For my Wife’s Birthday this year she had one simple request. No party, no meal, no gift, instead she wanted to spend the day helping out The British Hen Welfare Trust again on one of their re-homing days. So, I went along to lend a hand and see what goes on.
Several times a month hundreds of hens used for commercial use essentially come to the end of their shelf life as they are not laying enough eggs a day to satisfy supply and demand so, The British Hen Welfare Trust steps in and takes all the hen’s rather than them go to slaughter!
The hens are then delivered to various farms across the UK where dozens of new owners will arrive to rescue the feathered ladies and whisk them off to their new homes where they will have plenty of room to stretch legs and spread their wings.
The charity has so far rescued 312,025 hens and have had a helping hand from patrons such as Jamie Oliver, Antony Worrall Tompson, Harbour & Jones, The Dutchess of Richmond, Amanda Holden, Pam Ayres, Julia Kendell, Phillipa Forrester, Jimmy Doherty and Antony Cotton.
This re-homing day was held at Julie’s farm house in Oswestry, Shropshire along a team of volunteers.
The British Hen Welfare Trust (formerly the Battery Hen Welfare Trust) is a national charity that re-homes commercial laying hens, educates the public about how they can make a difference to hen welfare, and encourages support for the British egg industry. Its ultimate aim is to see consumers and food manufacturers buying only UK produced free range eggs, resulting in a strong British egg industry where all commercial laying hens enjoy a good quality life.
I think this is such an amazing trust, those poor hens mistreated like that. Well done for saving so many chicks x