Helping hand allows Evie to home her hens
ACORNISH schoolgirl’s heartwarming mission to save exbattery hens from slaughter has captured the attention of one of the Westcountry’s biggest rural retailers.
Since the age of seven, Evie Walker has been passionate about hen welfare, which began when she and her family adopted some commercial layers from the British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT).
The 11-year-old, from Truro, is also the face of the BHWT ‘Egg Club’ – an initiative to encourage people to sell the eggs their hens lay and donate some or all of the profits to the Devon-based charity. Evie has always given 100% of the money received through the sale of her eggs.
After her last hen sadly died of old age around 18 months ago, and as rehoming stopped due to the Covid19 pandemic, Evie has been hen-less since. She was very keen to start helping and supporting the BHWT again, and now that rehomings have resumed she was keen to rescue some more hens to help achieve her goal.
Unfortunately, Evie’s old wooden house, Cluckingham Palace, and fence rotted and had to be dismantled, and so the family reached out to Mole Valley Farmers to ask for some support with creating a new secure area for Evie’s hens.
Mole Valley Farmers was very keen to help Evie create her new ‘Hen Palace’ and support such a worthy cause. The firm donated £150 in vouchers for her to buy the picket fence panels, picket fence and bolts, etc, and also gave Evie a year’s ‘country membership’, entitling her to a number of discounts and member benefits.
Evie said: “I rescued my first little bunch of hens several years ago now, and unfortunately the fencing for their area had become broken and worn over time. I was really grateful when my mum told me that Simon at Mole Valley Farmers said he would help us with some really lovely wooden fencing and a gate so we could create a new space for my hens.
“It’s so nice to know that my hens will be very safe and secure with their new strong fence, as foxes have killed several chickens near us and we live on a fairly busy road. Simon was so kind and even gave me some Dengie bedding and some poultry corn for the hens to enjoy!”
In a bid to raise further funds for the charity, Evie started selling handpainted wooden hen decorations through a Facebook page, called ‘Evie’s Pretty Little Hens’. Initially setting a target of £50, she has been totally overwhelmed by the support she has received from the public, with sales totalling over £2,000 so far.