Little Hen Rescue

  At the weekend we volunteered at Little Hen Rescue, who are at littlehenrescue.co.uk . This is a brilliant not-for-profit organisation based just south of Norwich which rescues and rehomes thousands of battery hens.
   For some people it might be a sticking point that LHR pay the farmers for the hens but the amount is only about 30p per hen, and for this a life is saved. Volunteers for LHR go to a farm on a rescue weekend and load up a barnful of hens into crates and then drive them back to Little Hen Rescue at Florden. When the girls arrive more volunteers are waiting to unload them as quickly as possible and put them into clean cosy stables with food and water. The following day is rehoming day and adopters arrive by appointment to collect the hens they have requested and take them to their new permanent homes.
  We took the children along to help; I think the hens were somewhat bigger close up than they imagined they were going to be but they did really well and were able to help lift the hens gently out of the crates and put them on the floor of the stable.
  The hens seemed to perk up very quickly- it was the hottest day of the year so far, so we wanted to get them out of the crates as quickly as possible- but they seemed to be coping very well  with it all. Most of the stables had some perches in but by the time we left only one or two hens had ventured on to a perch- even though roosting is such a natural thing for a bird to do, these poor hens have never had the opportunity to do so and have to learn to roost.
  Although many or most people will be adopting hens with a view to eating their eggs, but LHR makes clear that the hens are being adopted as pets for life (altho' they will always take them back should an adopter's circumstances change), and good homes are also found for hens with various health problems and disabilities, many of whom will not be laying eggs at all.
  Little Hen Rescue, founded and run by vegetarian Jo Eglen, is responsible for saving thousands of lives. Last weekend when we went to help unload the hens there were over 650 hens who were due to be slaughtered as they were 'end of lay', who, now, thanks to LHR, are starting new lives as pets.
  If you are interested in helping out on one of the Rescue and Rehoming weekends, knitting a hen sweater, or could give a forever home to some deserving ex-battery hens, then have a look at the LHR website littlehenrescue.co.uk and see what you can do to help.