In This Section…

  1. Thinking About Getting Some Chickens?
  2. Chickens available For Adoption
  3. How To Adopt
  4. Chicken Husbandry
  5. Life As A Egg Hen or Broiler Chicken

1) Thinking About Getting Chickens?

Chickens require:

  1. A fox proof coop & run , foxes are very crafty & persistent animals that will take any weakness for granted.
  2. Space, one chicken needs around 3-4 square ft of space with an additional 10 square feet per added bird.
  3. Companionship, chickens are flock animals and will need to live with at least another 2 hens.
  4. Chickens need access to food and water at all times, layers pellets are recommended.
  5. The coop must be cleaned at least every other day, use products that are safe for chickens
  6. Chickens should be regularly wormed and checked for lice or mites.

These points are covered in further detail below

Chickens For Adoption

How To Adopt

If you think you can offer hens or any cockerles a suitable home then please contact us using the details below. Please note that we are not open to the general public and a appointment must be made. 

Phone: 01773 712 999

Email: [email protected]

We are also on facebook.

Barn & Battery Chickens

We take in chickens from unwanted homes but most are rescued ex-commercial hens. Each year millions of hens from the egg industry are sent for premature slaughtered at around 18 months old, they are replaced with young birds, all in the name of cheap food. Once a hen lays less than 5 eggs a week, they become uneconomic for the industry.

Egg laying hens are have been selectively bred to maximise egg production. This means that they lay on average 314 eggs a year, naturally they would only lay 20.   An egg is similar to a period in a mammal, if it was fertilised by a cockerel and the hen was broody sitting on her egg, it would hatch in to a young hen or cockerel.

We try to rescue them and find them loving homes.We often rescue hundreds at a time and then rehome them. Please let us know if you would like to take on some chickens, they make great pets and are becoming increasingly popular.

This poor girl is typical of what battery hens look like when they come to us. They live their short lives without seeing daylight or having enough space to perform the natural behaviours that they want to. Each hen has the same size space as a piece of A4 paper, not even enough space to open their wings. Many hens end up in this state through self mutilation.

Over 100,000,000 hens will suffer these appalling conditions in the UK until battery hen cages become outlawed. In 2012 battery cages will cease to exist but unfortunately they will only be replaced by so called ‘enriched’ cages. These new cages will give hens a little more room, perches, dust baths and nest boxes, but little more.

Anybody that owns hens know that hens do not belong in cages and love nothing more than scratching around in earth and adore sunbathing with their wings outstretched.  We think hens deserve to have the sun on their backs.