Battery hen rescue

We have a dog called Harley who my son found online at SAFE (Saving Animals from Euthanasia). Harley (at age six months) was on 'death row' in a pound in Western Australia's Pilbara and I guess that a ranger, admiring his friendly nature (despite his ill-treatment at the hands of a previous owner) thought, 'this guy's too cool to be put down' and contacted SAFE. We've had Harley for more than three years and we've loved almost every minute of having him living with us, except when he escapes through the open front door every so often and we're terrified he's going to get run over. We always manage to get him home unscathed and he always runs to the beach where he tries to round up the waves. He thinks they're sheep!



Harley helping me in the garden. What would I do without him!




So having had such a great experience adopting Harley, we decided to adopt some battery hens! First we got rid of the backyard swimming pool (see a previous post on Scribblygum) and then we got a great carpenter to build the chook yard, once the garden was in.

Our new chook yard, ready for our 'girls'

Once the chook yard was ready we drove out to an egg farm, thanks to info from Adopt a Battery Hen who gave us the addresses of egg farmers in the Perth area who sell hens past their laying prime. Ours are ISA Browns and were $5 each. I got five, trying to choose from the ones on sale those who seemed the most desperate to get out of their small cages, and also the ones that were baldest. I drove them home in boxes on the back seat of my car. The woman at the farm cut a viewing strip in each of the two big boxes, and the hens all stuck their heads out as we drove along, but they didn't like it when I had to turn a corner as the boxes slid around. Next time (when these girls die of old age) I'll take cushions to make the boxes more secure.

Our 'girls' on their way to their new home

When I got them home, my other son helped me carry them into the chook yard and shut the gate behind me while I opened the boxes and let them out. Harley, our puppy Max and one of my daughter's two dogs were all watching with great interest on the other side of the chook yard gate! The hens were SO pleased to be in a nice shady yard with fresh straw and good things to eat including lettuce and watermelon and corn etc. One, the baldest, whose name is Dusty, dug a big hole in the sand and stretched out luxuriously. The others walked up and down, stretching their necks, lifting their legs, feeling the sun on their skin. An aeroplane flying low overhead scared them, but now they're used to planes and helicopters that are always scouring the coast for sharks.

Puppy Max takes a keen interest in our chooks, but they're not scared of him although he looks like a fox!




 

 We didn't get the chooks because we wanted eggs (though having eggs is a lovely bonus) -- but they do give us up to five eggs a day, mostly three. I'd advise anyone who loves animals to give stray and unwanted ones a good home. It's so rewarding and it's amazing to see the hens growing their feathers back and enjoying every minute of their new life at our place.

As a writer, I love creating characters who are animal lovers. My most recent novel, Stella's Sea, features a former bee keeper whose daughter's little dog, Pom, is the only reason she has for staying alive. The novel's getting some lovely reviews, which I was surprised about. But perhaps people are liking it BECAUSE of the animal-loving nature of its main character, Stella.

I'e written lots of romance novels too -- and all the main characters have animals! Right now, you can download Beyond the Border 1 free from Amazon. You can read it on Kindle or on an app. It's had one review, which wasn't complimentary. The reviewer said there were too many characters, but stay with it if you like stories about Welsh princesses, Celtic magicians and Viking warriors. Beyond the Border 2 will be free in a few days.