Lincs Little Hens (Sutton Bridge)

R.I.P Ria and Neils hen

2010-05-12T02:18:00.003+01:00

Sorry to hear the terrible news that your girl passed away. We both know that she had a wonderful life whilst living with you in the palace that Neil made.

I don't know how many girls you have now so you'll have to get in touch through Facebook or phone.

Once again, Both of us are saddened. Rest in Peace little hen xxxxxx

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Small claims court

2010-04-30T14:01:00.003+01:00

I have just spoken to a police officer regarding "dog man" and apparently because we were reasonable and gave him chance to pay rather than getting the police to act straight away, we effectively made it a "civil matter" so if he doesn't pay up by the 13th May which is the date we have given him, we have to take him to the small claims court but have been told we cannot lose and will be reimbursed our expenses too.

It is to annoying when we were trying to help him, so as a warning to anyone else, act instantly- if you want compensation for injury/damage caused by someone else or their animal, insist the Officer sorts it there and then and they get prosecuted.

I have printed off the court forms in anticipation of him not paying up and don't mind paying the court fees as I will be awarded them back anyway. Just so annoying that our police are crap!

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Thankyou to Ria and Neil

2010-04-30T03:40:00.003+01:00

Thankyou so much to Ria and Neil for your generous donation to Lincs Little Hens which will go towards making these hens safer from the killer dog (OR) the Eglu fund as they are brilliant for hens like Ivy (who was sadly killed by THAT dog).
I haven't seen the particular dog in a while but the RSPCA Inspector saw him in a cage with a chain on and he said it's got no life so hopefully he will try and get the neighbours to sign it over to them, but I am unsure if they would as word has it they are hare coursers and they are well known to have no feeling whatsoever, and are of course breaking the law regarding hunting with dogs!
I don't think we will ever rest easy until the neighbour has moved out!

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Letters are posted, fingers crossed

2010-04-29T13:51:00.002+01:00

One letter has gone to our offensive neighbour with the killer dog and the other has gone to Lincolnshire Police which is basically a duplicate, a cover note and pictures of the killer dog so now we have to sit back and wait until Thurs 13th May at Noon to see if he pays up or has another sob story about HIS hard life! I cannot wait that long. I am sure he won't pay and the police will take it further, I think o/h is gullible and seems to think that I am the horrible one so we will see. I'll keep our supporters posted.

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It's taken some time......

2010-04-29T09:07:00.002+01:00

.....but a letter will be hand delivered to our neighbour whose dog killed some of our hens during March. He has still no made no effort whatsoever to pay the £150 compensation we asked for, for the damage to the house and the dead show birds of my daughters. Some ex battery hens perished too but we couldn't put a price on their value and obviously they meant a lot to us but weren't worth much financially.
The amount we requested covered the show birds but not the new roof on the chicken house so I think we were very lenient.
Anyway the letter today will also be CC'd to Lincolnshire police along with photographic evidence of the dog which killed our chooks on our premises recently.
Obviously I shall also mention the recent events in their garden too with other dogs of theirs running wild killing small animals and chickens.

I WILL GET JUSTICE FOR THE BIRDS! £150 doesn't cover naff all but he would want some if my dogs had killed his animals, and rightly so. He needs to think about his irresponsibilities as a pet owner and if we have to hit him where it hurts, as in his wallet, then so be it.

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Update after a long time......(upsetting)

2010-04-26T21:51:00.005+01:00

Phew, it has been a mad couple of months with the neighbour from hells' dog killing some of our birds. Ting Tong has survived and is back to normal and I'd like to say Thankyou to Callum Eglen who sorted some new pets out for our daughter after the attack.

All our chooks are enclosed now, which is a shame (We thought they were safe with a 6ft fence while we were here, but nope) we still need more framework and mesh to enlarge their area.

Our neighbour never paid any compensation for the damage his dog caused and will be receiving a legal letter this week reminding him of his acceptance of responsibility and signing to that effect a policemans pocket book. I have the policemans details and we WILL take legal action, especially after said neighbours dogs went on a rampage in their own garden last week killing rabbits and chickens in full view of my children from their bedroom. How I miss listening to their cockerels at 5am and knowing one of them suffered as my children then saw it keep trying to get up until the dog saw it move and finished it off. It was horrific and I called both the Police and RSPCA. The RSPCA officer looked over our fence (and said they looked like a bloodthirsty pack) and he saw the carnage BUT to make matters worse, it was a lurcher type dog killed our fowl BUT this time it was a Jack Russell and a Staffy and when the owner returned, he killed the Staffy, not the Jack Russell who had played Tug o war using a rabbit against the Staffy. My 13 year old son witnessed the neighbour pick up the Staffy with a deep gash to its throat, how traumatic is that to a child brought up as an animal lover?
I really hope the neighbour from hell is banned from keeping animals for life!! I have quite a collection of police crime numbers now. I cannot abide cruelty to animals at all and it wasn't the dogs faults, it was the irresponsible owners.
PS We have also had the lurcher visit us twice more but it jumped over in the wrong place and ended up in our own dog enclosure. We held is hostage inside all day (quite a nice dog for a killer) but sadly my o/h gave it back in the evening which I said is a shame as it's like a revolving door. Dog goes home, dog comes back.....it is now chained up in a tiny cage and the RSPCA inspector saw it and wants it because he says it has no life.......I suppose it does when it's off hare coursing with the other lurcher AARRGGHH

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Ting Tong seems to have made it!

2010-03-31T23:00:00.003+01:00

Not wishing to tempt fate or anything but TT is up and about and has now been moved to a secure pen outside.

We have still not received so much as a penny from the disgraceful neighbour whose dog killed 8 of our beautiful recovered birds. Shame on him!

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Lincs Little Hens

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Ting Tong is still hanging on

2010-03-17T15:21:00.002Z

Sometimes she looks perkier than others, she holds her head up and looks around and then drops it again looking very unhappy.
We are giving her Battles Tonic and Complan and I hope it will kick in and give her a boost.
Will keep you posted

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Lincs Little Hens

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Thankyou to Helen and Nick :-)

2010-03-17T15:06:00.004Z

We just want to say a whopping thankyou to Helen and Nick Orlowskyj for donating the fab shed with attached run to protect our hens from the mauling dog.
We will add a picture once it is in situ. Thanks again, We can protect more of these little chooks that just want a happy retirement.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Midnightish Tues-Weds update

2010-03-17T00:14:00.005Z

Still no improvement from Ting Tong Magadangdang.

We now have some Complan and Battles Poultry tonic but can only syringe to her as she has lost all will to eat or drink. Even having her sister in the crate with her hasn't given her the nudge she needs.
Both her legs are working but she won't stand so when she messes, she sits in it so is hard work as she is a ball of feathers.

The picture above is her in better days when I 1st got her for Lyns last birthday.
It is so sad watching her with no improvement, knowing she cannot carry on like this. Lyn has prepared herself for the worst but she will be gutted if she dies too after all the ones we have lost because of that dog.

Battery Hens have such an awful first 2 years or so yet are strong and recover quickly and lay constantly whereas Ting Tong being a pure-breed Cochin, I expect has had a good life prior to coming to us. She was an adult when we got her so don't know her age but to watch her with her head hung low, not eating, drinking or even shuffling around, it is tempting to put her out of her misery BUT we have had battery hens in worse condition, especially Pickle who made a FULL and fantastic recovery from being squashed illegally in a cage of 8 hens in the farm! Lyn helped her constantly and as with so many, had to teach her to walk and even drink and eat from the containers we use. Battery hens are not used to having constant food so they go mad at first like it's their last supper, Ting Tong has NEVER had to fight for food, be squashed or go through anything until when our son caught that dog just on the verge of killing her after it had already killed 8 birds so was just killing for fun, rather like a fox would.
As she has no physical wound, and we have examined her from top to toe, whilst wet as easier (I bathed her a few days ago) she just must be so traumatised and the dog attack happened on the 5th March so is 11 days ago now and we do not know if she has eaten anything since.

Am dreading the next update. The first thing Lyn checks in the morning is if she is moving and also several times in the day.
I hope for good news and would love her to just summon the strength to eat or stand but I fear this won't be the case.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Poor Cochin

2010-03-15T17:06:00.003Z

One of the Cochins is unwell, she is the one who was grabbed by that dog just before the dog fled and she has some feathers missing on her back but it's not easy to tell as she has such thick feathers..

We were worried about her as she wasn't eating at first but we still don't think she has eaten and is very weak. She has had a bath today and a hair drying - she loved that, it really chills them out and now she is in he dog crate with her face over a bowl of garden blend, poultry spice and dried mealworms.

She hasn't touched it, nor the water. We have syringed some sugared water in but she didn't really want it.

So Sad, I can't even tell if she is Ting Tong or Desiree as she is a shadow of her former self. :-(

Update 20.15- still v poorly, not eaten or drank even goodies and we think she is ting tong.

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Lincs Little Hens

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The girls must be happier now

2010-03-14T23:21:00.002Z

Yesterday they somehow laid 19 eggs and there were another 10 today plus the ducks have laid too.
My daughters bantams haven't laid at all this year yet, not sure why. That is why her little show banties were such prized possessions.

Note- Must chase up the dog owner tomorrow for compensation! He has until Sunday or a bloomin' good excuse....which I will never believe anyway!

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Interesting!

2010-03-13T04:57:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8561814.stm
half male half female chooks, we have a hen with spurs but doesnt crow and we think she lays

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THE KILLER DOG CAME BACK

2010-03-11T16:11:00.001Z

The killer dog came back today, luckily it leapt into our own dog pen so didn't kill anything. I am furious, both myself and neighbour signed a Police Officers book on Sunday morning to state next door would pay £150 compensation and keep the dog caged and out of our garden and they broke the agreement. We rang the police, told them not to come out as no harm done but if it does or if he doesn't pay compensation within 2 weeks of Sunday (when the agreement was officiated by the policeman) then I shall be asking for an officer to call and possibly the RSPCA too..

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AVIARY PANELS WANTED

2010-03-09T23:31:00.004Z

As stated above, we are after some aviary panels and will happily pay whatever they are worth for either 2nd hand or new ones made by a hobbyist. Most are ridiculously expensive what what is little more than thin wood, staples and mesh! I just wish i wasn't disabled as I'd make my own at least to "pet shop standards"
If you have frames, we will happily buy and staple the mesh on or do repairs.
We are going to try and get to an auction at the end of the month but anything in the meantime, please leave a message on 0845 017 9422 which *should* be free to you if you are on BT as it will transfer to us and we pay for your call.

