Chicken Rescue | Food | Channel4.com

Date Published:: 11/06/2008

You don't have to be Hugh to rescue a chicken. There are plenty of hens in need of a good home

There are around 19 million battery hens producing eggs in the UK. At approximately 74 weeks old when they are past the peak of their productivity they become what is known as spent hens and will go to slaughter to be used in chicken pies, soups and some times for pet food. The farmers occasionally get a small amount of money for these but it's no longer worth their while financially to keep them alive.

Many spent hens are perfectly good layers for the average small holder and can be re-homed. If you would like to give a spent hen a good home you can contact the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. They work in co-operation with various farms across the country to rescue ex-battery hens from slaughter and provide them with good homes. More information about this organisation can be found on their website.

The 16 ex-battery hens that have been re-homed on the River Cottage small holding have adjusted to their new free-range environment very well. They are feathering up and displaying signs of normal behaviour, scratching about in the ground and producing plenty of delicious eggs.

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Comments

In response to Mary Wiedman's comment about no poultry eating slugs and snails, well I cant be certain about all poultry, but having kept several chickens for a few years I can say that ours definatly do, and I cant imagine why others wouldnt? Other people have said similar things so it cannot be just my chickens, they eat loads of insects aswell as slugs and snails. We used to have loads of slugs in our garden and now there are next to none.

Posted by Beth on 31/08/2009 13:03:24

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how do we go about addopting chickens ?

Posted by karen fyfe on 29/06/2009 15:55:08

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how can we rehome battery hens where can we do this

Posted by jason on 05/06/2009 19:48:58

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We used to pay our children to collect the snails in our garden, they then fed them to our hens. May be our hens were not fussy eaters!!! We brought them up as we did our children.

Posted by Heather on 12/04/2009 21:29:14

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Ducks aren't vegetarians. They eat slugs and insects.

Posted by Chumba Wumba on 13/03/2009 16:47:27

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Great article and great work Hugh and Channel 4 are putting in. It is disgraceful the way these birds get treated and the way Tesco behave, don't get me started. I think everybody should try to rehome some ex batts!

Posted by Rich on 29/01/2009 20:40:55

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As Hugh is supposed to know it all regarding livestock can someone please tell him NO poultry eats slugs or snails. In a recent programme he was extolling the virtues of keeping Aylesbury ducks & how they will eat slugs, they most certainly won't, they are vegetarian. What they will eat is your vegetables & grass.

Posted by Mary Wiedman on 25/10/2008 15:36:10

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