Ex-bats Live hens from Ardentinny
We usually have several cameras covering the henhouse. If you can’t see the hens, then it probably means the girls are stretching their legs in the outside run. Best time to catch them is first thing in the morning or around dusk or meal times (i.e. all day!). You can also see them fast asleep in their nestbox throughout the night 🙂
June 2008
Rescued ex-battery hens
LIVE from Ardentinny
It was a case of handle with care in late June when Ardentinny’s newest residents moved into the village. The six 11-month old hens were part of a batch of 628 ex-battery birds saved from slaughter by the Scottish branch of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust (www.bhwt.org.uk). The main aim of the trust is to reduce demand for battery hen eggs and to increase the number of consumers opting for free-range and organic.
The rescue was organised by BHWT Scottish coordinator Jim Duff in Perthshire. The Trust pays the farmer 25p for each hen and the new owners are charged 50p per bird. As a charity, donations are of course encouraged, with all proceeds going to the BHWT. To date, the charity has re-homed some 88,755 hens.
Ardentinny’s new arrivals have settled in well in their retirement home, considering the extremely harsh conditions they have endured over their short lives. For the first time they now have the freedom to explore outdoors, see the sun for the first time (or rather the current rainy Ardentinny conditions), and exercise their natural chicken instincts. The hens are now on a 100% organic diet and are gradually being introduced to additional healthful, natural supplements
You can watch the ex-bat girls LIVE, 24 hours a day at www.ardentinny.org/hens/.
More information: Battery Hen Welfare Trust – www.bhwt.org.uk
