RSPCA Hens Deserve Better - Make A Difference

davin · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 8:57 pm

Petite Poulet wrote:

Thank you, kindly

for the rant. All rants are welcome.

http://www.unleashed.org.au/animals/chickens.php

This is the website that the the general public needs to see every time they turn on there tv's on every commercial channel on every commercial break. Saturation is the key.

Davin.

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

My elderly Nanna recently saw a tv program on the conditions that chooks live in, and she's even stopped buying and eating chicken and caged eggs.

We don't eat chicken any more and if we have to buy eggs because the girls are off lay then I make sure they are RSPA approved, free range and humane choice eggs.

Enlightenment and education and exposure are the key to improving the lives of poultry!

ILoveMyChickies · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 11:06 pm

That sounds good Buffy the Sussex! I shall edit and make it a bit shorter but it's good. I'll have the form ready soon!

I wouldn't eat chicken if it wasn't that I needed the protien. I feel so bad. hide:

buffy the sussex · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:17 pm

rant on....

and yes make it a bit shorter but please include a picture? pref of a cage with chooks inside

Prattly · **Joined:** Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:54 am **Posts:** 3

Do the RSPCA actually rescue battery hens?
What do they charge to adopt them in Victoria or are they free?

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Prattly,

Some people rescue battery hens and sell them for about $20, some times they are rehabilitated and sometimes they are not.

Alternatively, you can call your local poultry farm, they sell their end of season caged hens who are 18 months old and at the end of their prime laying for about $3 and give them a home before they are sent off...They spend their retirement days with you.

Or you can buy a POL hybrid from the poultry farm which costs about $17 and give a girl doomed for a cage a home.

Prattly · **Joined:** Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:54 am **Posts:** 3

Thanks for the options I will ring the rspca and ask them the situation and what costs are involved. I do like the idea of rescuing a few caged hens

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Prattly,

Please let us know how you go with the RSPCA.

Thank you, kindly

ash1 · **Joined:** Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:25 pm **Posts:** 94

We adopted six ex-battery chookie girls about a month ago. When we went to pick them up it was hard not to cry, the state of these animals was so absolutely appalling, most of them were almost completely bald, with red raw skin. All of them had been de-beaked and the majority excessively so.

We had originally gone for three, but ended up with six as my husband and I just felt so desperately sorry for them. Before we picked them up we had made a separate run within our chookie yard (which is huge) so that they didn't have to cope with defending themselves against our existing chooks whilst they (the battery girls) recovered. We kept them inside the house the first night, as we didn't get back until late afternoon, and then let them free into their new run the next morning. Inside the run we have a kid's cubby house which we have converted, they are in the run during the day then return to their cubby for night-time lock-down.

Fast forward four weeks and these girls are doing great. They are still quite bald compared to our lovely healthy Light Sussex, but now have some soft down covering most of their bald bits. It has been so incredibly rewarding watching these girls find their feet and discover the pleasures of being a free-range (well, almost) chook.

The most amazing thing is how incredibly trusting they are of people, even after all they have been through. When they see me they come running over to say hello, and will eat out of my hand. I'm still getting almost an egg a day from them, but that's a bonus only, the pleasure they have brought to me just watching them enjoy sunshine, scratching in the dirt, dust baths is the greatest reward.

Unfortunately (according to the rescue lady) they will probably only live for a couple of years more, but I am so glad I am able to make their retirement years pleasurable after all the pain and misery they have suffered.

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

You are wonderful people ash1 and hubby, it takes courage to make a difference in someone's less fortunate's life whether it be human, feathered, furred or other.

So proud of you!

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