# help change a battery hens life



## Noisy_minor (Jun 20, 2008)

gday guys i have been doing some reasearch into adopting some ex battery hens which are normally slaughtered after there main production period is over. I found some sites and facts that may be of interest.

The life of a battery hen.
Batery hens are hatched in massive hatcheries there brothers are killed at day one, either drowned, crushed, suffocated, or grinded up. they then suffer the the cruel act, of de beaking the bird, which intales removing up to half of the upper mandible. 

once the hens begin to lay eggs, they are stuffed into wire cages, and imprisoned for the next 18 months. untill they are slaughtered to become dog food, soup, stock, etc. 

They live there short misserable lives, standing on a wire floor, with upto 6 other flock mates, in huge sheds. they never see natural daylight, never get to scratch at the ground, never get to perch, never get to dustbath, never get to walk, and the list goes on. this is not the farmers fault it is the consumers fault. As long as there is a market, the industry will continue.

I am writing this thred because i know every one here loves there pets and will do anything to help prevent animals suffering.

i urge every one here to pay the extra few dollars and buy approved free range eggs. 

and if you were thinking about getting chooks why not help save a few lives and adopt some ex battery hens and give them a happy retirment. these sites are organisations that rescue and rehome ex battery hens.

http://www.bhwt.org.uk/
http://chickenrescue.net.nz/


unfortunetly there arnt many organisations around the world but if any one knows of anymore i would appreciate it if they added them here. im pretty sure if you rang your nearest battery egg farm and offered to buy some hens for the going rate they would let you. 

WARNING: This next link is not for the weak at heart, i shed a tear while watching. but if your not familiar with what goes on behind the scenes of intensive farming check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_guAycmYPA&feature=related


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Noisy Minor, 





I know for me, I stopped eating 'Fowl' when I was a kid...but for rare exceptions which I always regret.


I'd look at the thing on a platter ( Roast Chicken, Cornish Game Hen, Turkey at 'thanksgiving', ) and it I could not do it, it made me sick just thinking about it..I did not want to even look at it.

I found I could not even eat Chicken in other forms, without feeling sick to my stomach, so, I avoided it.


All 'Factory raised' Animals have terrible, horrid 'lives'...and technically ARE 'toxic' and 'polluted-poisonous' as 'food' and should be avoided both for prefering not to patronize and reward what is being done TO them, and, for one's own health and sanity.


Sadly, the term 'business' is anymore a virtual perjoritive...


Phil
l v


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It's awful and it breaks my heart. I can't look at the videos but I don't need to...I'm the choir. Just wanted you to know that I do have my own eggs and if I need to buy extra, I do buy free range.
My first chicken, Matilda, was a fryer that I rescued. She was the sweetest bird ever. I don't have time to go into the story right now except to say, knowing her changed my life.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

making a profit is the name of the game...too bad for the birds...I have also thought that this information ,as hard as it is to know needs to be in the mainstream news media..so people can make a choice and know what they are buying. I have seen the trend for free range for birds and cows on the organic farms and I think this should be the wave of the future, people still have the eggs and meat and the animals are treated well with digninty in the mean time. I do eat meat but it is deer meat my husband hunts, we do not hunt over what we need and the herd needs to be thinned so they all are healthier and less inner breeding as the over population can bring these hardships for them. we give a prayer of thankfulness to the ones we consume....and I don't have to spend my money at the market. I also have my own eggs from my girls and would buy free range if I had to... I don't know why this info is not known to the general public??...needs to be.


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

That's right, many of us pigeon lovers are also chicken lovers and rescuers already. Hey let's start a chicken area, so we can chat about our chickens.


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

philodice said:


> That's right, many of us pigeon lovers are also chicken lovers and rescuers already.
> 
> *Hey let's start a chicken area, so we can chat about our chickens.*


You can start a 'chicken chit chat' thread in the Small Talk forum. 
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f40/

Cindy


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

AZWhitefeather said:


> You can start a 'chicken chit chat' thread in the Small Talk forum.
> http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f40/
> 
> Cindy


Outstanding idea.


