In October we took home twelve ex-battery hens from the BHWT (British Hen Welfare Trust) collection point in Wragby. This was our second batch of ex-bats. A year ago, we adopted twenty of them, but because of the harsh winter and their lack of feathers, we had a lot of fatalities. It was heartbreaking to watch the numbers slowly dwindle and I used to dread letting them out in the morning in case any had died in the night. Anyway, call us mad (or a soft touch) but we decide to adopt more. Thankfully these hens looked much more healthy than the last lot and a good job too because a few weeks after they moved in, the snow fell again. Because of the sub-zero temperatures we suffered in the following weeks, we sadly had five fatalities. But now the remaining seven hens are looking fully feathered and enjoying their free range freedom!