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More improvement

2010-03-09T23:13:00.003Z

The hens seem to be going from strength to strength and even their egg supply is almost as usual.
My pet Cochins brought themselves out of the house today which is a good sign. I worry so much for them and the Pekins as with being pure breeds they are more delicate whereas if you saw what battery hens go through in their lives before you retire them, you would be shocked that they could ever become "normal chickens"
No sign of the £150 compensation from our neighbour yet but I'm not sure how long to leave it before I say something.....or get my other half to, we really need to get the Eglu "Go" funds' ball rolling.
Any ideas how long I should leave it before mentioning money to the neighbour will be gratefully received.

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The hens are getting over their shock

2010-03-08T17:44:00.004Z

The girls are getting over their shock and have enjoyed some tinned sweetcorn and garden peas as a treat......the ducks protested vocally as they only got a little as I was going in with the hens and they mobbed me when I came out and they were really grumbling and miffed that it had all gone!
I adore the character and personality of the hens and ducks, so so funny and they definitely control us to get what they want. I am strict with my children but daft as a brush with my feathered friends.

I will keep updating but I think they are over the worst of it. They had poultry spice on their food this morning again. They've had a quiet day. My other half had to get my 2 pet Cochins out of their house as they wouldn't come out and were in there yesterday too, so they are the only ones I'm still a bit worried about but pure bred "posh" chickens seem more sensitive to change and upset, the battery hens seem extremely resilient.

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FINGERS CROSSED

2010-03-08T02:50:00.006Z

Fingers crossed.....that once we receive the £150 compensation from our neighbour for our loss and damage (and yes I know I should have asked for more as everyone keeps telling me) but we will do some fundraising to buy one of the new Eglu Go's which come with a fox proof run and you can even buy extra pegs to hold it down securely as they screw into the ground unlike tent pegs.

The Eglu Go will hold upto 4 recovering birds in complete safety even though they are expensive at £330, they last forever AND hold their price very well as I have seen Eglu's on Ebay reach almost the price of brand new ones. These new ones look easy to clean too.

I can just see the garden in the future with Eglu Go's in a multitude of colours!

So if and when the neighbour pays up, I will start a totaliser on here and a countdown of how much more we need.
We must keep these babies safe who have had such a bad start in life. I feel terrible for saving them from slaughter only for them to suffer fear and death from the killer dog.

We did look at the Eglu Cubes for upto 10 hens but I have a covered area with a hen house which is safe for a few more than that, plus the ladder upto the Eglu Cubes doesn't touch the ground so ex battery hens with weakened legs would not be able to get up there. The idea is good but it needs a few tweaks and also needs the extra 1metre of run included in the price....not at £100 extra for some weld mesh! I would love to get in with their design team and design a Cube for ex batts! The cubes are vastly expensive, I think with the extra 1 metre run which in my opinion is necessary, they are around the £700 mark which I would never pay if it wasn't exactly perfect!

The Eglu Go is as good as perfect......except they don't do it in purple yet but the red looks quite funky. The green is vile ;-)

We have decided to aim for raising £350 so that we can also purchase some of the Omelet screw in pegs for the run to keep it extra safe from predators. Please click the link in the last sentence to see what they are.

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Mother Hen Of My Flock's Garden | GoneTooSoon.org - the free online memorial website

2010-03-05T20:19:00.000Z

Mother Hen Of My Flock's Garden | GoneTooSoon.org - the free online memorial website

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Rest in Peace my darlings

2010-03-05T19:56:00.002Z

Rest in Peace Newton, Fenella, Amber, Blanche, Amy, Joan and others who were unidentifiable after being savagely destroyed (whilst in a pen) in broad daylight today by a neighbours lurcher who had leapt a 6 foot fence into our garden and then a 2 metre high one to hurriedly escape with a mouthful of feathers once discovered.

We are devastated and in my moment of horror I called 999 as we still had their dog but it escaped back to its own garden. The police switchboard operative was very nice and called me straight back. I was so pleased as worried they may see me as a time waster but I was hysterical.

The Police were informed and immediately sent round a PCSO and have promised to send a proper PC to deal with it asap.

I am hoping to press charges for damages as the Pekin Bantams were show stock of our 8 year old daughters and the ex battery hens were ones we had rescued but had stayed here due to various health problems or simply that we fell in love with them. We want the neighbour to pay for damages and reinforcements to their side of their fence so their dog cannot escape as if we were to add razor wire, we would be in trouble.

It is going to be a busy weekend reinforcing & roofing everything.

If anyone can help with Heras building site panels, please help us as we are a battery hen rescue organisation with the main hens at our home http://www.lincslittlehens.co.uk

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2 new residents

2010-01-16T20:16:00.002Z

2 new residents moved in during the week, fillet AND nugget- so named as they are not ex batts and are very "meaty"- don't worry we are veggies! Lexi has also gone to join them now the snow has cleared and hopefully will enjoy life as a chicken ;-) rather than a human.
We do have a rescue coming up in the near future but due to the death (murder) of a close friend, it has not been at the forefront of our minds....we can deal with the chooks, it's dealing with people that we are having problems with due to being so depressed. We will be back in gear asap so the chooks don't end up dying too!

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Lincs Little Hens

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Chooky Porridge / hen jumpers

2010-01-03T17:27:00.004Z

Please ensure your hens get some chooky porridge each day whilst it is still light enough for them to eat it. They really appreciate the warmth of the oats and all manner of good healthy things can be put into the mix to give them a healthy boost throughout the winter months. Even a little warm spaghetti/pasta mixed in is appreciated.
They hate the snow so probably won't venture far out of their houses. Ensure their water isn't frozen- Apple cider vinegar in the water apparently makes it less likely to freeze (or it will need a lower temperature) -Not guaranteed though as ours seems to still freeze!

Put plenty of bedding on the floors of their houses to insulate it better and use your common sense. Hens rehomed a while ago should NOT need jumpers and the use of them may cause a hen to overheat and then go into a moult which is not what you want at this time of year. Hen jumpers/ tunics can also get wet and cause a hen to have hypothermia. They should ONLY be used on newly rescued bald hens who are used to humid temperatures and being in close confines in the battery cages or barns. DO NOT use them as a fashion accessory.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Happy New Year

2010-01-03T17:09:00.002Z

Better late than never.....we wish all our friends, rehomers and supporters a fantastic new year and decade ahead.
Lets save hundreds more hens from their cages and impending slaughter and give them the retirement they deserve.
Thankyou to everyone who has helped us since we formed Lincs Little Hens and split our website from Rosah even though they are both still under the umbrella of the Rays of Sunshine Animal Haven

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Lincs Little Hens

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Eggs/worming/winter advice

2009-12-16T00:43:00.005Z

Anyone with hens will know they don't lay many eggs at this time of year with less daylight so this week Mark has been busy and has wormed all the poultry and made the most of their lack of eggs as it means he can use the good stronger stuff where eggs are not meant to be eaten during treatment.
2 Quails who live in the indoor aviary with the cockatiels and budgies actually laid an egg last week. It was so Tiny and looked like a Cadburys chocolate Mini Egg. Am not sure what to do with it, they're meant to be a delicacy but eaten how?
Here is a picture of it alongside a hen egg (a bantam egg is somewhere in between sized)

As the weather is predicted to be a below freezing this week, the hens here get a homemade warm porridge around 3-4pm made of oats with additional Omega 3 oils for any achey joints, poultry spice, garlic for good hearts and circulation and has other benefits too.
Put Apple Cider Vinegar in their water (not if in a galvanised drinker, only plastic) as ACV lowers the freezing point for the water.
Even though we hate using straw due to mites and bugs, this week we will make an exception and ensure they all have a deep layered floor as not many ex batts use the provided low perches.

Please take extra care of your ladies at this time of year, the warm porridge radiates them from the insides for a while, but do not leave them out after dark-get them in the cosiness of their houses where they will snuggle and share warmth.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Back around...

2009-12-15T23:14:00.002Z

We are back....we have put up with my health problems, family business, caring for the animals and SO much but hopefully will update this a little more now.
The calendars have gone out today (altho may have missed last post) they will be with you soon.
We are not doing any rescues until the New year when we are hoping to do one from Nottinghamshire. We didn't want to do one in the run up to xmas as have had some odd enquiries for large amounts of hens.
I found this website today which I think is dreadful http://www.ahenisforchristmas.co.uk/ I will leave u to your own decisions.

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Lincs Little Hens

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FUNDRAISING CALENDARS

2009-09-08T23:54:00.002+01:00

Next week we will be printing and binding our 2010 fundraising calendars which will be good quality, cost a fiver or less plus P+P and will make lovely presents for christmas.
Payment will be accepted by Paypal which means you'll be able to use any credit/debit cards safely or your paypal balance if you use it for selling on ebay.
We won't know the cost of P+P until we have the 1st one hot off the press and find the safest way of packaging them so they don't get bent in the post (which may mean recorded delivery so you have to sign for it rather than the postie cramming it through the letterbox.)

More details to follow and then we will take firm orders.
Thankyou to anyone interested.

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Lincs Little Hens

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POULTRY CRATES

2009-09-05T19:01:00.002+01:00

My other half has been on a trip today to pick up the poultry crates for us. They are bigger than ours,so our original ones will need to go on the bottom row and hopefully the new ones above.
Thankyou so much to Sharron and Justin for purchasing 2 for our venture.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Chickens out campaign

2009-09-03T12:05:00.002+01:00

Please take notice of the Chickens out campaign which shows the short life of meat chickens, which is just 39 days, BUT 39 horrific days as they are forced to grow to mammoth proportions in that short time leading to lameness, heart and lung problems.
Due to the farmers stocking the sheds so intensely, they live on the same litter for their entire life and the build up of ammonia stings their feet and their eyes and also their lungs as they breathe it in. It is not uncommon for 40,000 birds to be in each shed.
We believe that all intensive farming should be stopped as we believe it is cruelty to animals.
Please read the blog of the chooks each day at the Chicken Out website. It is written as though the birds are telling you their story. http://www.chickenout.tv/39-day-blog.html
We are devoted animal lovers.
The Farmers are trying to make a living but I'm sure many have land where the birds could be reared if people could just pay that little bit extra for a free range or organic bird.
The supermarkets need to stop selling intensively reared birds as they are selling an unhealthy animal...no matter how good it may taste!

I also try to preach to people about eggs from caged hens which are so bland compared to fresh, free range eggs. People don't realise until they have "proper eggs" and then go back and have a "supermarket egg". Would you want eggs from a poorly hen? Look at Tiny on our heading. Does she look healthy? She WAS providing caged hen eggs but now lives outside, eating a varied diet with natural supplements and is fully feathered and gorgeous.
Just because the chickens in these farms are vaccinated against certain diseases does not mean they are fit and well as many hens sit amongst carcasses of hens that could take no more.

The same with the meat birds. It is all so unnecessary and very sad.

I love chickens, especially the ex batts and the broiler (meat) birds are stunners too but they cannot be rescued as they would continue to be in so much pain due to their breeding which has made the monstrous sized birds in the first place.

