Hens looking for 'little bit of TLC' in retirement

Hundreds of hens are looking for retirement homes and "a little bit of TLC" after spending their lives in cages, a charity says.

Francesca Mapp from the British Hen Welfare Trust said the 200 to 250 hens that need rehoming in Gloucestershire will be slaughtered if they do not find homes by Friday.

A rehoming event will be held in Berkeley on Saturday for those who have expressed interest to the trust's rehoming team.

Ms Mapp said of the hens: "They've never been outside, they've only stood on a wire cage before, they've never been on grass... you are not only saving their life but you are changing their entire world."

At 18 months, hens still lay eggs but the rate slows, so farmers send them for slaughter, Ms Mapp said.

"They've got so much more life left to give, which is why we step in and save as many as possibly can," she said.

"We still get people saying, 'Well, hens aren't in cages any more', which is, sadly, incorrect.

"Barren battery cages, where a single hen or a few hens were kept in a much smaller cage, were outlawed in 2012 and replaced with colony cages.

"About 80 hens are kept in a cage and they get about as much space as an A4 piece of paper."

This can cause a range of health conditions including feather loss and skin damage.

Ms Mapp said the trust had received an amazing response but would still like to hear from anyone with extra space in their back garden for chickens as they are "really easy pets to keep".

"These little hens are incredible, they're so resilient but, for the first few days, it's quite bewildering for them," she said.

"They do need a bit of coaxing out of their coop and putting to bed at night but they adapt really quickly and become incredible pets. And they lay eggs as well!"

The trust hopes to rehome a total of 700 hens by Friday, with others needing homes in Devon and Oxford.

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