digestive tract, but she'd needed these to get her through, it was a difficult one to balance as she was more lame without the tablets, but would eat for herself again.

Well, we are roughly 7 weeks after her rescue, she is still eating, she is still lame & will possibly always have some level of lameness, I'm hoping that one day she can run in with my other ex batts, but there is no hurry for that, at the moment we are teaching her how to use her ramp to get up to bed & down again, she is doing brilliant at this & can certainly make it all the way down, she had been living in the house quite a bit so this was all new to her.

All in all I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for her & plan her future, she is nearly fully feathered & is a beautiful little girl with a huge personality. I'll never know what caused her leg to dislocate or how long it had been like that, but she is doing great & it has been really quite humbling to help her through her recovery, it's all been down to her grit & determination & long let it continue.

2 weeks ago

Yesterday September 5th 2008

Ginny's Story

2008-09-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

'Pup' writes:

It was a very warm afternoon when my hubby and I turned up at the rendezvous point to collect 200 hens direct from their cages to go on down to new homes across the South West. We unloaded the first 100 and hubby set off home whilst we loaded the next 100 into my truck. These hens were generally in fairly good condition - a bit bald, and a few with cuts and bruises, but I suddenly noticed huddled down in the corner a tiny naked little hen. This was my first meeting with Ginny.

She was from one of the top row cages, and had clearly been the bottom of the pecking order. She was totally traumatised. Near to other hens she just huddled into a small ball and shivered. Totally naked with just a few feathers on her head, and every bone showing she was clearly close to the end.

She was popped into an individual carrier for the trip home, and then into the "hospital" pen with a couple of other hens when we unloaded and assessed the birds.

Ginny weighed just 438g, an average hybrid of her type would be expected to weigh in at 1.5-2.5kg. As she was so very thin and traumatised I decided to keep her in a small broody run, the house area is just 1ftx1.5ft and the run 1.5ftx 2ft. This meant that the environment was similar to that she had known, and the house was small enough that deeply bedded she was snug and warm. I left this run inside the main chicken run so that she could still see her own kind, and she gradually became less and less scared of them as she realised they could not reach her through the wire.

I initially fed her layers mash, with some chick crumb added and over the first couple of weeks moved her onto growers/chick mix. I also gave her poultry drink in her water. She did nothing but eat for 2 weeks, and amazingly she laid an egg a day for the 1st 4 days.

In 2 weeks Ginny doubled her weight to 800g, and moved into a bigger run. By this point I knew it would be a long haul to rehabilitate her, and had lost one of my own hens, so I decided to keep Ginny for my mixed flock. So her new run and house were inside my main flock's range area. By week 3 Ginny had her own little house with a ramp, a covered run with two sides solid to give wind and rain protection, and about 2m square of field to roam in.

She continued to do well and by week 5 had re-feathered and weighed in at 1.6kg. At this stage I took away the fence between her run and the rest of the flock, and apart from a couple of pecks they pretty much accepted her straight away. She still continued to sleep alone but within a week was happily ranging with the others. She now sleeps with them too.

Ginny is a real example of the spirit of these hens. She had such a will to live that she came back from the brink and is now living a great life running free with other hens, and even has a boyfriend. She still isn't laying again, but I'm sure she will when her feathers are all regrown, but if she doesn't, well never mind, she will still have a nice life.

Welcome

2008-09-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

A warm welcome to the North London Hen Rescue Blog. The main aim of this blog is to share photographs and stories about hens re-homed via North London Hen Rescue.

In addition, any fund-raising events to raise funds for NLHR will be advertised here.

Little Welsh Hens

2008-09-03T04:40:00.000-07:00

Claire Morgan, from Cardiff, writes:

How It All Started For Me

My first experience of ex batts was when I picked up four hens from BHWT in Camarthen in June 2007. I had never kept hens before, or ever had anything to do with them – I just had always felt quite strongly about battery farming and wanted to help somehow. I had a really supportive boyfriend who encouraged me and built me a run and a coop.

Their first home was an old dog kennel – slightly adapted with a ramp etc and a small section of my garden. They were pretty pathetic when I first got them and one was badly lame, but they settled down really quickly and laid me their first egg on the journey back to Cardiff. They quickly settled into a routine, got on well with my dog and cat and generally were an absolute delight.

Two died after a year and when I heard that the North London Hen Rescue was organising a rescue earlier this year, I decided to get in touch. It turned out that Carly needed help with transport, so my boyfriend and I said we would pick up as many as we could from the drop off point in Bristol, and transport them to Cardiff to the Co-ordinator there.

The NLHR rescue happened during one of the few hot spells we had this summer. I will never forget the sight of those hens - I have never been so moved by the plight of an animal before. I brought five home to live with my remaining two ex batts. There were a couple of skirmishes over the first few days between them, but they have soon settled down. I get between 2 and 5 eggs a day.

They were very nervous when I first got them and didn’t come out of the shed for two days. It was so moving to see them in the shed, scratching about in the sawdust, stretching their wings and generally starting to behave as chickens should. They soon found the courage to leave the shed and wander around the garden. They quickly recognised my own cat and dog and got used to them. I’ve had them a couple of months now and they run up to the gate when they hear me get home from work, they chat to me, peck my toenail varnish (!) line up when they realise I’m digging the garden (because they know I will throw any worms I find, over the fence for them).

They are all so different – Mrs Cluckers couldn’t stretch her neck out properly for the first month (I think it was where she had been squashed for so long in the cage in the battery farm) – but she can now! Miss Farnsworth screeches all day (in delight at hearing her own voice I think). Petal is happy to be stroked and cuddled.

The Pros of Keeping Ex-Battery Hens

To take on an ex battery hen is to watch a defenceless and vulnerable creature who has never had the opportunity to do ‘hen’ things before, turn into a laughable, lovable bundle of feathers, who will happily lay you an egg for your breakfast, in return for a bit of open space, a chance to rub her feathers in the dust and the opportunity to eat and drink without having to fight for every scrap.

To watch them all leap out of the shed in the morning, full of beans for the new day, to watch them scramble over each other to get to the gate to see you when you come home from work, to see how quickly they realise that they can be hens and do ‘hen’ things, is such a joy. To take on an ex battery hen is to show compassion and love for a creature which has never before experienced any kindness whatsoever from a human being.

It makes you feel so good about yourself.

The Cons of Keeping Hens (regardless of whether they are ex-batt or not)

You have to pick up their poo at least once a day (twice is best). Like any small animal, their house needs cleaning out weekly. You must lock them in at night to keep them safe from predators. The run gets messy in the rain and turns into a sea of mud (unless you have a posh, smart, covered run.