Please, please read the chicken out blog xx

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Lincs Little Hens

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New pages on our website

2009-09-01T21:23:00.003+01:00

I've added some extra pages to our website, FAQ's
Elly's Kitchen, and some pages for people who we have purchased our Bantams, Cochins and Ducks from. I have also made the booking in procedure much clearer, showing the information we need from you. This is on the last page of the site.
Enjoy our ever increasing website. www.lincslittlehens.co.uk

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Lincs Little Hens

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Cheers Callum!

2009-08-31T11:19:00.003+01:00

I just wanted to say thanks for the ducks. We put them on the patio and they were soon quacking, well more like honking like geese, lol. Didn't realise females were quite so loud!!
The boy ducks came through the gate and it was lust at first sight. They are now a happy foursome and the boys will hopefully lose interest in the hens now!

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Lincs Little Hens

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Impending retirement days

2009-08-29T07:35:00.002+01:00

We are retiring some ladies to their new homes on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.
Our first small session just to ease us and the boys into it.
If you are interested in rehoming any hens, please email lincslittlehens@aol.com as we will be taking bookings for future rescues after this weekend with dates to follow.
We are acquainted now with a few farmers willing to work with us which is fantastic so it's all go go go for Lincs Little Hens!!
Plus Mini is getting 2 new pet ducks from Callum on Sunday if we get a minute during the day to collect them.
Saturday (OMG today) I have paperwork to make up along with rehoming packs whilst the family enjoy a day of a local tillage weekend. It's meant to be nice weather. They'll be awake soon, best let the chookies out!

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Lincs Little Hens

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WTF for £900?

2009-08-24T20:20:00.004+01:00

I have a sense of humour and am interested in anything funky and different but.........u gotta laugh at this. Suitable for upto 5 hens apparently. I suppose it looks better than the portaloo type Chicubes hen houses which are the walk in type and would look like a workmans bog in your garden but this looks like it's just landed and little green men with come running out. pmsl.
Oh well, it's given me a chuckle. £900 though! I think he can keep it!

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Lincs Little Hens

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Poultry facts

2009-08-22T09:31:00.000+01:00

The largest chicken egg on record weighed over 12 ounces and measured 14 inches round.

Chickens are quite speedy little birds, they can run about 9 miles per hour!

The longest distance flown by any chicken is 301 and a half feet.

The heaviest chicken is 22lbs. (10kg approx.) and belonged to Grant Sullens of West Point, California, USA. This breed of chicken is a' White Sully'. It is known to have a very mean temper as it has been reported to have killed two cats and wounded a dog.

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Lincs Little Hens

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New website almost ready to go live!

2009-08-22T02:14:00.002+01:00

Just a few tweeks needed over the weekend (If I have time) and a double check proof read and it'll be all systems go.
Not a lot has changed but quite a lot, if you know what I mean. I have kept the same colour scheme as I love teal and I like the simplicity of the pages, meaning I can just put in the html and go.
Ria and Neil came by earlier to pick up Mildred and I REALLY hope the settles in ok. Worst thing was, yesterday I got my days muddled and thought they were coming, then Mark told me it was today....and then we forgot! Hence being very disorganised, children misbehaving and running Mark ragged.
Thankyou Ria & Neil so much for the donation to Lincs Little Hens, it is much appreciated and has gone in the crate fund so when I purchase more I will add Neils business as a sponsor! Don't worry if Mildred doesn't fit in as we can try Caramel and see if she does. Caramel lives with our Pekins as she seems a target for bullies but we don't know why as she is beautiful.
Ivy is well, having her bum cream on her prolapse twice a day. She hasn't laid any eggs whilst here....yet so I'm hoping it all stays in!
Must get some sleep, lots of paperwork to sort out tomorrow. Mark is of to LHR tomorrow for hens and the same on Sunday.
Once I get cracking on the website, i get a bit addicted to it. I've always loved tinkering with websites since the world wide web first arrived!

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Lincs Little Hens

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Sad news about the chick :-(

2009-08-20T19:20:00.002+01:00

Mini found the poor little chick that fought so hard to escape it's eggshell yesterday, had died this morning.

It's very sad news. The chick was unexpected but we celebrated and then to lose it is awful.
Mini seems very hardened to death though, for a seven year old she is very understanding and accepting of life and death and mature beyond her years in many ways.

Nothing else has hatched so maybe that was it. I'm sad. I wonder if the chick was too warm over night or was stood on. We really are novices at hatching under broodies so I suppose maybe we should have removed it, or removed the others. Last time all was well though and the 2 mothers fussed around while Daddy Pekin was protective as I'm told most Pekin cockerels are (or I would have removed him) Maybe an accident happened in the night or there was something wrong with chicky. We'll never know.

Poor little cheeper. R.I.P Chicky

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Lincs Little Hens

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ANARCHY!

2009-08-20T02:23:00.006+01:00

I have always been a free spirit in the hippy sense. I hate being suffocated by rules. Love being my own boss and doing things my way and have had so much on my mind lately with Freecycle and hens it's made me more ill than usual, so I have decided to unshackle myself, throw off the chains, become an anarchist and do it my way!

Hence the new website coming soon! I feel unburdened for the first time in ages and ages.

I will also help Alan and Tony however I can in moderating Freecycle but shall resign from being a group owner as the rules there (coming over from America) are getting stupid. Freecycle UK is on the verge of a revolt against the U.S and I just don't want the politics of it all. I only ever started our local group (in 2005) to try and do my bit for this country for the future of MY children. My heart just isn't in it anymore. I had plans but haven't the time.

With the hen rescue, I only ever wanted to save those poor hens from hellish battery cages having seen the state of them and wanting to give them a happy retirement but we are now in a position to be going it alone as Lincs Little Hens which is such a weight off both our minds.

We have ran Rosah Rescue for long enough now, have admin, website, budgeting skills, communication skills and common sense as well as hardworking physical helpers and LOTS of support, so we may as well branch out ourselves and do more!

We do not want to jeopardise any other rescue groups as there are so many hens that still do go to slaughter from farms that haven't been approached by other rescues so with the help of a friend, we are sourcing farmers willing to work with us.

Please look out for us as Lincs Little Hens. The website will be up and running in full next week.

I feel the best I have felt in ages, I am not afraid of hard work so long as my body copes and it usually runs on adrenaline on hen rescues. My other half and my posse are not afraid of hard work either so POWER TO THE PEOPLE!! God I am in a Fabaroony mood! No alcohol involved!

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Lincs Little Hens

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Pekin Chick

2009-08-19T20:41:00.002+01:00

Mini found a Pekin chick under Fenella and Amber today. Fenella started the brood off ages ago but got off when she thought nothing would hatch and Amber jumped on and today was a cheeping from a little black and white chick. I imagine it will be a silver birchen again. I had really hoped the duck eggs were fertile as I would LOVE those to hatch but they must be past their date by now and the duck that laid them is an old lady. It's a shame. Oh well, Mini is over the moon and needs something to make her smile as she's been a bit mad lately with no school routine or LHR.

Anyone may have noticed the website is going through a thorough cleanse and will be up and running properly in a week or 2, health, kids and time permitting.

I've put our contact number on and map to the ex batts collection point but the whole site needs freshening up although I will keep the same colour scheme as I like teal.

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Lincs Little Hens

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HUGE Cochins and tiny Pekins

2009-08-18T16:08:00.002+01:00

Well I got my early birthday present, not one BUT two Cochins named Desireé DeVere and TingTong from Tooting (Little Britain fans in this house)
Desireé suits her name, seems to have a lot to say for herself. Ting Tong is better handled I'd say.
Mark has built another house the same as the Pekins with the intention of our 2nd cockerel, Midas sleeping in there with Ebony and the big girls but they all bunk up together with so little room between them and Mark has to go in at bedtime and do a shuffle with them or they'd get too hot overnight.

No grass, no plants although the buddleia is fighting back. Looks like wasteland not what was my nice green garden ;-) Pekins, Cochins and an ex battery girl who gets bullied in the main flock.

Just arrived home

Mark cuddling Ting Tong (We later realised on Little Britain that Ting Tong is actually male as "Mr Dudley" found out) Oh well!

These are our chicks bought from Power Poultry and getting bigger and more beautiful everyday.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Having a few bad days....

2009-08-13T23:42:00.002+01:00

Sorry I haven't updated on here. I'm having a few of days, you know, down in the dumps days.
I've been sat outside with the chookies today and managed to get pooped on ;-) Is it meant to be good luck?
I'm hoping to get a Cochin hen at last asap, will keep you posted. Obviously she will be my pet and live with our other "posh birds" Will keep you posted. I may cheer up then.

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Lincs Little Hens

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Ex Batts Facebook application

2009-08-12T07:13:00.001+01:00

Ex Battery Hens on Facebook

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Lincs Little Hens

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GO FREE RANGE!

2009-08-11T16:30:00.001+01:00

Life in a battery cage… means life behind bars!

A typical metal battery cage

is completely barren
is about the size of a microwave oven
allows each hen a useable area of 550cm2, less than the size of an A4 piece of paper
houses up to five hens for a year
does not allow the hens to fully stand up straight, stretch their wings, run, fly or make a nest. All they can do is eat, drink, pass waste and, of course, lay eggs.

Confinement, boredom and overcrowding in these tiny cages can cause frustration, aggression and feather-pecking among chickens. The birds may also experience chronic suffering, osteoporosis, severe bone weakness, physical deformity and premature death.

Please don’t buy into the cruelty of battery eggs, GO FREE RANGE!

Barn hens don't fare much better, contrary to popular belief

Barns do have nesting areas but are often of sharp uncomfortable metal that scratches the breasts of the hens and rubs the feathers away.

The hens often suffer respiratory problems due to the high volume of ammonia in the barns which are cleaned out sometimes every six months and sometimes not at all during the 60+ weeks that the birds are confined there.

The floors of the barns are slats which the droppings theoretically fall through into the slurry pit below. The hens live amongst carcasses of the weaker hens who couldn't take any more.

The hens spend their lives crammed in the barns and cannot escape from bullies. They lose their feathers through stress and have never seen natural daylight.

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The best way to ensure where and how your own eggs were produced is to have your own hens. It is becoming acceptable once more to keep a few hens in gardens for your own egg supply.

To rescue ex battery/barn hens is the kindest thing you can do. These hens still have lots of eggs left to lay, make lovely pets and grow into stunning birds as their new feathers grow and you will feel so emotional, witnessing them behaving like proper hens without being taught how to dig for worms and dust bathe.It makes you realise how unnatural it was for them cooped up in such terrible conditions and that the farmers view that they "know nothing else" is nonsense because they must yearn for a patch of soil to dig whilst stuck in their living hell.

