Like many people myself and Matt watched the recent Jamie Oliver programmes about battery hens and the way these gorgeous creatures are kept for the production of eggs and then eventually meat. We did a bit of research on the internet and found the Battery Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT). They are a charity that rescues and rehomes battery hens. Straight away we got in touch with our local rescue co-ordinator and was put on the waiting list - which was quite lengthy due to the recent TV programmes and raised awareness. We bought our hen house and Matt did a fantastic job of preparing an area in our garden where the hens could free range.

We collected our 10 'ex-batts' on Saturday 26th April 2008. We both found it quite emotional due to appearance of the hens and their lack of instincts. Our hens have settled in very well and already seem to be growing new feathers and act more like free-range hens every day. We adopted 10 'ex-batts' and we are back on the waiting list due to our hen house being big enough for 20 hens.

Myself and Matt have found the experience extremely rewarding and would encourage anyone with a bit of space to adopt some ex-battery hens. They are very cheap to feed, entertaining and reward us with fresh eggs every day.

'The Battery Hen Welfare Trust re-homes thousands of ex-battery hens each year as family pets: if you are interested in having some or finding out how you can help the Trust improve life for the 20,000,000 hens inside their cages please click here www.bhwt.org.uk '

See our 'before' and 'after' pictures!

'Before'
These pictures were taken in the first few days.

'After'
These pictures have been taken 6 weeks after our hens arrived.

We now have 20 hens and myself and Matt have also done voluntary work for BHWT, which is a fantastic charity. For anyone who may be interested in having some hens from BHWT you would be welcome to come and meet our hens. We had no previous experience of keeping hens but have found them extremely easy to look after and very rewarding!