The work of the charity has been hit by the bird flu restrictions. But now things are easing in time for spring. Founder Jane Howorth reports

Avian Influenza – our position

At the time of writing it has just been announced that avian flu restrictions, first put in place in December, are to be relaxed from February 28.

On the face of it, this sounds like great news. Of course, in part, it is, but there remain many restrictions on what we are able to do as a charity. We have already postponed all rehomings for a three-month period and are facing more uncertainty given that some of the farms we work with remain in ‘high risk’ areas.

That said, we are doing everything within our power to reinstate our rehomings and bring lots of spring chickens out into the sunshine! There are lots of hens sitting patiently in their cages itching to come out and into people’s back gardens and we want nothing more than to see them head off to start their free-range retirements.

It is looking like some rehomings will begin from March 11, and we sincerely hope they all have loving homes to go to. Please, if you would like give some girls a second chance, register your details on our website at www.bhwt.org.uk

Sponsor a Hen

To date, we have rehomed more than 550,000 hens, and they all have a tale to tell! That’s why we introduced our Sponsor a Hen scheme so that you can hear all about their stories, meanwhile helping the charity save more girls just like them. Sponsoring a hen is a great gift for friends or family who are hard to buy for (we all know one!). Better yet, we have a clutch of new hens all bright eyed and bushy tailed just waiting to be sponsored. Just visit our website to read all about them.

Egg Club

This Easter we’d love to see more people eating real eggs instead of chocolate ones – even better if they’re freshly laid by your own hens! Often, though, they lay more than you’re able to eat, so why not set up your own Egg Club and spread the eggy joy to your friends and family?! All you have to do is sell your beautiful eggs and donate the proceeds back to us, which we will use to save more hens from slaughter.

Did you know?

The largest recorded egg was 2.6kg and was laid by an ostrich on a farm in Sweden in 2008.

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