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Lincs Little Hens

Sponsor packs

2009-08-07T15:44:00.002+01:00

Another sponsor pack has gone today by recorded delivery so if you are expecting one from Lincs Little Hens, please listen out for the postie as we always send them by recorded delivery.

If you cannot keep your own hens and would like to sponsor one instead, please look in the right column of this blog. Each sponsorship costs £20 per year which works out at £1.67 per month! What a fab present for someone who has EVERYTHING! or someone difficult to buy for? These packs help the hens as they pay towards the food bills and also towards the new crates we need for our trailer as we can bring more hens back to Lincolnshire now.

Even if you have your own hens, please help if you can! Every penny goes to the hens.

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Lincs Little Hens

Price increase

2009-08-05T18:55:00.002+01:00

Due to a few months of very high overheads with food, fuel and enormous vets bills, Little Hen Rescue have no option but to increase the price of hens to £2.50 each with immediate effect.

This affects all the people booked in for the rescue later this month.

We are sorry we have had to take this step, we had lots of hens at HQ who we couldn't rehome due due illness and who were "off their legs" and needing extra TLC. The food bill for these hens is huge. We also had many who needed vet attention and that bill was over £1000 for a month.

We are hoping that the "right" people will still want the hens. We did worry that some people were just wanting the hens because they were cheap.

LHR have to pay the farmers whatever the slaughterman would pay as the farmers expect something back at the end of the hens time with them.

Little Hen Rescue is unlike ANY of the other rescues even the VERY well known ones. The reason LHR is different is because of the premises and enclosures/buildings which means we rescue EVERY hen whereas the "other" rescues leave behind any that they cannot immediately rehome which to be honest, personally sickens me.

Jo is dedicated to giving EVERY hen a chance which makes her so special.

Please continue to support Little Hen Rescue save even more hens. We appreciate everyone who supports us!

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Lincs Little Hens

LOTS OF LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

New trailer for rescues

2009-08-04T13:40:00.003+01:00

We are sorted for a trailer.

Got a nice brand new Bateson one from Bearts at Stowbridge. I'd initially wanted something more heavy duty but these are ok for heavy quad bikes so a few chook crates and sacks of food should be fine.

We received NO donations towards the trailer at all and have funded it entirely ourselves, as with most things which we do not resent in the slightest as we love the hens and that is our reward.

Please see our sponsors page.We now hope to also go to the farms with Little Hen Rescue and help with the initial rescuing of the hens. The trailer we have just purchased a 8 x 4 ft Bateson trailer with metal sides and mesh which comes quite high which is ideal for the poultry crates in it, and bedding bales/sacks of food etc...It has a metal gridded high tailgate which is an ideal ramp for our quad, my trike or for walking up with crates.
When travelling we can tarpaulin the top in case of rain BUT also the mesh sides will allow fresh air to get to the hens as they get so hot travelling.

We also hope to eventually transport hens as far as Newark in Nottinghamshire which will give easy access to rehomers from the North and South via the A1, which we couldn't even consider without a trailer.

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Lincs Little Hens

*** LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

Little sweet ferret kits of ours

2009-08-02T22:35:00.004+01:00

Not chook related but my Hubbys babies from before their eyes opened to them now at around 5 weeks. 1 kit with eyes fully opened, 1 kit with 1 open and 1 half open and 2 with hardly opened eyes. I have chosen mine which is Turpin with the darkest face (named after Dick Turpin who is often portrayed in a black mask), we may end up keeping "Pale Face" too who resembles a seal at the moment.
They are our boys and were bred as pets. We have homes for whoever we don't keep and they are well handled so hopefully won't be biters. Fangy Face Junior keeps having a taste but just a nip. The excuse is his eyes aren't open properly so he has to feel with his mouth instead.

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Lincs Little Hens

LOTS OF LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

Betsy hen

2009-08-02T15:27:00.001+01:00

Mark has just gone to take Betsy hen home. Betsy came to us with a prolapse and I initially treated her and she went home. On the way back she wriggled out of her bandage and had pushed the prolapse out again. Her owner tried to put it back in but didn't have much joy so Mark went to pick Betsy up for me to try again. Sadly by then, (the next day) it had dried out so was difficult to treat so all I could really do was keep slapping on the piles cream so it shrinks the bulge.
I advised a corn diet but as she lives free range it will be difficult to keep her on a separate diet so I *think* she is rejoining her flock and we've just got to keep our fingers crossed that anything liable to pop back out is shrivelled by the piles cream and therefore stays where it should do.
She lives a charmed life freeranging on lots of land and I know for a fact that she would have been put down by a vet which would be an unnecessary waste of life.
If she ever needs to come back, she can do.

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Lincs Little Hens

*** LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

A bonus for RoSAH Rescue / Lincs Little Hen Rescue when business customers make their first purchase

2009-07-30T21:12:00.002+01:00

£5 bonus for RoSAH Rescue / Lincs Little Hen Rescue

RoSAH Rescue / Lincs Little Hen Rescue will receive an additional £5 when new business customers shop at Euroffice.

RoSAH Rescue / Lincs Little Hen Rescue will receive not only 8% of what you spend but for a limited period we'll get a £5 bonus for every business customer that makes a purchase.

As an introductory offer businesses can choose from 20% off their first order or one of many free gifts.

Popular Products for businesses:

This is a limited offer so if you need to buy stationery for your business visit Euroffice now.

Tell everyone about this, to help spread the message you'll find posters in our webshop.

Don't forget every purchase counts!

Visit www.buy.at/RoSAHRESCUE for more great offers from over 150 top retailers.

Forward this mail on to help RoSAH Rescue / Lincs Little Hen Rescue raise funds. Please forward this mail on if you think that you know people who would like to receive it.

Responsible emailing

Remember if someone receives this mail from you, then tells you they don't want to receive a similar one again you must not send them future messages. If you are considering forwarding it on you must do so only to people who you consider would like to receive it and to whom the content is relevant. If you have a formally-managed list you must only send it to those who have expressed that they wish to receive such mail from you.

Purchases made through www.buy.at/RoSAHRESCUE are made according to the information and terms provided by the company making the sale to you. Further details on using the buy.at shop are provided on the site.

--
Kind Regards,
Lyn
http://www.lincslittlehens.co.uk
http://www.rosahrescue.co.uk

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.

LHR HQ working weekend

2009-07-27T22:08:00.004+01:00

Joyriding hoodlums

OMG They ran him over!!

Quick, call for help, there's a fat man squashed in the grass!! lol

As you can see, there was fun aplenty at Little Hen Rescue for the working weekend.

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Lincs Little Hens

314 LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

Answer me these questions if you can!

2009-07-27T00:50:00.004+01:00

Why does it state on a box of eggs some allergy advice about containing egg? Of course it blooming contains egg or you wouldn't be buying eggs!!!!! DUH! lol

And why when even the TV Chefs say to keep your eggs somewhere cool but NOT in the fridge, do the boxes say "Keep refrigerated after purchase" ??

Eggs are ALWAYS tastier from room temperature just like tomatoes. They will also last as long, if not longer if they NEVER see a fridge. They don't travel to the shops in fridges and are on the shelves in the stores!

Click to enlarge the images above and below.

Just silly little things like this tend to irritate me!

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Lincs Little Hens

303 LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

Busy weekend

2009-07-26T23:51:00.003+01:00

Mark went over to help our with general jobs at LHR HQ and I stayed home with our animals and our 8 year old girl.
I felt lousy so wasn't up to much but took 2 cabbages out for the chooks and they stripped the 1st 1 bare in minutes, the bantams and girls in that enclosure has half a cabbage.

Last night I maybe tried to get them into bed too early as Hubby normally does it but I didn't want to leave it later in case my tablets kicked in...well u could've done the Benny Hill music to me chasing big Pekin chicks around, I must've looked a total idiot.

I then came in and flopped asleep until the early hours when I woke for more tablets. I tehn put the chooks out at a reasonable hour. Didn't want to upset the neighbours with the boys doodling too early.

I took cabbage, sweetcorn and garden pea mix for them and collected a measly 8 eggs.

I let my man put them all away tonight but he left it that little bit later and even the Pekins had taken themselves in. I don't reckon Fenella will hatch any eggs, she's just messing about being huffy. She had left them all cold this morning. She was spread out but the eggs were away slightly from her and all cold. I'd LOVE her to hatch a duck egg off though. That would be lovely.

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Lincs Little Hens

303 LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

Sponsorship packs-posting tomorrow!

2009-07-23T14:32:00.003+01:00

To anyone awaiting a sponsorship pack, we are posting them tomorrow. He hope you will be happy upon receiving your pack and that the sponsorship will run for 12 months starting from the 1st August 2009

Thankyou so much for helping the recovered and recovering hens in our care.
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Lincs Little Hens

281 LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

EGGS - To wash or not to wash?

2009-07-22T19:59:00.003+01:00

Everyone knows where eggs come from, right? So, just by the nature of their existence, most folks feel that eggs need to be washed, and washed well. For the most part, I disagree. My disagreement stems from both personal opinion and documented fact. Myself and Hubby have been having quite an argument about this one as I'm quite happy to leave a bit of dirt on and put them out for sale, a bargain at £1 for half a dozen with the organic diet our hens have, who can complain at a bit of muck? whereas he was mortified, brought them all in and scrubbed them!

For the sake of education, here are several egg washing myths compared to the reasons why eggs really shouldn't be washed, don't really need to be washed and actually do better if they are not washed.

Myth 1 - Eggs must be refrigerated.

Nope, they don't. The average egg, if left unwashed, can be stored on your kitchen worktop in a bowl for up to two weeks prior to having any obvious ageing effects. In fact, if you have any desire to successfully boil and peel a true farm fresh egg, you really should sit it on the counter at room temperature for several days. A truly fresh egg that is boiled will not peel, large chunks of the white will remain attached to the shell and the egg will be badly torn up. The reason for this is that the shell is porous and not airtight. Air is constantly transferring into the egg from outside the shell - this is what causes the white to separate from the shell, allowing the shell to be peeled away. More on this later.

Myth 2 - Eggs aren't "clean" until they are washed.

Nope. When a chicken lays an egg, there is a microscopically thin membrane that covers the shell. This membrane is called "the bloom". The bloom actually blocks the pores that allow air and germs to transfer into an egg, causing ageing and possible contamination. Eventually, the bloom will wear away because of handling, etc, allowing air to transfer into the egg - and maybe some other stuff, too. Leaving an egg unwashed allows the bloom to do its job. If the bloom is powerful enough to seal a fertilised egg and allow a healthy, viable chick to grow inside, it is undoubtedly powerful enough to keep the egg "clean" for you.

Myth 3 - But, grocery store eggs are washed and they stay fresh longer.

