Press Release RE 11000 hens

Press release sent to;
Fenland Today, Lynn News, Spalding Today, Boston Today, Newark Advertiser

Hello,

I am the Lincolnshire Coordinator for Little Hen Rescue who rescue and rehome ex battery hens when the farmers discard them in favour of younger birds.

These hens are only just over a year old and have spent their life in the space of an A4 sheet of paper in a wire based cage with 4-6 other birds and when they are rescued, they have feathers missing, broken toes, damaged wings, arthritic joints, peritonitis and crush injuries. They are also barbarically debeaked with a hot blade as chicks to supposedly stop them pecking each other but this can cause lifetime deformities. WE DO NOT REHOME ILL BIRDS!

Besides all the negatives, many are healthy birds. The healthy birds will have feathers missing and often long floppy combs as they regulate their body heat through their combs and the battery farms are very hot places.

Rescuing these hens is with the help and agreement of the farmers involved and we couldn't do it without them.

We do have one predicament though of a mammoth scale. We need to rehome 11,000 hens by the 29th June and if we cannot get them all, the rest are destined for slaughter and end up as "mechanically recovered meat" as there is actually so little meat on their bones.

There is such a high interest in rehoming ex battery hens these days, after television programmes by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver but many people do not know where to start regarding getting themselves a few for the garden.

These hens still lay eggs, although their supply does lessen as they age. They can live for many more years. They are fascinating to watch, don't make much noise and the pleasure gained from watching them go from tufty little girls into beautiful well feathered ladies is immense. The first time they look at the sky to see a bird or aeroplane fly past, or walk on grass then gravel and feel the different textures on their feet, it's beautiful to see.

These ladies are only to be rehomed as pets. People must regard the eggs purely as a bonus and if they can no longer keep them for any reason, Little Hen rescue will take them back without passing any judgement whatsoever.

LHR ask a minimum donation of £1.50 per bird and currently the closest collection point is Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire BUT if there is enough interest, we will set up a collection point in your area. (http://www.tinyurl.com/lhrsb )

We have found though that people are happy to travel to save these girls.

I am hoping that you could possibly do an article highlighting the plight of these hens and if you wish, I can send pictures of how some birds look on coming out from the farms. I didn't want to add an attachment in case this email to yourself was rejected.

Please see our Norfolk website Home

and also my own site with details more for Lincolnshire (regarding suppliers of housing etc)

Lincs Little Hens

Anyone interested needs to view the websites to see if they can cater for the needs of these hens, regarding housing and diet and if they would still like to rehome some, please email me (Lyn) on lincslittlehens@aol.com for Sutton Bridge collection (possibly your area too) or Jo on littlehenrescue@aol.com for Norwich collection

Little Hen Rescue was originally started in June/July last year by Jo Eglen of Norwich and has currently rehomed almost 9000 hens in total. Our biggest mass rescue so far has been for 3000 hens so you can appreciate what a task lays ahead.

Please, if you can help in any way or even sponsor a crate to help us rescue more hens, we would be grateful. If you can circulate the information about the plight of these hens it will help us reach that target of 11000 hens and enable us to not leave any behind, looking at us, hoping for their turn to come to freedom.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RoSAH HENS