Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Battery saver
Easter is all about chicks for Michelle Klepper – especially since she nursed four dying battery hens back from the brink of death.
Now the four rescued birds are thriving in a roomy coup in her back garden.
The personal assistant, who also shares her home with three cats, three rabbits and two baby chicks, was shocked when she saw the four hens who had been taken in by Battery Hen Welfare Trust.
“When they came to me in December, they were in a terrible state. It was so upsetting,” she says. “They were painfully thin and had almost no feathers left.”
Michelle explained that the hens go to slaughter at 18 months if they aren’t offered a home and, by that time, they are half dead after suffering a miserable life.
But thankfully these birds, named Marion, Rebecca the Pecker, Cluck Beth and Three of Four, responded to 56-yearold Michelle’s caring treatment.
“For the first few days they didn’t stop drinking,” she says. “When they are in cages they don’t have proper access to water. They are just sprayed with mist every so often so they are incredibly thirsty and dehydrated.”
Now she feeds them a varied organic diet, provides them with toys and even
bakes them little herbal oatmeal cakes. “I also cook them their own eggs and feed them back to them because that is apparently very good for them,” she adds.
At first the hens barely laid at all or if they did the shells were so fragile they just disintegrated, because the hens were so malnourished.
But now Michelle gets three or four eggs a day at home in Deptford, South East London, and they taste delicious.
She added: “I’m a Buddhist and we believe in preserving and looking after all life so I have found this very rewarding.
“Their pen is about seven feet by 10 feet so anyone with a reasonable sized garden can keep hens.
“They also make great pets. They are so friendly. When I’m out in the garden I let them out and they follow me about.
“They come in the house too. They peck at the back door and it won’t be long before they find how to use the catflap.”
The British Hen Welfare Trust has re-homed almost 700,000 battery hens but is looking for more people to help.
Each year it saves 50,000 hens and finds caring pet homes through a network of 40 regional pop-up centres, so the birds can enjoy a free-range retirement.