Operational issues

Future of the hens

We rehome only to individuals and families who are offering the hens a "home for life" and agree to provide suitable care to the hens for the remainder of their natural life, or until it is necessary for them to be put to sleep for veterinary reasons. 

We realise that people's circumstances may change, and also that some rehomers may realise after a while that hens are "not for them".  If a rehomer finds that for any reason they cannot or do not wish to keep the hens, we are happy to take them back to rehome elsewhere, and we will be fully supportive of rehomers who take this decision.

Onward supply of hens to other people

Under certain circumstances we may place hens with accredited rescue centres, who vet their own rehomers and operate within the same broad principles and objectives as this organisation.

If any of our supporters would like to take additional responsibility for identifying other rehomers, we welcome this involvement, and encourage them to refer the people they identify to this website. If the supporter wishes, it may be appropriate in these cases for them also to act as a central point for "their" rehomers to collect the hens after the rescue.  However, we need to ensure that all our rehomers are vetted in the same way and that they all agree to the "terms and conditions" on this page.  We also need to ensure that we can trace where all our birds are located in the event of any outbreak of infection which may require DEFRA involvement.  We therefore do not pass batches of hens to individuals who wish to rehome these independently. 

Commercial use of hens

There is no problem about you selling on a few spare eggs to friends and neighbours.  However, we are only involved in rehoming pet animals on a non-commercial basis.  We cannot rehome hens with people who are expecting to use them as part of a commercial operation, to sell the eggs commercially, or to sell the hens at any stage.

Why do we ask for donations in advance of the rescue?

Very simply, all of our costs are upfront – the hired vans and fuel,  and the cost of the hens themselves.  Each of our rescues costs several thousand £££ to put on, and we somehow have to have the money for this available before the rescue.  We are not rich people!  However, we get many questions about this, so here are the FAQs!

“I've got hens from the BHWT before and they let me donate on the day”
Unlike the BHWT, we don’t have any funds in the bank or wealthy sponsors.  We are a modest organisation, running on rather less than a shoestring.

“But I may not be able to collect the hens – I don’t want to donate upfront if it turns out that I’m busy that day and can’t actually get them…”
Please DON'T APPLY FOR HENS FROM US!  We always have a few rehomers who say they will take hens, but who don’t turn up to collect them.  Some of our co-ordinators have been left with up to 80 birds! We have no premises, so if our co-ordinators are left with uncollected hens, they can be really stuck, and finding emergency homes for hens causes a huge amount of extra work at the point when coordinators are already exhausted.  We only want to supply hens to people who have made a real commitment to take them.   We find that if people donate upfront, it generally indicates this commitment.

 “I want to see the hens before I decide whether to take them"
See previous question.   Some battery hens are in a distressing condition when they come out, but almost all of them will feather up and turn into beautiful hens with a little time and TLC.  There is usually a range of conditions amongst the hens arriving at each of our centres, from bald and thin, to fat and well feathered.  Please remember that, on the day of rehoming, the hens will be pretty exhausted. Unfortunately we cannot always offer our rehomers a 'choice' of birds on the day - we want the hens to reach their new home quickly and safely.

If you are not sure about whether you or your children could cope with ex-battery hens, we can put you in touch with forums where you can discuss this with other people who have rehomed similar hens.  You could also arrange to come to a rescue to see for yourself what the hens are like, before deciding whether to have some from the next rescue.
 
“I don’t have a bank account or a paypal account.”
Please send a postal order - don't send cash through the post.

“I can’t get to the post office/cashpoint.”
Then you probably won’t be able to get to the poultry supplier either or to the vet if your hens get ill – it may not be realistic for you to keep hens, and at the least you may need to do some more planning - probably better to wait for a later rescue.

“I never trust anyone on the internet.  Why should I trust you with my money?”
Yes, there is some trust involved.  Our volunteers trust YOU enough that we spend hundreds of hours of our own time, and often hundreds of pounds of our own money, making the rescue happen.  It’s a partnership.  If you are not ready to trust us enough to join that partnership, then it would be better for you to look elsewhere for your hens.

“But this might all be a scam! “
Check out the poultry forums and look for our rehomers – you will find hundreds of entries from people who have rehomed hens from us.  If this were a scam, it would certainly be all over the forums by now.

“What if the rescue is cancelled or there aren't enough hens? I don’t want to lose my money...”
We will let you know in advance if a rescue is cancelled and we will follow your wishes – either return your donation or hold it for the next rescue.  The same applies if by any chance there are not enough hens to go round on the day (sometimes farmers offer us a fixed number of hens and we find homes for these, but on the day it turns out that there are slightly fewer than the farmer thought).  In these cases we try to take a few hens off the larger orders, so that no one is left with no hens, and we will return part of the donation in these cases.

How will the information we collect be used?

Hen Rehomers UK complies with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.  Information sent to us using the adoption application form or the helpers form will be transferred to an electronic database which is kept securely and is password protected.  The information will be used for the following purposes:     

• Establishing that it is appropriate for us to rehome hens with you
• Organising the rescue, eg in terms of numbers and destinations of hens
• Contacting you both before and after the rescue and following up any issues or concerns that may arise
• Maintaining records for our own statistical audit and review
• Maintaining records required by DEFRA, Inland Revenue and other statutory bodies

Please note that we may pass on the information that you give us to statutory bodies within the limits of our statutory responsibilities.  We will not pass information that you give to us to any private person or non-statutory  body without your permission.

Compliance with DEFRA regulations

In line with statutory obligations, there are some circumstances where we may need to disclose to DEFRA the details of where hens have been rehomed – this may particularly arise in the event of any concerns over the birds welfare or health, particularly any communicable disease.

Separately from this, any person keeping 50 or more poultry (including flocks of mixed breeds) is required to register their flock with DEFRA.  (Other poultry owners are encouraged to register on a voluntary basis). Registration is free and can be done online http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/vetsurveillance/poultry/index.htm.