Nope, they really don't last longer. A refrigerated unwashed egg and refrigerated washed egg, from day one, do not age the same. Guess which one stays fresher longer? (I hope you knew to go with "unwashed" on this one.)
A little something that many folks don't know, but could deduce if they thought about it, is that the eggs in the shops are, generally speaking, not fresh. In this, I am speaking of large scale egg producing operations for the commercial market.
First, the egg is laid by a chicken. The egg is sorted, washed, graded, etc and generally packaged in large amounts to be properly packaged elsewhere then transported there... Some producers final package their eggs in house, most sell to another company that will brand and package the eggs. The initial process of inspection, etc, takes time on the scale of a day or so, depending on how many eggs are produced and how many employees are sorting eggs, etc. Now, regardless of how quickly the eggs may have been inspected, they have to wait for the lorry to come and pick them up. The haulage companies are scheduled in advance and may be arriving the next day, or maybe not for another week, again, this depends on the size and scale of the operation.
The eggs are now shipped, not to the grocery, but to a warehouse where, if they were unpackaged, they are now double checked (things break during delivery and of course, eggs are fragile), re-sorted and packaged. How long does this process take? Following this, we are again waiting on the truck that will be making delivery of the eggs. The truck comes and picks up the eggs.
The eggs are now taken to a distribution warehouse where they will be sorted into other trucks that should be taking them, and other perishable food goods, to their final destination. Here we are, waiting on the truck again. Oh, and these eggs, once on any of the trucks, could be heading for who knows where over who knows how many miles? Distribution on this scale is generally not localised, so we need to be calculating transit time on the various trucks, too.

Okay, so now the eggs have arrived at their final destination, they are offloaded and placed in the back of the cooler. Eggs aren't necessarily selling at the speed of light, so they may be in the cooler for a couple of days (or much more) until they make it to the consumer's home.

Saying that two weeks have passed since the chicken produced the egg and the egg was cracked into a frying pan is generally considered to be a conservative estimate. Yum, two week old eggs! These eggs are "good" only because consumers are told that they are and don't have much to compare them to. I promise, a two week old that has sat on my kitchen worktop, unwashed and unrefrigerated, is better and fresher than any commercial egg you pick up "fresh" from the local supermarket. Maybe that is to do with my hens being healthier in the first place but when my hens lay their eggs, they are dated in pencil with their "lay date" and sold from the house, "as they come" if it's me putting them out and scrubbed clean if my other half is doing it.

I'd like to know the opinions of other hen owners selling their eggs and also consumers. Any comments welcomed.
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Lincs Little Hens

281 LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

A recommendation- tried and tested by us!

2009-07-21T15:37:00.009+01:00

Shockingly my children have eaten eggs in every form except boiled and I was wary of boiling them thinking they'd waste them so when I spotted some things called "Shrinkies" on ebay being sold by Home Farm Fowls ebay shop ran by chickenfee I had to try some to see if I could encourage the kids to eat them.
The eggs were boiled yesterday and the shrinkies shrunk quickly to surround the hard shell and making the egg look pretty and inviting. Here is a tinyurl link to the shrinkies as the ebay link was HUGE. I cannot recommend these highly enough to anyone as my kids are just about to have boiled eggs again-it's a good job I bought 2 packs. http://tinyurl.com/ebayshrinkies

Absolutely brilliant! Well worth the £2.99 plus £1 postage. If you buy more than one pack, the postage is still just £1.

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Lincs Little Hens

258 TASTY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH

Sponsorships of hens to raise funds

2009-07-21T04:00:00.002+01:00

We have several ex battery hens who had a bad life and upon rescue needed and in some cases, still need extra TLC.
These hens will stay with us forever and the list of hens available for sponsorship will grow but we are currently just awaiting some gifts to be delivered so we can send off the sponsor packs already ordered.
For each pack, please allow 21 days for delivery and if we have an item out of stock, we can get it in rather than have to substitute something in your pack.
If you would like your sponsorship delivered as a gift, please give the recipients details on the paypal form and also the birthdate or special event date (which again, must be more than 21 days away)

Sponsor packs cost £20 and included in the wallet you will receive a photo card, birthday & christmas card (if birthday provided), a small gift, a laminated photograph and a letter about your hen or hens. How they are now and the history we know about them.
Sponsorship lasts 12 months from delivery date. We post by recorded delivery.

Currently awaiting sponsors are Pickle and Pingu (£20 for both) , Our mascot Tiny who arrived as a pigeon sized bald little scrap of a hen and also Lexi and Annalise (£20 for both) who both came back to us from separate owners, with leg injuries either from being cramped in the battery cage or from the hens trying to do a little bit too much upon finding freedom and leaping about and pulling muscles or bruising themselves. Lexi and Annalise still have a limp now.

Please see the right hand column of the blog for details of the individual hens involved in the sponsorship scheme. Treat someone to an unusual gift whilst helping the care of animals at the same time. Ideal for the person who already has "everything"

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Lincs Little Hens

258 HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Turkey chicks at LHR

2009-07-21T01:34:00.002+01:00

NEWS AT LHR HQ

Welcome our new residents

1 week old Bernard Matthews turkeys, they were taken off site and are not allowed to be returned due to bio-security.

These little guys will now be our lovely resident turkeys, hopefully joining us for shows, and educational visits.

Soon our little Bernards will be up for sponsorship, so keep an eye on www.littlehenrescue.co.uk for our slightly different gift!

Aren't they so gorgeous. I have asked Jo to keep a photo diary of their progress as they will change so much.

Back to Sutton Bridge news

One of our Pekin Bantams, Fenella is brooding again and has even managed to pull an ex battery hen egg under her which is in no way fertile. She is also sitting on a duck egg which we do not know if it's fertile.
As we usually take any cockerel chicks immediately to the Norfolk HQ when they leave their Mum around 8 weeks old so they stand more of a chance of getting rehomed, Jo is getting quite a backlog of them so any of these that won't be staying will be rehomed from us so anyone interested, please get in touch.
We have not set the minimum donation for a Pekin yet as obv they are more valuable and so help our rescue more as they raise more funds. Pekin Bantam Cockerels will probably be £3 and hens £10. They are always wormed, healthy, used to people and eating well.
Should the duck egg be fertile and hatch, we will be keeping it.

We have currently had 258 eggs from the batty girls this month and as Amy is going out to join Lexi and Tiny in the Des Res tomorrow, I won't have any hens in my hospital pens :-(

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Ex Batts Facebook application

2009-07-20T03:28:00.001+01:00

Ex Battery Hens on Facebook

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

217 eggs now!

2009-07-16T17:55:00.002+01:00

These girls keep laying and I've no idea how many eggs Fenella is brooding. They're amazing.

Dean from Urban Poultry's stickers arrived today for the chook mobile. I'll take a pic when they are in. Need to Mr Muscle the windows first.

We're making a little egg stall for outside and Mark sorted out the cash tin and we've got some adaptations to make to help save the eggboxes from getting soggy if it rains.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Free range human ;-)

2009-07-13T18:15:00.002+01:00

Free Range human- click to enlarge

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Lincs Little Hens

166 HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

WOW look at these on ebay

2009-07-13T15:12:00.002+01:00

These are a fantastic novelty for kids to have on their eggs.
They're called shrinkies and u put them on the eggs before boiling and they shrink to fit.
SEE HERE
If the link doesn't work, look up Home Farm Fowls on ebay and then shrinkies

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

The chook mobile is getting more "chooked up"

2009-07-13T00:46:00.004+01:00

And I must be hormonal cos I'm venting, lol

I'm getting some stickers for my car from Urban-Chickens.com which is a forum I keep finding myself on and thoroughly enjoy.
I love our LHR Yahoo group and helping anyone new to hens but it's also nice to know I can go on there and ask anything I should know, but don't! lol

Urban Chickens forum is the only one besides our own Ex batts group that we actually recommend amongst the links on our website.

Many forums we simply refuse to endorse. One particular one whose founder thinks Jamie Oliver is a God and Tesco is a swear word! and that if anyone wants to discuss eating meat they are banned from the group after having messages removed. I was in THAT nameless forum, admittedly for ex batts (so possibly not inappropriate but off topic) and received a daily digest of emails as you do on Yahoo groups. Well none of the messages flowed as so many had been removed because they didn't match the forum founders views (I say that rather than forum owner as on Yahoo groups, Yahoo are the owners.) I got a bit disgruntled and complained and was banned myself. It's ridiculous. The man hadn't tried to flame anyone but was asking an opinion of something and the majority of regular posters jumped on him ripping him to pieces, poor chap.. One of my messages was once removed as I questioned Jamie Oliver's motives. He's not exactly doing it out of kindness is he? Same as the school dinners fiasco. He used that to prop up his profile like other people go into the jungle on "I'm a celeb, get me out of here" to revive their popularity and screen time.

Everyone has their own opinion yet some people are too far up their own backsides. If someone started talking about something non ex commercial hen related on LHR group, I'd probably point out Urban-Chickens to them. I wouldn't remove messages. I have a statement on the forum saying the views are those of the members and are not necessarily the views of the moderators.

Many people on THAT other Yahoo group are meat eaters yet are shocked at the thought of people rearing and culling their own birds for the table. Why? It's kinder than buying them from a supermarket.

I'm a vegetarian (I don't eat eggs either but only cos I hate the smell of them -not quite vegan though) but I don't mind what others do, am I a minority?
I always think that if an animal has had a nice life and is culled humanely then that is fine. I don't agree with commercial farming and wish that if everyone who wanted to eat meat had to learn how to rear, kill and cook it then there would be more veggies and less animal suffering in the world. Apparently when my Grandma was still alive (she died before I was born) she wouldn't think twice about skinning a rabbit.

As a girl, my Grandad would visit at Christmas and bring Christmas dinner with him....complete with it's fur or feathers attached. He would then go into the kitchen and either skin or pluck whatever it was and that would be presented for dinner (which I think is why both myself and sister are veggies) We would witness this and I particularly staged many a Christmas protest and 1 year bought some small pizzas and grilled them and sat eating those instead.

My Grandad was an animal lover. He loved all wild birds and animals, all breeds of poultry and water fowl. He had a lake in his garden that my sister used to row a rubber dinghy in across to the island in the middle. I spent my time being chased by a hissing, spitting goose that didn't like me. He kept pigeons too and was also a Game dealer. He loved animals but loved eating them too. That was HIS choice.

I enjoy being a vegetarian and the volume of tasty meals available nowadays compared to when I first became vegetarian 13 years ago has improved so much. I "think" my sister was at least a year before me. In those days it was just Linda McCartney stuff which is gross (in my opinion) but I couldn't eat an animal because I cannot separate that thought of the animal alive, to the meat after processing.
I'd love to say I'm vegan but cannot as Quorn still has eggs in as a stiffener. I did email them and they said they were looking into an alternative to eggs and when they found something suitable, they would go vegan. I do still have a little chocolate too! If Quorn give up the eggs though I will become vegan and eat choc only made with soya milk etc...

