LINCS LITTLE HENS - About us

About us

We are an independent retirement organisation for caged laying hens, also known as battery hens. We cover Lincolnshire, West Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and the East Midlands. On the 24th August 2009, the BIG dream became reality and we officially became Lincs Little Hens as a way of helping and publicising the plight of these hens who through no fault of their own have spent over a year crammed in a cage with 4, 5 or more other hens. This practice is currently quite legal so is not the fault of the farmers as they are trying to make ends meet but they can do their bit to "put things right" by allowing us to rehome the hens at the end of their commercially viability and let them see the daylight and walk on grass for the first time.
We are passionate animal lovers and love every sentient being.In the past year we have rehomed hens through RoSAH and then helped another organisation for a few months, whilst we got the gist of what was needed and the work involved. We are now in a position to spread our wings and go it alone as we were surprised to find how many farms have not been approached by rescues already, yet every hen deserves a chance... Our aim is to place the hens in loving family homes as garden pets with the added bonus of a few eggs too.When the hens first come from the farms, they are in awe of their new surroundings. Most are trusting of us humans. They instinctively know how to scratch the soil for worms and to dust bathe. It is fantastic to watch them bloom from being poor scraggy hens into beautiful brown hens.

We liase with farmers and take their "spent" hens for new homes rather than them going to slaughter having never seen daylight.They leave the farms often bald, with long claws from standing on a wire grid floor for over a year. They are anaemic having not seen the sun and are frantic for food as they have only ever been fed once or twice a day through a chute. Each hen has around an A4 sized piece of paper as her area so she cannot stretch her wings. In fact the area the hen has is less than the interior of a microwave oven so imagine that for a full hen complete with legs, neck, head etc....Poor girls, it just isn't natural. Egg laying is promoted by light so farmers leave lights on for around 17 hours a day. Feeding and watering is automated and the eggs roll away from the hen so the farmer rarely has to look in.Overcrowding in the tiny cages means hens are unable to exercise, combined with the constant demand for calcium required to produce eggs, results in weak, brittle bones which are prone to fracture. This high incidence of broken bones is a severe welfare problem causing considerable pain and distress to birds. Painful bone fractures also occur when the hens are removed from cages or caught in barns and transported for slaughter as they are easily startled becoming frantic and trying to flap their wings. In fact many old hens suffer from Osteoporosis (brittle bone disease) but can still have a happy few years in retirement first.Many of our resident hens have regular cod liver oil to help them with any joint problems.

NEW E.U.LAWS However, in 2012 due to E.U legislation, farmers will have to change their cages over to so called "enrichment cages" which will give somewhere to perch and dust bathe but we still believe all hens should live in a free range environment or organically as a healthy hen provides healthy eggs. All newly made cages have to be enriched cages and each hen must have at least 750cm2 of cage area, (600cm2 of this must be useable) the minimum cage height at the lowest point in the usable area is 45cm and no cage shall have a total area that is less than 2000cm2. Cages must have a nest, litter, perches, feed trough and drinking systems. These measurements however still fail to allow adequate space for the hens to perform many important natural behaviours. Many farmers, due to this new legislation are giving up battery farming which is excellent news for the hens. The cost of changing over to the new cages is not something the farmer wants to pay. This means there will be a higher rate of barn hens (which also have terrible conditions too) and Free rangers and of course, we all want to see free range hens in the fields where they should be. As many people are now getting into the swing of keeping allotments and being self sufficient, less people are buying eggs which is another great thing as if there isn't the demand for the eggs, the farmers will have to see sense. The farmers are not necessarily bad people but trying to make a living with hens in cages that were permitted in 2003. What really matters though is the hens and if people stop buying EGGS FROM CAGED HENS then the farmers won't sell them and hens will eventually stop suffering in this terrible way.

This video shows the reality of the hell inside a battery cage.

Barn hens suffer too.

The only way you can ensure your eggs came from happy healthy hens is by having your own or by buying from a friend who has their own pet hens.

DO NOT BUY COMMERCIALLY FARMED EGGS OF ANY KIND