If you are visiting the site you may notice there are a few small problems, such as the welcome page on the guestbook disappearing and the guess book appearing three times. At the moment I am finding it impossible to edit the site, due to a problem with freewebs on my computer. Please bear with me as I think I should be able to get it up and running soon.
Taken from the Guardian's website, this is the story of some very lucky 'spent' chickens. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/07/animalwelfare.activists)
One rescuer has a scratch down her right arm, another has been nipped just under her left eye. They are all exhausted and trailing the distinctive ammonia aroma of the chicken shed. But the mood among the members of Brighton Animal Action, an animal rights group that rescues "spent hens" from chicken farms, is jubilant. From one farm alone, they have already sent more than 5,000 Rhode Island Reds to new homes around the country, and they only have another 4,000 or so to go.
"We started on Monday," explains Tara Maher, one of BAA's members standing inside a vast shed somewhere in south-east England. (The farmer wishes to remain anonymous.) "We worked for about 13 hours straight, clearing that big shed over there. Then we started on this shed here. It was absolutely full to the brim. We'll finish this off today, and start on the last shed tomorrow."
The hens, which have been reared as organic birds, have had to stay in their sheds while the rescuers work. Now, three days into the rescue, there are only a few left, pecking about at the back, looking around curiously as rescuers gently pick them up to pack them up in boxes for their journeys.
Unlike battery chickens, which get slaughtered at 52 weeks, these organic hens are 72 weeks old. They are in good condition, healthy with full plumage and bright red combs. Left to themselves, given a bit of food, some dust and shade, they will live on for up to six years. Some even live to the grand old age of 10. But under the economic realities that dictate life and death in today's farmyard, they would now all be dead.
Bought by the farmer as chicks from a pullet farm, hens will typically begin to produce eggs at 18-22 weeks. More than 50% of eggs bought by consumers in this country are now produced by free-range or organic hens, but most of the eggs used in the catering industry are still battery, so battery hens remain in the majority. Battery cages are due to become illegal across Europe in 2012, but "enriched cages" (larger cages with nesting and perching places) will replace many of them. It is feared that cheap imports from outside Europe will then flood the market, with few, if any, guarantees about the living conditions of those birds.
From 18 weeks onwards, a chicken begins to produce six to seven eggs a week: if she lives in a battery cage then artificial lighting might convince her to lay even more frequently. Finally, usually at around 72 weeks, her productivity starts to significantly decline and the eggs will start to vary in size, which makes it hard for the farmer to sell them to picky supermarket buyers. The chicken is now officially uneconomic, so she is packed off to the slaughterhouse, from where her meat will be used in products such as stock cubes, pet food and pies.
But in recent years an increasing number of campaigners have taken exception to the brutally short life of the typical egg-laying hen and decided to do something about it. In 2003, Jane Howorth set up the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, which takes battery hens - "ex-bats" as she calls them - and finds them new homes. The BHWT's patrons include Jamie Oliver, who co-led a much-debated awareness campaign in January highlighting the stark conditions most chickens endure on our farms.
"We work very carefully with the farmers," says Howorth. "It's very important that they feel supported too, instead of berated by the public. They are afraid that if they don't produce eggs cheaply enough, then the import market will overtake them. The responsibility for how these animals are kept needs to be shifted away from the farmers and on to the shoulders of the consumers."
Howorth's organisation has collected nearly 100,000 ex-bats since 2003 and taken them to new homes where they can continue to produce eggs and enjoy a dignified retirement. "People adore them," she says. "They love to get these little animals into a free-range environment, just to see the birds enjoying themselves, running freely. They can come in all sorts of conditions, so it's very satisfying to see them going off to their free-range retirement. Chickens have real characters: they can be very curious and cheeky. They're like little cats and dogs with feathers."
But there are some concerns about the increasing number of chickens being re-housed instead of being slaughtered: both the BHWT and BAA argue that they both take all the necessary precautions, but Lesley Cooper, who runs Trallwm Farm animal sanctuary in Carmarthenshire, worries that other organisations carrying out similar operations might be increasing the risk of spreading avian flu as the birds are transported. She also worries that farmers are beginning to see animal rescuers as a cheap, easy way of getting rid of spent chickens. If so, would it really be feasible for all battery chickens to be re-housed? That would mean some 10m hens each year looking for a home. There is clearly only a finite number of people willing to take on spent hens as pets at home, which is where the vast majority are relocated.
Finally, is it financially viable for the farmer to keep the birds longer and slow down the break-neck pace of egg laying? The decision about that rests, as Howorth has pointed out, with the consumer: if we want eggs that cost a pound or so for half a dozen, then the quality of the chicken's life is pretty immaterial.
But Maher and the crew of volunteers with her are, for the moment, unbothered by the larger questions. They have been carrying out these rescues for three years now, after the farmer contacted them and asked if the BAA could help out: for the first couple of years they were rehousing 3,000-4,000 birds, but this year it will be nearer 10,000.
"I dream about chickens," says Maher. "I lie in bed and I see lists of all the places I need to send them to scrolling down in front of my eyes. They have completely taken over my life. But they're such great animals, very curious and affectionate. As an animal rights activist, it's really nice to do something positive like this. We've been absolutely flooded with offers of help and volunteers because it's fine to be campaigning and protesting, but people really want to be active and positive."
The bird she has tucked under her arm cocks her head, and Tara scratches her wings. "They're much maligned birds, chickens."
While spending another day, browsing the net and updating the site, I came across this great site about animal rights, made by a fellow PETA activist. It really is a fantastic site, as proven when the Anti's made a thread about it. XD
It really wouldn't hurt to visit it. Not only does it look fantastic, but it has some great animal rights info on it too. Please check it out, and don't forget to write in the guest book. =]
http://www.doyourbitforanimals.webs.com