Anyway, there's a bit about me and my beliefs. Each to their own, everyone is individual, be kind to animals whether they are pets or for eating and be respectful of people like me's views.

The ex battery hens that we rehome are only for pet homes. They would never fatten up to be viable table birds, Also, we rescued them to enjoy a pleasurable retirement not to be culled unless for medical reasons on the advice of a vet. I am just accepting that some people east meat and feel they should raise and cull their own if they must.

Lyn
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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Special treat for tomorrow

2009-07-13T00:17:00.003+01:00

My hospital girls, Amy, Lexi and Tiny had some today when it cooled down and had huge crops by this evening as it must've been delicious, but the other girls will get theirs tomorrow afternoon. (and prob Amy, Tiny & Lexi will get more)

Firstly I scrambled 15 eggs with 2 tins of drained sweetcorn, then added a scoop of poultry spice and 2 scoops of garlic powder and then a good slosh of fish oils and scrambled it all together.
The last time I made it I was mobbed as soon as I went into their gateway with my stainless steel bowl that they recognise as goodies and one of the girls flew from my garden chair and landed in the bowl so I need to be quick either scattering it or putting the bowl down.

I may make a bit more tomorrow. We've certainly no shortage of eggs. There doesn't look enough to go around. Maybe I should've done 1 egg per bird. I'm still getting used to my quantities as the numbers of birds keep going up.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Montage of Tiny

2009-07-12T00:00:00.002+01:00

Here is a montage of Tiny, our mascot hen. The small pic above where it says "Tiny" was taken in her baldest state and the others were taken as she gradually regrew new feathers.
Click to enlarge it.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

We are nearly booked up for Aug 22/23

2009-07-11T20:28:00.002+01:00

As the title says, we are almost booked up for Aug 22nd/23rd but still send in your details as we will be doing another rescue in August and one in September so if I have all the information I need I can book you in for those rescues should you miss this one.
Many Thanks in advance

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

A couple of funny pics

2009-07-11T16:50:00.003+01:00

I've been emailed these amusing chooky pics today and hope they will make u smile like I did.
Click to enlarge them. Make someone elses day by sending them the pics too ;-)

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

PLEASE SPONSOR A HEN

2009-07-10T21:29:00.003+01:00

Would you please consider sponsoring a resident hen that has arrived here with health issues and will be staying with us for life?

We will make up a lovely sponsor pack for anyone purchasing one of these for themselves or as a gift. With 21 days notice, we will ensure it is received by the recipient on a special date and will give information on the particular chicken or two, a laminated photograph, a sponsorship certificate, a newsletter on how "your" hen is doing, an extra "secret" gift, a birthday and a christmas card.

Please email us to order one on lincslittlehens@aol.com OR use the Paypal button and you can leave your details on the Paypal form. Each sponsorship costs £20 for the year.

Sponsorships will enable us to purchase more poultry crates which we desperately need as we always need to bring more hens to Lincolnshire than we are able to. By bringing more hens in one go will cut down our personal fuel bill and impact on the environment made by us making extra trips to Norwich.

Please help us if you can and pass this onto anyone you think may like to give or receive a hen sponsorship as a gift.

Thanks in advance
Lyn
Lincs Coordinators of Little Hen Rescue
www.lincslittlehens.co.uk

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Potential rehomers contacted

2009-07-10T15:16:00.005+01:00

I RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM THE BOSS ;-) JO, THE RESCUE IS THE 22ND/23RD AUGUST!

Today I have emailed all of the potential rehomers so now I need to sit back and await the booking in replies.
Maybe some people will have acquired hens else where by now since we couldn't supply to everyone who wanted some from the 10,000 but I still have a folder full of people awaiting hens that haven't internet access.

PS
IF YOU HAVEN'T RECEIVED AN EMAIL YET AND HAVE ALREADY CONTACTED US FOR SUTTON BRIDGE COLLECTION, PLEASE EMAIL US AGAIN AS WE HAVE HAD QUITE A FEW EMAILS RETURNED TO US UNDELIVERED WHERE PEOPLE HAVE PUT A WRONG EMAIL ADDRESS ON THE CONTACT FORM!

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

August Hen Rescue 2009

2009-07-10T02:43:00.007+01:00

Rescue Date- August 2009 Sutton Bridge PE12 9YN (FOR SAT NAVS) or http://www.tinyurl.com/hencollection

WE DO NOT YET HAVE A CONFIRMED DATE FOR THE RESCUE AS WE RELY ON THE FARMERS TO ALLOW US TO COLLECT THE HENS AT THEIR CONVENIENCE.

If once we have booked you in, we find the date isn't convenient for you, we will book you in first on our next rescue after August.

We are limited in the hens we can bring back due to the amount of crates we own. We therefore work on a first come, first served basis when booking people in. Any donations of poultry crates or cash to purchase poultry crates are gratefully received. If you purchase one for us, we will add your details permanently to the crate as a thankyou.

We are Lyn & Mark and we are the Lincolnshire coordinators for Little Hen Rescue.

Our telephone number is 0845 017 9422. If you need us urgently, please leave a message if it goes to answerphone as we may be with our animals. We will call you back if you leave a message but not if you just hang up.

On the day of the rescue, we won't be on the above number but our mobile Vodafone number is 07500 693 207. Please call us if there is a problem.
This is our local site dedicated to Jo's cause which has products and services for our area in

Lincolnshire rather than Norwich, Norfolk

http://www.lincslittlehens.co.uk
http://www.littlehenrescue.co.uk

Below is the standard email which we'd be grateful if you can read and reply to. You may have already given the info to Jo at LHR but as we will be dealing with the paperwork for any hens rehomed from Sutton Bridge, We'd be grateful if you can supply us with the information so we can organise things at our end in advance to save time on hen collection day.

Please make sure you have read >>Info on ex battery hens <<>>What you'll need.. <<

Adoption forms will need to be read and signed on the day. We ask a minimum donation of £1.50 a hen. Any extra is always welcomed but obviously not expected.

We will also stock Layers meal £7,

Verm x liquid herbal wormers £16,
Purple antiseptic spray £4,

Small feeders and drinkers £8.50 each (subject to availability)
Straw 80p per bag
Grit 50p per small bag

LINCS LITTLE HENS SMALL ESSENTIALS STARTER PACK (for upto 5 hens) includes;
Small feeder
Small drinker
20kg layers meal
Large bale of treated horse bedding recommended by us
Purple Spray
Grit
1 litre Apple Cider Vinegar recommended by us
Rehoming pack

Price £42

LINCS LITTLE HENS LARGE ESSENTIAL STARTER PACK (for 5- 10 hens) includes;
Large feeder with lid
Large Drinker
20kg Layers meal
Large bale of treated horse bedding recommended by us
Purple Spray
Grit
1 litre Apple Cider Vinegar recommended by us
Rehoming pack

Price £52

These MUST be ordered upon booking your hens!

If you wish to purchase any of these, please tell us in advance as we only bring back the amounts that we need and we pack up the starter packs in advance.

Please reply to this message as soon as possible stating

- Your name,
- address
- contact numbers (mobile & landline if possible)

- Amount of hens you require
- Any extras you would like to purchase. We make hardly any profit but obviously every penny helps the rescue.

We can then start the booking in process once we have this information.

Please start the subject line of your reply with"Booking in"

TRANSPORTING HENS

You will need carriers of some description, they need to be enclosed but airy. The most important thing is the hens are kept cool and safe.

Some examples of transportation;

- Chicken crates

- Pheasant crates

- Cat carriers

- Dog crates

- Indoor rabbit cages

- Cardboard pet carriers available from pet shops

- Cardboard boxes with plenty of air holes, taped at the bottom for security.

Our Sutton Bridge collection point is> http://tinyurl.com/hencollection

It is important that you meet us at the time we give you as we are making a special trip with your hens and do not have the facilities to overnight any uncollected hens, without a lot of disruption to our own pet hens. Anyone not collecting their hens will miss out and have to rebook as we will keep a reserve list of local people wishing to rehome and they will get the hens that were originally allocated to you-NO EXCUSES!

The procedure is;

On the rescue date, your hens will be collected from the farm by LHR volunteers and taken back to base for a general health check and will have access to food and water all day.

Your hens will then be transported to Sutton Bridge for collection at the end of the day.

It will usually be early evening time when your hens arrive in

Sutton Bridge as we have a days rehoming to do first. This is often for the best as the hens are calmer later in the day. (We book people in from 6.00 pm onwards)

We will clip the claws of any hens needing them doing and give you some advice sheets and contact telephone numbers should you need any help, or have any concerns in the future. Usually hens will wear there own claws down as they start walking on proper ground but we will clip any that will prevent a hen walking properly.

Once you collect your hens, with it being early evening, please take them home and put them straight in their hen house and shut them in until next morning.

In the morning you can let them out into their pen and ensure they drink and eat. You may need to dabble your fingers in the water so they know what their new water supply is in and you may have to tap the food as though making a pecking sound as this reminds them of what they would hear in a battery farm when the food appeared. This is the advice we would give you by telephone if your hens weren't eating.

Your hens will have had a very long shocking day and must be given a little peace to explore their new surroundings.

They have never seen the great outdoors or experienced freedom to even flap their wings. They've never been able to look up and see the sky or scratched in the soil. Some have been squashed so badly they have never moved and they aren't rehomed immediately but given rest and then physiotherapy with cod liver oil in their food and Arnica on any bruising. Some hens have to stay as permanent residents in Norfolk or Lincolnshire.

Hopefully you will grow to love your hens like we love ours and they will reward you with a few eggs which we always think are a gesture of goodwill for saving them from the abattoir.

IF FOR ANY REASON in the future, you are no longer able to keep your hens, please email lincslittlehens@aol.com or littlehenrescue @aol.com and we will collect your hens from you, no questions asked and passing no judgement upon you. All we want is for the hens to have happy homes. You must not pass your hens on to anyone else without the prior permission of Little Hen Rescue as you will sign on the rehoming form to state that you will remain the keeper of them. We reserve the right to carry out a post home check should we feel a need to.

Lyn & Mark

Lincolnshire Coordinators for Little Hen Rescue

http://www.lincslittlehens.co.uk
http://www.littlehenrescue.co.uk
http://www.buy.at/littlehenrescue
http://lincslittlehens.blogspot.com

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One you have read the above message thoroughly and if you'd like to go ahead with saving some hens, please email us on lincslittlehens@aol.com with "Booking In" as the subject.
Acquire your hen house in anticipation- there are some on our website
As we don't have the exact date yet, we will book you in at a certain time and then confirm the date with you as soon as we know.
As you will have read, our booking in slots start from 6pm and we book people in at 10 minute intervals....depending how many hens they are having. Obviously someone collecting 30 hens will need a little longer time than someone collecting 3.
If you are travelling from afar, make sure you get your reply in asap and request one of the earlier slots.