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## Insomniac (Aug 21, 2007)

There are few things more rewarding than watching a battery hen go from an abused, terrified, ragged animal, to a beautiful and happy one. A few months ago we rescued 50 from a local farm, 10 came to us, and 40 went to a sanctuary in southern alberta. Ours have all since been adopted, but here's some pictures...

The "farm"


















The chickens, just after rescue...


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## Insomniac (Aug 21, 2007)

The next day, we put them into a pen on the grass for the first time in their miserable lives. They saw the sky, bugs, birds...they were extremely nervous and terrified of the most basic things...wind, sparrows, dandelions...

















Unfortunately, it was still snowy out so they were a bit chilly due to lack of feathers!

And here they are as of May 8th....two of them were so tame they'd jump onto my lap as soon as I came into the pen.


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## Insomniac (Aug 21, 2007)




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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Thanks for the uplifting pictures of the rescued chickens, they are such lucky birds. We always buy cage-free eggs now that Fussy Gussy has a new home and we don't get free eggs anymore.


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## EgypSwiftLady (Jan 14, 2008)

AWFUL just awful, I bet if more people saw those photos it would change their minds. I grew up on a dairy farm, the farm had been passed down for 200 years through my family, we were always taught to respect every living animal. My dad would call the dairy cows his girls, we all ended up calling them that. Dad fed every animal on that farm the best feed, in the winter they didn't go out unless the temps. were just right and in the summer they always had shade. All the animals recieved the very best care. 
Now days everything has to grow faster, get fatter and produce more and this is were all of the diseases start. 

We have our own eggs, our lovely hen Peep gives us an egg a day her friend Big Red is now too old to lay any more but she is a wonderful elegant old lady. These two were destine to be slaughter, the owner would sell Red to me until I offered $100.00 for her and she came home with me.

I think a chicken chat would be great.... Can I join???


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Insomniac, 




Wow..!



Nice going there with those Hens..!


I can't wait to get outta Las Vegas and finaly have a Yard and some Land around me.


I will have some Chicken-rescues then, and they can peck and scratch and hunt Bugs to their Heart's content...


Good going..!


Phil
l v


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## Georgina (Jun 24, 2008)

I'm hoping to rehome some battery hens soon. Where I live, there's a group that takes orders for rescuing hens and when they have enough people wanting to rehome some, they go off to the farms and bring hundreds at a time back. Unfortunately, one of the ladies who goes to the farms has been taken ill and they're not currently doing any rescues. 

I guess you guys aren't aware as you're all in America and Canada, but there was a big thing over here in the media about battery chickens and farm bred cows, pigs etc. Some celebrity chefs, Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnly-Wittingstall and I think Gordon Ramsey made a load of tv programs about battery farming. Hugh Fearnly-Wittingstall even set up his own mini battery meat chicken farm and let members of the public in to see how awful it was. I work in a supermarket and since that happened, I've noticed a lot more people buy free range now. They're always going to be in the minority though. Some people are too money obbsessed to care. Like the extra 20p will make a difference to their weekly food bill!!

Here's a link for Hugh's free range campaign - 
http://www.chickenout.tv/
Don't forget to sign the petition!!


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## Noisy_minor (Jun 20, 2008)

wow i love this forum. im glad you guys feel as strongly as i do and i hope me posting this thread might make a difference to some poor animals life somewhere somehow. and yes georgina money is the evil of this planet almost everything awful that happens to this planets animals is someway related to people being greedy. it also sucks that chickens get so little attention and are treated mearly as an egg machine. ive emailed so many people about chicken rescue in QLD Australia and have had not one reply so it looks as though i may have to start one my self so ill keep you guys updated on my progress.


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## naturegirl (Nov 7, 2005)

Well Noisy Miner I copied and pasted everything and sent it on to my sister-in-law in Adelaide, South Australia she said she would pass it on from there and she will look into adopting a few as she has something around 90 acres up in the hills in North Adelaide. She like me loves her animals and does not buy eggs period from the super market only eats her own from her chooks. 


Cindy


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## Noisy_minor (Jun 20, 2008)

thanks nature girl. please let us know if you sister in law does indeed get a few ex battery birds. pics would be awsome.

Chooks are such amazing animals and so funny to watch 

Cheers.


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