New homes found for battery hens

Nearly 280 battery chickens will find new homes

Nearly 280 battery hens that could have faced a trip to the slaughterhouse are to be re-homed in Lancashire.

When the chickens reach the end of their productive laying life, Adele Hall, from Haslingden, collects them from farms around the county.

Adele, who runs the Rossendale branch of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, said it was "rewarding work seeing the girls going off to their new homes".

The re-homing project has the support of Defra, she added.

The animals, which are generally only about 18-months old, become family pets and can live for up to 8 years.

"The hens would normally have gone to slaughter to make way for the farmer's next lot of laying chickens - not much of a life," she said.

Anyone who would like to re-home one of the hens should visit the Battery Hen Welfare Trust website for further details.