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Susan is the founder and organiser of Little Hill Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. She cares for 35 horses, 50 cats and 30 canine and in recent times, she has branched out into one other side of animal welfare work; rescued ex-battery farmed hens. She at present has over 200 hens on the sanctuary, and this week, when the climate turned chilly, an essential process wanted to be tackled. Lots of the rescued hens are bald, and to cease them from catching a critical chill, they have to be wearing custom-made jerseys to maintain them heat.
EGG-LAYING HENS
Susan’s work with rescued hens has turn into a serious a part of her annual calendar. She was shocked just a few years in the past when she found the details behind industrial egg-laying hens. Younger hens are purchased in teams of a number of thousand at “level of lay” when they’re round 4 months of age. They’re stored in cages, housed in massive sheds, with rigorously managed gentle, warmth and diet to maximise their egg manufacturing. They lay an egg as soon as each day for a 12 months, after which they go into their first moult. At this stage, their egg manufacturing decreases for 3 to 4 weeks. In nature, that is a part of the traditional cycle of life, however within the industrial world, it’s seen as an inefficiency. It’s cheaper for a industrial egg producer to slaughter the year-old hens, changing them with new, younger point-of-lay birds. The choice of ready for a month till the hens begin to lay once more sounds cheap, however within the onerous enterprise world of mass egg manufacturing, it’s much less worthwhile, so it doesn’t occur.
When Susan heard in regards to the pointless slaughter of those younger grownup hens, she determined to do one thing about it. She supplied to purchase 4 thousand hens from the farmer, at €2 per head, slightly than permitting them to go to slaughter. It’s much less handy for the farmer, however he’s comfortable to work with Susan and her workforce. Over a ten day interval, a workforce of six volunteers go to the poultry farm thrice a day, gathering hens and placing them into carriers. They then transport them to their new properties are quickly as doable. Susan makes use of social media to alert folks that the hens are being rescued, and she or he has rehomed them throughout Eire, from Donegal to the Aran Islands to County Cork. She makes use of vans and horseboxes, transferring batches of a whole bunch of hens at one time, assembly folks at pre-arranged places to go the birds on to their new properties. Susan asks for a minimal donation of €5 per head to cowl her prices. The hens are preferrred as yard chickens: as soon as they’ve had just a few weeks relaxation and restoration, they begin laying once more, and they’re going to proceed to take action for a number of years.
CUSTOM-DESIGNED JERSEYS
The rescued hens are wholesome, however their look is surprising at first sight. The mix of a 12 months of steady egg manufacturing with their first feather moult signifies that they’ve a bald, bedraggled look. Whereas they might have the ability to cope in the summertime, the additional chill of winter climate is a problem. Susan’s workforce of volunteers have provide you with an progressive reply to this downside: knitting custom-designed jerseys to maintain the hens heat. A particular knitting sample, with holes for the wings, has been posted on-line to permit new hen house owners to knit their very own hen jerseys.
Do you wish to hold just a few yard hens? Contact Susan’s workforce to seek out out extra.
