Julie with her hens. Photos: Supplied.
Adopting a chook may not be high on your list of fun things to do, but Julie O’Shea says that it can be a wonderful and rewarding adventure.
“Hens are companion animals, no different from a dog or cat. People who have chickens do fall in love with them and realise how sentient and beautiful they are. They’re wonderful little friends who just love being around you. They eat your veggie scraps, provide you with great poo as mulch for your garden, improve your permaculture efforts and generally keep you entertained for hours – and gift you some eggs, too!”
After 35 years of corporate life Julie founded Who Gives a Cluck, a volunteer-driven charity committed to rescuing and rehoming hens from the egg laying industry.
“There are 29.5 million caged hens in Australia. The farm that I deal with has 58,000 battery hens and they cull approximately 42,000 of those hens every year, when the hens are about 18 months old and are considered to be non-profitable if they’re not producing five to seven eggs a week. We collect the battery hens just before they start culling.”
Just before the big rescue effort a team of volunteers gathers up the ’floor girls’ – hens that may have escaped the cage, and possibly hurt themselves in the fall. Who Gives a Cluck has two operational ‘chook hospitals’ – paid for by donations from Hen Heroes – where hens that don’t pass the health check go to, are cared for, and given any necessary rehabilitation and medical treatment.
“We find homes for about 2,500 hens a year in our eight major adoption locations,” says Julie. “In the Capalaba area we have 234 Mother Cluckers – approved adopters; we’re hoping to raise it to 300 this year.”
Hopeful adopters need to fill in an application form to make sure that they’re properly prepared for new feathered family members. Julie says that for the first month the hens have to be treated like a two-year old; they’re inquisitive, they’ve never seen rain or sun and usually their first reaction in their new home is to try for a dust bath. If you let them wander too far they won’t know how to get back home because they’ve always lived in a tiny cage.
“Some people may adopt them for the eggs but we make sure that they tick the box that says: eggs or no eggs, this hen will have a forever home,” says Julie.
If you’re prepared to enrich your life by becoming a Mother Clucker, make sure that your application is in, at the absolute latest, ten days before adoption day. This year, the Capalaba adoption date is October 25. Sign up here: https://whogivesacluck.org/become-a-hen-parent/
For more information – including heart-warming stories shared by other Mother Cluckers – go to www.facebook.com/whogivesacluck/.
