A Rescue Story
As many of you know we have a small "farmette", and over the years, I have had everything from donkeys, llamas, rabbits, a pony, a horse, many goats, milking and pygmy, but through it all I have kept my favorite-chickens. This is where the latest adventure comes in. This past summer we, with the help of our son, have enlarged the chicken roost, with the intent of getting more laying hens to supply our customers that love free range, fresh eggs. Before I go any further, for any of you that buy your eggs from a grocery store, you might want to Google battery chickens (http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/egg-battery.html ) It will go into great detail the horrible life that these poor girls live. Not wanting to give away the info, and going on with my story, this past week I was quite satisfied with my new flock and not planning on getting any more chickens, but our son had a line on some chickens that really needed some big time help and soon. . There were 12 young laying hens being kept in a 6ft x 8ft wooden building for the past 7 months with only one window near the top. No ventilation and no access to the outside. We drove to take a look last evening, and were told we could have the hens. When we opened the door to the coop, the smell was over powering, and we noticed the waterer was completely dry! It didn’t take us long to gather up all the hens into a big dog cage and head home. When we got here we offered them water right away, and I can’t tell you how thirsty they were. It took them 15 minutes and 3 bowls of water before they quit drinking. I took 7 and our son took 5. I wish you could have seen them this morning when I let them out on grass for the first time ever. They really didn’t know what to do. I threw some scratch feed and apples on the ground, and for a minute they just stood there and looked at it. They never had seen any of this. I am sure they are so much happier now, and I certainly am for them to finally get to be real chickens.
6 comments:
Oh Becky, what a horror story! I am so glad you and your son stepped in to give them a good home.
I picked up a rooster who had been sucked out of a chicken crate on a truck that was driving to fast on the freeway.The others littering the road were dead. The poor thing had grown up in a cage where he could neither stand up or stretch his wings. That is what you get when you buy that BBQ chicken from the store.
It took the poor thing a few days to grasp the fact that his movements were no longer governed by the confines of his cage.
I am happy that you got to them before it was too late.
oh my goodness! those people should be throttled for treating the chickens like that! space is one thing - no water is quite another!!! so glad you and your son rescued them! they're in heaven now!
You are truely n Angel! Shame on those people for the cruelty of those chickens. I know this goes on all over this country, just for the purpose of getting more eggs in a cheap way! I call it GREED!
I'm so glad you could rescue them! Poor things! They couldn't have a better home then what you will give them. You are a good person, Becky!
Yay say the chickens and yay say I ... so glad that all is well that ends well. So sad the way some people treat animals. I can't understand it.
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