Flying into a free range future!

Hi, my name is Ophelia and firstly, thank you for taking an interest in my blog! I am an advocate for the British Hen Welfare Trust and currently doing my Citizenship GCSE. It would be really helpful to me if you could take the time to read my blog…

The British Hen Welfare Trust is a local charity, founded by Jane Howorth in 2005. She went into a battery farm, meaning to come out with half a dozen hens as she had the room in her garden – instead, she came out with 400 battery hens because she felt so sorry for them! With a little help, she set up a re-homing system which involved feeding and caring for the hens until a good owner came along. Her heroic actions soon branched out into this inspiring charity.

The BHWT also campaign against and raise awareness about the horrors of commercial hen farming, which you will probably be familiar with. If not, there are currently around 16 million battery hens in the UK alone, all living in the same awful conditions…

• Cages not big enough to turn around in
• Beaks cut off to prevent damage when they peck each other (this for the hen is about as painful as having one of your fingernails ripped out)
• Living in their own waste – around two million hens die each year from diseases caused by not having their cages cleaned
• Constantly in fear, discomfort and distress.

Jasmine’s story

Jasmine (image on the right) was bred by battery farmers and entered her tiny cage at just eight weeks old. She was kept apart from her mother, and grew increasingly distressed and scared. She lost all her feathers and became very ill. When she was first rescued by a BHWT volunteer, she was extremely distrustful and terrified of being handled. However, after a few weeks of freedom, fresh air and green grass, Jasmine became the healthy, happy hen that she deserved to be. She is currently in the care of the British Hen Welfare Trust volunteers, waiting for a loving owner to come along.

If you are interested in re-homing or sponsoring a hen, or would like to know anything else about this amazing charity, don’t hesitate to visit their website: www.bhwt.org.uk

Thank you again for reading my blog. Now I would be really grateful if you could possibly just leave your comments with the answers to these three questions, telling me either your home town or country:

1. Do you now feel more informed about the BHWT after reading my blog?
2. Would you now be prepared to consider supporting the BHWT by doing anything from donating money to telling your friends and family about it?
3. Any other general comments about your thoughts on my blog?

Thank you so much,
Ophelia