If you find you have emailed us but Flordon in Norfolk would actually be closer to you, just email and let me know and I will forward your message through to LHR HQ on your behalf.

You will receive an email of acceptance and a time and a message stating the date is to be confirmed.

This is the only way we can do this at present to be semi prepared. At least we will have a rough idea how many hens are coming to Lincs when the date is confirmed and whether we need a van or trailer and more crates!

We only allow hens to go to pet homes where they will live out their natural life and won't be culled should they stop laying. We will happily take back any hens should they stop laying and you no longer want them.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Amy update=2 BROKEN TOES

2009-07-08T23:34:00.003+01:00

It became apparent whilst treating Amy that she has 2 broken toes. She is now splinted with a lollipop stick and insulation tape and has had some painkiller.

Amy has such a kind heart, so sweet natured and trusting. She came from that wretched farm with her comb swollen to twice the size it is now and was really heavy weighing on her eye, whichever side we flopped it (which we had to do to preserve both eyes)

We initially thought it was infected with pus as it was SO hot and felt ready to pop but after many bathing sessions with warm water and a flannel, nothing came out. The antibiotics seemed to reduce it slightly and she improved although was always of slight stature, but from when we put her in the garden pen a couple of weeks ago with Lexi and Tiny, upon fetching her in, she was icy cold and at deaths door. We never expected her to last the night so she has stayed in the warmth since....we have air conditioning so it was exchanging the heat for cooler air rather than a fan just recirculating the same air and it's kept the lounge at a constant temperature for her (our electricity usage has gone sky high).

Since that day, Amy has done all her wandering in the lounge....I normally flick a mealworm here and there for her, Lexi and Tiny but as they scampered after it I noticed she was hobbling on a stumpy foot with clenched toes. When we investigated the middle toe hung loosely and after fixing it, we noticed the outer toe to be the same although not seeming as bad as it's shorter. I don't know how she has done it, unless she somehow did it that day in the garden.
I hope she makes a full recovery without deformity but I feel every moment with Amy is borrowed time. She keeps pulling through and is a fighter. I know a vet would want her PTS due to there being no fat on her and her breastbone sticking out like a blade but once she's walking, she is fine and happy, eating and drinking and falls asleep in our arms. How could I have her put to sleep?
I'm going to make her special scrambled egg tomorrow with cod liver oil in, poultry spice, garlic and tinned sweetcorn........I'm certain Lexi and Tiny will help her too. Lexi needs the poultry spice to put some feathers on her back....for some reason they are very slow growing. Tiny has a fully coverage and Lexi is still a baldy back.
HERE ARE MORE PICS OF AMY HENHOUSE >>CLICK HERE

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Amy has broken a toe!

2009-07-08T21:53:00.003+01:00

If it's not one thing with poor Amy, it's another.
Today I noticed she was walking with a clenched foot, rather like a peg leg and on closer inspection, she has a broken centre toe.
We know it will heal eventually as we have Nora who'd broken hers before coming to us but it fixed in a very misshapen way. We don't want it to be deformed or for her to walk on a stumpy leg so we're going to attempt a repair once the brats are in bed. Some childrens analgesic, a matchstick, insulation tape or similar may hold the toe in position so she has to walk on the flat of her foot.

Poor poor Amy. I suppose she has brittle bones to add to her other conditions.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

MULTIMAP LINK TO LINCS COLLECTION POINT

2009-07-08T18:49:00.001+01:00

View map of PE12 9YN on Multimap.com
Get directions to or from PE12 9YN

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Amy is still improving

2009-07-08T09:43:00.003+01:00

We have no idea what happened with Amy the other day. In the warmth of the house and with soft Sundown bedding rather than a pen in the garden she has picked up no end.
She is back on the Antibiotics and has been since we found her freezing cold, at deaths door. She is eating and drinking and takes her quarter tablet easily.
I added Poultry Spice and garlic in for her and her 2 friends feeder with mash, corn, pellets and a handful of chick crumbs too.
She seems happy enough. I would never keep an animal alive that had no quality of life (and feel the same about myself too) but she made such an improvement and i'm so so pleased with her. She deserves a happy life after coming out of that horrific fam with such a swollen comb.
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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

The Ladyboy & Mrs Slocombe

2009-07-07T12:18:00.002+01:00

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Doris the Dinosaur

2009-07-06T23:28:00.003+01:00

Doris makes me smile in much the same way Tiny does, although Doris isn't knock knee'd or as small as Tiny, she has the same dinosaur like stature.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Update on the bird with spurs

2009-07-06T22:39:00.006+01:00

We kept Summer in a dog crate overnight so we could easily distinguish whether "it" was doodledoing or not. Well I'm so pleased to say that she didn't.
At between 4 and 5 am there was a LOT of clucking about whereas our hens that are inside as they need extra TLC don't tend to make any sound until we start moving around.
I was waiting and waiting for the crowing........but none! Thankfully as it now means I can get attached and enjoy her.
I can only assume that with being a freerange, organic hen that he-she had access to the outdoors from daylight, or maybe even roosted outdoors if was protected by fox proof electric fencing.
I have just NEVER seen spurs like them on a hen but I've learnt something new, I suppose. We'll just have to accept that Summer is a Ladyboy!

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Our chook n duck life!

2009-07-06T22:32:00.002+01:00

Our life of chooks n ducks

Click ABOVE ^ to view the video

PS We have had 80 eggs already this month! Even Jemima the old duck has laid every day for the past 3 days so she must be happy.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

SPURS pictures by rosahray - Photobucket

2009-07-05T20:41:00.001+01:00

SPURS pictures by rosahray - Photobucket Click link

My dear Hubby got me a new bird yesterday who I called Summer. I went to put a leg ring on today and saw whopping spurs. What do you reckon peeps? She's not an ex batt and I haven't heard a doodle doo yet!

I think it's so funny. Mark's there saying nah it's a hen but the more I see "her" strutting about past the others having only arrived last night, I would have expected "her" to be a little cautious.

I've told him he's got to sit outside at 5am and listen!

**EDIT Change of plan, we're bringing he-she into the dog crate so we can hear easier if "it" crows in the early hours. I really don't want to upset the neighbours as I push my luck with Newton & Midas.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Chooks slideshow

2009-07-05T17:10:00.001+01:00

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Madge is looking good

2009-07-05T15:48:00.000+01:00

Madge was one of the first 3 hens we got and look how well she looks after all this time.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

An enclosure at LHR

2009-07-05T13:49:00.001+01:00

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Happy :-) and sad :-(

2009-07-04T22:26:00.003+01:00

Mark came back from Little Hens with 2 new girls, Mrs Slocombe and Summer who are twice the size of ex batts as they are freerange organic birds. They're very stocky and hold their wings very differently due to their muscles-the look like bodybuilders! (Hence they'll need a wing clip or they'll be off visiting neighbours)

He went to fetch the hens in and as Tiny, Lexi and Amy are all still in with me overnight but out in the day in a huge dog crate (great dane sized, lol) under cover of the gazebo. Amy was lying down, freezing cold and seemingly at deaths door.
She originally came to us on antibiotics with a VERY swollen comb but that shrunk drastically after the medication. We called her Amy Henhouse after Amy Winehouse with the lump on her head.
She did join the flock but was picked on and sought Mark's company when he was doing some DIY to the green hen house (she kept sitting with him on his toolbox and they made friends) We realised she was seeking safety from the bullies and therefore she came back in with "my 2 girls"

We all hope Amy survives the night and recovers. We can't understand what has gone wrong unless whatever caused the lump in her comb is actually elsewhere in her body (a cancer maybe) Mark has put her back on an antibiotic and given her sugared water and she has eaten a little mash so we'll just wait and see now. We can't do a lot more other than wrap a hot water bottle in a towel and hope no one pecks a hole in it.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

21 eggs yesterday!

2009-07-04T14:07:00.001+01:00

Yes that's right, 21 eggs including 1 duck egg and 2 bantam eggs. My girlies are laying for England!

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Little Hen Rescue pictures by rosahray - Photobucket

2009-07-04T09:36:00.000+01:00

Little Hen Rescue pictures by rosahray - Photobucket
Please see all the pictures from Little Hen Rescue

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

"Special hens"

2009-07-04T09:23:00.003+01:00

At Little Hen Rescue, we have many hens that are rescued from battery/barn/free-range farms that may not be able to be re-homed immediately. This may be for one of several reasons, such as illness, injury or the inability to adapt to change as quickly as the rest.

We NEVER leave a hen behind and will always ensure they receive the treatment they require, but as we do more rescues, the number of 'resident' hens we have grows and grows.
Therefore, we are looking for 'special homes' that may be able to care for some 'special hens'.

The degree of the hens disabilities will vary, ranging from limps and blindness, to peritonitis and previously broken limbs. We also have incredibly nervous hens that can't cope with too much and need a quiet loving home with another nervous hen or two.

Many of these hens will live out their days happily, laying beautiful eggs, enjoying life. Some may need medication occasionally, others simply require a patient owner, willing to help them come right.

Little Hen Rescue will always be here for advice or treatment of your special hens. Please contact us on littlehenrescue@aol.com stating Special hens' in subject title. Jo will then answer your email asap.

Sometimes when hens are removed, we notice that they are lame or perhaps have a 'drop wing', which upon investigation, appears as though they have suffered an old break or injury.
Although left with a permanent limp or droopy wing, they will usually lead a happy, pain-free life.

Blindness in hens can be a result of an old peck from another hen, or due to an infection they may have suffered in the past that was left untreated. Usually, these hens will adjust to life outside of a cage or barn, and may just need to be shown around their new home whilst they adjust.

Peritonitis

A sad condition that tends to affect layers more than other hens, due to the amount of eggs they lay.

The eggs can break through into the hens abdomen and cause an infection. This is noticed by a swollen bottom and/or stomach. This often is eased by anti-biotics and the hens can live a relatively normal life.

We can't say a life span but we have around 50 hens with the condition living happily at LHR, these hens are unlikely to lay eggs and need a loving home to retire too. They are already very friendly and doing really well.

Hens will be sent with medicine that is prescribed to them in case of another outbreak of infection. This is simple to administer we will tell you all the details.

Hens have different appearances, some walk noticeably upright and others like weebles. They still have good quality of life.

