Well Carly from the North London Hen Rescue arrived with a van full of rescued exbattery hens that were due to go to slaughter on Monday. They ranged from fully feathered to completely bald apart from a few feathers on the tail and wings. After a brief rest in one of the stables and a bite to eat and drink 78 little chooks headed over to Manchester with Marianne. I still have 53 with me who will be collected by their new families tomorrow. Within minutes these little girls were scratching around in the straw and paddling in the water bowls. It was great to watch.

This is the first time I have been involved in a rescue and will definately do it again. Next time maybe I'll have a towing vehicle and can rescue a full horsebox full!! :D

:clap: Thats really fantastic just what I needed to hear its really made me smile, how fantastic it's the first day and a taste of the real life for them :D and just in the nick of time.

That is fantastic, well done to everyone involved. We will be getting some ex battery hens for our allotment when we set it up later in the year.

I would love hens again , we had them when i was growing up, I used to name them all and would always be willing to feed them when it was time to , My dad had 40 free range hens and collecting their eggs was always fun . My mum used to give the eggs to the elderly who were living in church army flats , They always loved the fresh eggs and would buy me icecreams which were 2p then, I wish I had room here for some but sadly I am running low on extra safe space. We are on a list for allotment but i am not sure you are allowed Hens or live stock , I will check ASAP.

I think there's another rescue in October which I will be taking part in too :)

45 little hens went off to their new homes today and the final 8 will be going next weekend when their family get back from holiday. I have really enjoyed this weekend and everything went relatively smoothly. I now just have a warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing that I have helped make a difference to these little girls. :D

Your a star! What a lovely story, and a lovely ending for the girls, bless 'em.

My boyf's parents had 6 and we picked them up yesterday. Sad to see them in such a sorry state but good to know they are safe and will be happy from here on in. I watched them go into their new house where they will spend a couple of days getting themselves sorted and getting to know the 3 existing Bantams. I was watching through the window as the ex bats were all on one side of the hut, and the bantams were squashed up together in the opposite corner looking highly disgruntled at the situation! Then three of the new ones went over and cornered them - no fighting thank god and was pleased to see them looking quite perky and interested in their environment. They will all be let out tomorrow and will have a 50 acre farm to roam around for the rest of their lives. It doesn't get much better than that for a ex battery hen!

Well done to Jobi-Wan who seemed extremely calm and collected, particularly given it was her first time! I hope everyone who has collected their hens this weekend are happy and looking forward to making them fat and fluffy!

Well done Jobi-Wan :thumbsup:

At the weekend my bro-in-law mentioned getting a few chickens, so I'll watch out for any more coming in.

If anyone is interested I think the next rescue through www.northlondonhenrescue.org.uk is in October.

If I can get a towing vehicle then I'll happily bring back a trailer-full and save Carly one of the exhausting trips up here. She has worked so tirelessly for the hens, with a few other committed volunteers, she's the real star :D

My boyf's parents had 6 and we picked them up yesterday. Sad to see them in such a sorry state but good to know they are safe and will be happy from here on in. I watched them go into their new house where they will spend a couple of days getting themselves sorted and getting to know the 3 existing Bantams. I was watching through the window as the ex bats were all on one side of the hut, and the bantams were squashed up together in the opposite corner looking highly disgruntled at the situation! Then three of the new ones went over and cornered them - no fighting thank god and was pleased to see them looking quite perky and interested in their environment. They will all be let out tomorrow and will have a 50 acre farm to roam around for the rest of their lives. It doesn't get much better than that for a ex battery hen!

Well done to Jobi-Wan who seemed extremely calm and collected, particularly given it was her first time! I hope everyone who has collected their hens this weekend are happy and looking forward to making them fat and fluffy!

Thats just fantastic, what lucky little hens :) and to think today they should have been no more, what a triumph!

Thats fantastic.......Well done!!

I collected 3 girls from you last sunday and thought id give you a little update as to how their getting on.
Dorothy, Blanche and Rose or the Golden Girls as their collectively known settled in almost instantly, getting to know the dog and arranging which chick slept where. When i let them out in the garden the very next day id already got 2 eggs waiting for me (up to date we've had 11 eggs in 6 days which just shows thats theres still plenty of life left in them for those who think ex bat's laying days are over!)
Even after a week Dorothy and Blanche's feathers have started growing back and even my little scabby Rose is making progress slowly but surely...I know i shouldnt have favourites but she is the most comical chicken you ever will meet, she decided she wanted to be a black chicken on sunday and covered herself from head to toe in dirt..gave me a right fright when she came running up to me!
Anyway i just want to say a big thankyou for my girls who give hours and hours of entertainment just being themselves happily clucking round the garden, having sisterly squabbles or rolling round in dirt and if anyone is considering owning chickens i would definaltely recommend it....Give ex bat's a chance!

I collected 3 girls from you last sunday and thought id give you a little update as to how their getting on.
Dorothy, Blanche and Rose or the Golden Girls as their collectively known settled in almost instantly, getting to know the dog and arranging which chick slept where. When i let them out in the garden the very next day id already got 2 eggs waiting for me (up to date we've had 11 eggs in 6 days which just shows thats theres still plenty of life left in them for those who think ex bat's laying days are over!)
Even after a week Dorothy and Blanche's feathers have started growing back and even my little scabby Rose is making progress slowly but surely...I know i shouldnt have favourites but she is the most comical chicken you ever will meet, she decided she wanted to be a black chicken on sunday and covered herself from head to toe in dirt..gave me a right fright when she came running up to me!
Anyway i just want to say a big thankyou for my girls who give hours and hours of entertainment just being themselves happily clucking round the garden, having sisterly squabbles or rolling round in dirt and if anyone is considering owning chickens i would definaltely recommend it....Give ex bat's a chance!

Thats so fantastic, bet they can't believe their luck. Well done to everyone involved.

what a wonderful, heartwarming story - sorry I can't have livestock in my tiny terrace backyard but sounds like plenty of people are keen to get involved with ex-batts. Well done!