Chicken Run

My friend Regine is a real animal lover. She and her husband have two dogs and several chickens. They recently more than doubled their chicken count after Reg found out about a chicken rescue volunteer organization. 

The organization finds battery hens (factory hens) who are still laying eggs, but not enough to be kept "in production" at the industrial farms, and finds them new homes. If the rescue operation wasn't in existence, these poor chickens would live their lives stuffed into cages only to be ground into pet food when they were no longer prolific egg layers. 

Lucky Hens' Rescue

I went down with Regine a few Saturdays ago to collect the eight hens (four white and four brown) that she had promised to give a new, happy home. By the looks of it, the place had rescued hundreds of hens that very morning from a battery farm. None of these chickens had ever been out of a cage, nor had they ever walked on actual ground. 

Recently rescued battery hens

I was happy to see lots of people arriving to collect hens for their backyard coops. As the hens were handed out to approved adopters, each hen had their claws clipped (apparently, if they don't scratch around on ground, their claws just grow and grow and grow) and were doused in mites-be-gone powder. 

More recently rescued battery hens

We collected her eight chickens and started our two hour drive back home, hoping to make it as quickly as possible as these poor hens had had quite a traumatic day already. 

Two of the eight battery hens we collected

The brown hens were definitely the more inquisitive of the bunch, but they were a fairly subdued bunch. I had imagined lots of clucking all the way home but they were very quiet. 

Moving into their new home

Once we got back to Reg's house, she and another friend moved them into the back garden that had a dedicated chicken area, shed, and coop. 

All eight chickens, finally home

The hens were a bit reluctant to come out of the box, but once Reg helped them out they started exploring their new home.

Welcome home!

Exploring their new home

They figured out what to do fairly quickly and were scratching and eating the chicken scratch within a few minutes time. One of the white hens was very cuddly and made good friends with all of the humans. 

Snuggly chicken

One of the hens even laid an egg on the car ride home! 

First egg!

Another hen darted into the ivy, looking for a place to lay her egg for the day. Reg swooped in and placed her in the coop. 

Learning how to scratch

Here's a picture of the same hen, facing the camera inside the coop. As it's been several weeks now, all of the hens know where to go at night (into the coop) and where to go to lay their eggs (into the coop). They scratch and explore their area all day long, and are happy, egg-laying chickens. I even got a carton of fresh eggs today! 

Inside the new coop