Chicken Rescue Stories

I’m sure most folks have seen the disturbing photos depicting how many animals, chickens included, are treated in the commercial agriculture business. The ability to know where your food comes from and to ensure birds are treated with respect are probably two of the reasons that have sparked an increased interest in keeping chickens. I think, for many, once they have spent some time with those birds they’re surprised that they form bonds similar to household dogs and cats. I think it’s the realization that chickens aren’t just ‘dumb birds’ with no feelings that makes many small flock keepers rethink their relationships with food and with animals in general.

I spend a lot of time on Facebook so many chicken sites pop up in my feed. I’m sure that they’re useful, but I don’t have the time to go down the rabbit hole day after day so I usually scroll by. One site – Belle and Fleur say NO to commercial Eggs – did catch my eye and I made the time to read some of those posts. Since then, I have profiled several rescue organizations.

Here are stories from three more.

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Lancaster Farm Sanctuary (USA)

We are devastated to report that the chicken we rescued last night did not survive his injuries. We named him Jamie Jr, “JJ” in honour of the kind human who found and got him to sanctuary. Rest in Peace, JJ. We are so sorry this world failed you, beautiful boy. 

Last night it was 35F. If not for this community and the person stopping and taking the time to get JJ to us he would have suffered and froze to death, alone on hard pavement. At least he died inside on soft blankets in a heated room with someone by his side. 

We are living in a world that is increasingly prizing apathy and selfishness. More and more people approach every interaction with the “What’s in it for me?” attitude. Even the vet office said to leave JJ on the roadside because she had “no obligation” to help him. No obligation? Should we only be acting if we are obligated? If we can get something out of it?

It is so easy to market and sell selfishness to people. To sell the idea that we should be self-indulgent and self-serving. It requires no self-examination, no humility, no work, and of course no change. 

And so here we are, in a world growing increasingly callous. A world where the majority continue to justify all the horrors happening all around and do nothing because we feel it’s not ‘my’ problem. 

This little chicken was a couple months old. He had a little baby comb and baby blue eyes and a little baby cheep. Much like human babies, chicks eyes start off blue. And yet this baby had spent the first months of his life in a disgusting windowless shed with no sun and no grass. He was overfed so he would grow fatter, faster. And then he was crammed into a truck to take him to a high speed assembly line to be hung upside down by his feet and have his throat slit. And often that doesn’t do the trick so they end up flailing and suffering until they are dropped into the scalding tank where they are boiled alive. 

And all this for a chicken sandwich. It’s unbearable. At least JJ had a moment of peace and care. Though we wish it was much longer.  Rest in Peace, angel baby. 

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FPC Poultry Rescue (UK)

So today we were sent a post by a few different people saying around 20 chickens had been turfed out of a van! Luckily Kym was local so she went to have a look and sure enough lots of little chickens scattered the quiet path. I assumed boys but, no,  these were all hens: 13 ginger and one black hen. Amazingly enough, even without any kit, Kym managed to catch half of them. What a ninja.

The lucky girls went home with Kym and within a matter of minutes they were wandering around in their new home, as if nothing had happened. 

We came up with a plan for after work but in the meantime Louise and Steve said they would pop over to see if they could catch anymore. Armed with a crate trap and eggs, many of the gingers couldn’t resist the broken eggs which lay in wait on the floor of the crate.

The messages kept coming through, “Got 3”, “Got 4”, “Got 5”  These two were getting it done! As it started to get late I thought it would be a night catch for the remaining two but the ginger one of the pair finally gave in. I knew the black one was going to be a pain. Not long after another message, “Got them all”.

They were all very scared by the time we got there. Got all of them by using the crate and lots of eggs and yummies. The black was very weary of us. There was no way she was going into the crate. By the time Kym had arrived the hen was hiding in the bushes so we surrounded her.  I came down close and even touched her but she jumped. Then she hopped up into the tree so Kym with her gloves on managed to grab whatever she could and hung onto her.  All safe and sound now and won’t be fox food tonight. 

Thank you to Kym, Louise and Steve who are the heroes of the day and Stuart and Shelley who were planning on spending their night with us rolling around the bushes. Fourteen lives saved today, no thanks to the w@nker in the white van. Kym will be keeping this feathered family together so this morning they were dumped like rubbish and by this evening they are cherished members of the family.

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Big V Sanctuary (France)

We have decided against sharing the pictures of the worst birds, as that helps nobody, and we continue to want our community to be helped by our page, not to cause suffering. To be frank, they were not in an awful condition, not the ones we could see. We have seen far, far worse. We were not allowed any further than the driveway. The birds were chosen for us. Sparing us the horror of choosing, although it fast became apparent that the best birds were brought forward, pre-boxed.

It was a depressing place, huge and vast, with one tiny window visible. Camera strewn. Thousands upon thousands of hens could be housed there. Another collection tomorrow, a small chance for a few, then gone, finished. The cycle starts again for the egg consumer: males are thrown, females are kept for 18 months, then again, then again, then again. Happy eggs. Happy boxes. Happy pictures. Believe the lie. The barn was eerily silent, as if the vast majority were gone, but they wait for Tuesday. The fields around empty. 

We focused on the few we could help; shut out the thousands awaiting terror. Shut it out. We were given quite a few; by design or accident, we didn’t ask. They were thrown with no care, like plastic toys of no worth. Clearly they had come to the end of their useful journey; these ladies were already dead in the eyes of profit.

We have a long night ahead. We are hand bathing them all in natural treatments for mites, then inspecting feet, bums, crops, and eyes. Drying them all completely, then rubbing some of their feet in vegeline for scaly leg mites. Some were able to be settled in the barn tonight, some are drying in the heated kitchen, and some are yet to disembark from the trailer. The priority is to make sure they are comfortable at each stage. After a wash, rinse, and towel dry, they rest in front of the fire in a pen, waiting their turn to be blow-dried on a cool setting. Once super dry, they get a good dusting of diatomaceous earth and some berries to eat.

We don’t know if they will all make it through; there are some very droopy, tired ladies that we have fed critical care to by hand. They are all listening to classical music at the moment and watching my beautiful little family tend to their sisters. This is the only way to wash a chicken and have one in your kitchen. 

We have twenty hens reserved, and over fifty looking for forever homes, although this may become fewer over the next few days.

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Thanks to everyone who shared their stories and photos. Featured photo credit: British Hen Welfare Trust

“Saving one chicken won’t change the world, but it’ll change theirs.”