by: Christen Shepherd, Cobble Hills Farm Sanctuary
A year in a battery cage takes its toll. When the hens arrive to be taken into our care at Cobble Hills Farm Sanctuary (located in St. Mary’s Ontario, southwest of Stratford) they are weak, afraid and almost featherless. Some are almost completely bald except for a few patches of feathers around their head and top of their legs.
The hens come to Cobble Hills from battery cage operations where they were crowded together with 5 to 7 other birds. The constant rubbing against cage bars and other hens, over time, caused the feather loss. They are vulnerable looking creatures when they arrive but volunteers sew sweaters for them to stay warm until their feathers grow back. It takes a few months but the feathers will return.
In just a matter of days though, the hens learn to walk, build nests and friendships with the other hens. While their feathers grow beneath those sweaters, they learn to trust us and they explore the outdoors – walking on grass and feeling the sunshine for the first time.
They are finally able to flap their wings and when you see a chicken in the sunshine stretching out its wings, it's hard to deny a chicken that. They also begin laying eggs again and it is clear to me that these hens find great joy in life.
