Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Thursday, 29 December 2011

Ex battery hens - the collection!

So yesterday Compostgirl, Compostman and I drove the 70 mile round trip to get our new ex battery hens. Compostman came with me to curb my bringing home loads more hens than I ordered I suspect….!

We arrived at 2 pm at a farm out on the Hereford - Brecon road, where a load of people were arriving with cat baskets and dog crates and boxes and basically anything suitable to carry away hens.

We were welcomed by the BHWT volunteers and signed in to say who we were. I joined the queue in the barn to collect my hens. They had been brought up from a battery farm near Bristol at noon,  so were still quite dazed and confused by space, air and light.





They looked pathetic and bald and really rather poorly and I felt ashamed to be a member of the same species as those who had subjected these animals to such cruelty, all in the name of greed and " economic food production"

I got 7 from the BHWT collection point :-) and gave them my gift aid form and what I hope was a generous donation.

5 of them looked very ropey, poor things and one somehow broke her wing on the way home :-(

2 of then though you would not think were ex battery hens – apart from a bigger comb they look wonderful – alpha hens or maybe a cage where some had died off?

 
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2 comments:

  1. Judy T30 December 2011 at 01:59

    Oh, the poor thing on the left! She looks like she needs a sweater! Good luck with your new ladies.
    Good for you for stepping up. I've never heard of such a thing here in the US.
    Judy

    ReplyDelete
  2. tpals31 December 2011 at 17:34

    It's shocking to see the state they're in when we lavish so much love and attention to our feathered families. I look forward to watching them blossom under your care.

    ReplyDelete

Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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