Please email Jo on littlehenrescue@aol.com with special hens in the subject line so Jo can spot your email easier in her inbox and get back to you.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

buy.at/littlehenrescue - The webshop for Little Hen Rescue

2009-07-03T16:54:00.000+01:00

buy.at/littlehenrescue - The webshop for Little Hen Rescue

BUY BUY BUY! AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOURSELF AND LITTLE HEN RESCUE WILL GET A CHEQUE FOR THE COMMISSION YOU MAKE.
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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Freerange rescue this weekend- NORWICH ONLY

2009-07-02T12:32:00.002+01:00

If you are still waiting for hens, then please read the following
information. If you have already collected your hens, then please
reply, stating 'hens already rehomed' in the title.

Please note that the hens will only be available for collection from
Norwich.....

We have 2 separate free range rescues this weekend.  The first hens
are free range organic hens, that were booked for slaughter as were
the second lot of free range hens from a different farm.  These hens
are also around 70 weeks old, as with all commercial hens.

Please do not apply for free range hens if your run is particularly
small (such as arks or small eglu's). Preferably free range homes,
large pens, or enclosures even if that means the garden for a few
hours of the evening.

   Collection dates and times

   Saturday 4th July  -  1pm - 5pm
   Sunday   5th July  -   1pm-5pm

   Time slots every 15 minutes

   If you would like to book in to collect some of these girls, then
please reply back with the below information.

   - Your full name
   - Amount of hens
   - Time preferred
   - Date preferred

If you do not get a confirmation of your time allocated, then you are
not booked to come.  The sooner you reply the more likely you'll get
in.

   Thank you very much and sorry for the delay.
   Emma
   www.littlehenrescue.co.uk

I AM SORRY THAT THERE ARE NO HENS COMING BACK TO SUTTON BRIDGE THIS WEEKEND.

HOWEVER I WILL BE CONTACTING EVERYONE ON OUR LIST AS WE WILL BE DOING A BATTERY HEN RESCUE NEXT MONTH.

Lyn

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Ethical Superstore

2009-07-02T12:29:00.002+01:00

I was browsing our webshop earlier and came across the Ethical Superstore and love it! Lots of Fair Trade and organic items. Please click the title above to go to our webshop and then you should see the Ethical Superstore on the homepage and also some of the other stores involved in helping our cause.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Pickled eggs

2009-07-01T15:41:00.003+01:00

Not something I've ever eaten myself as the thought repulses me (as I hate eggs full stop) but I found this on another blog I read. On the right column of this blog, you can see the ones we like.

Anyway here is a pic of a label I took from there of a pickled egg wrapper....complete with allergy advice;

It made me chuckle!

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Home made mayo and meringues

2009-06-30T17:23:00.002+01:00

Courtesy of Elly I have posted a link from her blog, click the title above to be taken to the page with the recipe for home made mayo which is brilliant although Hellmans now use only free range eggs, whereas supermarket own brands all use battery eggs.

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

more eggs

2009-06-30T17:06:00.000+01:00

Yet another half dozen eggs this afternoon. Our girls must be happy

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Eggs, eggs and more eggs

2009-06-30T14:17:00.004+01:00

Wow, We have so far had 370 eggs this month....and may get more this afternoon!
Unbelieveable.
We had so many earlier, I actually made scrambled egg for the chooks as a treat (they love it) I added some garlic powder and poultry spice too. It smelt like Foo Yung from the chinese when it was ready....only thing missing were peas, lol
We really do have to start selling them again. I've made a new sign advertising them at a pound a box (they were previously 60p BUT my friend Karen who lives opposite is selling hers for a pound to benefit Great Ormond Street Hospital so I didn't want to undercut her or I'd have felt guilty.
All our proceeds go to the food for the hens though so we need it too!
Of course our regulars will still get theirs at 60p and the neighbours get free ones. We want to ensure people don't buy battery eggs.

I've been looking on Ellys blog at making mayonnaise and meringues. May have a go one day. I hate mayo but Mank likes it. Ellys blog>> http://kitchen-scraps.livejournal.com/
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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

BLANCHE AND LAURA HAVE ARRIVED :-)

2009-06-29T22:03:00.000+01:00

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Lincs Little Hens

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

LHR HQ'S NEW WORKHORSE

2009-06-28T21:32:00.005+01:00

My lot took themselves away for the weekend to LHR HQ in "NAR-RIDGE" (aka Norwich) and here are some pics of them enjoying themselves on the new workhorse which has made life so much easier. The field itself must be over a mile in length with hen enclosures at both ends and carting food/ bedding and muck after mucking out WAS quite a major job.....Now the workhorse is carrying the stuff instead. It even has a tipper back so it's fantastic. Click to enlarge the pix

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HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Random Little Hen Rescue pics

2009-06-26T15:47:00.005+01:00

Here are a few random pictures from Little Hen rescue's headquarters in Flordon, Norfolk
As you can see there is plenty of land, lots of enclosures and room for more enclosures and hens.
We also have a stable block where the poorly girls sleep.
We have many coops, sheds and Chicubes on the field but if ever you have a surplus hen house, please let us know as we can always use more.
Click pics to enlarge them.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Amy and todays jobs

2009-06-26T13:20:00.004+01:00

Little Amy Henhouse doesn't seem to be doing too well with the flock so she is in the hospital pen outside today. She's lost quite a bit of weight and wonder if she was getting bullied although I never witnessed it, she was very thirsty when I put her to water so she still needs some extra care.

Todays major job is adding brushwood screening down the whole length of the chook pen. We did one area before but then the chook pen grew so I got some more screening as it was reduced in Argos. It's starting to look good although the colour difference between the original stuff and the new stuff is very obvious.

I'm back indoors. The Air Con is on with the huge pipe hanging out the window (like a tumble dryer pipe) but at least it keeps the 'tiels, budgies and parrot cool.

I'm getting 2 Pekin Bantam Hens to add to our daughters personal flock next week. I just got an email to say they are ready. Getting a white one and a lemon one and I'm so excited.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

No upcoming rescues planned....yet

2009-06-26T11:25:00.003+01:00

Just in case anyone is desperate for some hens, we have no upcoming rescues planned and as soon as I know a date I will be contacting everyone whose details I hold already. If you want to get on the list for future rescues, email lincslittlehens@aol.com

I meant to say, look at the videos at the bottom of this page. One is of the hens in a battery farn filmed by Animal Aid and the others are of Jo @ Little Hen rescue and one is of our mascot, Tiny.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Mislabelled eggs scam

2009-06-26T00:36:00.005+01:00

Copied from the Daily Mail so it doesn't eventually vanish into Cyber-Space.
This is DISGUSTING!!
I am so glad we don't rely on commercially farmed eggs but this has been happening over a 5 year period at least so we could have unknowingly bought some in the past which is disturbing as we bought Free Range so as not to subject hens to a battery farm existence. It makes my blood boil.

A scam involving eggs laid by battery hens in Europe being sold as free-range or organic in UK supermarkets is 10 times bigger than previously feared.

Consumers may have been duped into paying higher prices for more than 500 million mislabelled eggs over five years.

Investigators from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are continuing their investigation into the scale of egg fraud in Britain.

In a fresh twist, they released CCTV images on Monday of a man they suspect may be a UK broker in the international swindle. The man, aged in his 50s or 60s, is pictured attempting to access a postal safety deposit box in Kensington, west London.

The box was rented in the name of Heinz Bernstein, who gave an address in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, but officers believe both are false.

A Defra spokesman said investigators do not believe mislabelled eggs are still being traded.

He said: "Whilst it would appear from the inquiries that this particular aspect of the alleged fraud has ceased, our investigation team are very keen to identify this individual and establish his innocence or otherwise in connection with this particular line of inquiry.

"It is important to note that this is an alleged fraud against the public and the rest of the British egg industry and it is important we get to the bottom of this."

An investigation into the mislabelling of eggs was launched last November. More than two million imported battery eggs may have been misleadingly labelled and sold as free-range or organic every week over five years in the UK.

Enforcement officers are trying to unravel a complex supply network to find out who masterminded the operation.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

Our Mascot, Tiny

2009-06-26T00:03:00.004+01:00

During one of the rescues in May I spotted Tiny in one of the stables. She was so dinky, in her dark greeny brown fleece and she had knees that knocked together. I HAD TO HAVE HER!
I brought her home, excitedly and as she was to be in the hospital wing aka my lounge while she recovered, we removed her fleece to see a little bag of bones underneath. She was healthy and eating well, just bald.
The day after we got her, we put her in the garden hospital pen where she could peck the ground but not be bullied by the flock. It was such a hot day I made her a T shirt so she didn't get sunburnt.
During that same week, Lexi came back to us as she was having trouble walking so I put them together knowing Tiny would be gentle and maybe teach Lexi to walk again. They have stayed together since. Lexi was VERY oven ready, totally bald on her back and is only just growing her feathers back.
Tiny has regrown speckled feathers which we didn't expect, but she looks gorgeous.
This week I asked Jill (who Lexi belonged to) to see if she could stay as I am really attached to her and Jill agreed so it looks as though they will be lifelong companions and I couldn't be happier.
I have just made a montage of all the photographs we have of Tiny so far. AS you'll see, we will be happy when new wing feathers grow as currently she has a fan of daggers.

However can farmers allow hens to get in such a state sickens me. I've seen so much worse. One hen had 1 of her legs twisted up her back and she hopped on one leg. She must've had either a birth defect or a break which had set in completely the wrong way.
WE didn't bring that hen home BUT we did bring Amy home with a swollen mass on her comb. Jo sent me with Anti Biotics and gradually they worked to a certain extent. Amy's comb is probably a quarter of the size it was and no longer interferes with the opening of her eyes. It doesn't even reach to her eyes.

We took Annalise back from our friend, Karen as we think she may have been squashed in the hen house over night and got a leg injury as a result as she had bruising. She is going to stay now too. She improved all of a sudden and although not 100%, it makes no difference to us so long as she isn't in pain and eats, drinks and behaves like other hens.

I always sympathise with the hens, knowing what a crap body I have regarding my disability makes me more compassionate and sensitive to how they must be feeling.

HAPPY EGGS FROM HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS

The Peek Inn

2009-06-25T22:10:00.000+01:00

Mark recently built "The Peek Inn" and a fun day was had by all of us and especially the Pekins at bedtime who had to sleep in the same hut for the first time. It started out as a brand new garden store. We've already got one for the ex batts but that is at ground level rather than being raised like the bantams one has been. It's customised to suit them. Roosting bars, cat litter trays as nest boxes in case of chicks, correx floor for easy cleaning and it'll hopefully soon be painted on the week and look like a Southwold Beach Hut along with the Des Res too ;-)
The chicks have now moved in too. Bob-the lavender has a home lined up (in Manchester I think) A friend of Anna wants him and Anna is a friend of Jo at LHR. Hope they make a donation to LHR for him as he's adorable.
There is also a bell on the front now (for last orders, lol) I thought Newton may see the "donger" as a worm and jump up and twang it.