Karen's Story

In February 2021 we took in three ex-caged hens with no idea how it would hugely shape our future or how much we would learn about the most abused land animal on the planet, the chicken.

Karen was saved from an "enriched" cage situation. She arrived with poor feather quality, a pale comb and low energy levels. Stress is normal with the travelling and change of home, but it soon became apparent that there was something deeply wrong.

We went from vet to vet trying to find someone who could help. We quickly realised that most vets treat only common companion animals such as cats and dogs and chickens require "exotic vets". This was hugely eye opening for us, given that there are approximately 29 million laying hens and 116 million broilers in the UK at any one time. How could help for these animals be so hard to come by? Even when we did find vets who would see us, we were always put in the queue behind cats and dogs. We had a couple of mis-diagnoses and were told to put Karen to sleep, but finally, we found a vet who could help.

And it was a pretty obvious issue, one finger up her cloaca and he felt the egg. An X-ray confirmed. It was so large and had been stuck for so long that it had bound to her insides. She had a risky surgical procedure to remove it and lived a free life with us for one wonderful year. She was sweet, sassy and most definitely sentient. She figured out the treat ball quicker than our cats! When her sister Maggie was poorly, she sat by her side, day and night in the coop. Sadly, even though she had hormonal implants to slow her reproductive system, she had egg matter build ups twice and didn't survive the final time.

Egg layers have been selectively bred over hundreds of years to maximise egg production. This breeding is harmful to their health, in the same way that dogs have been bred for aesthetics, and some, like pugs struggle to live comfortable healthy lives. Egg production has been maximised for hens, with unnatural light to mimic longer days and selective breeding, so much so, that many now lay around 360 eggs per year, vs their wild ancestors who would lay around 12.

Due to selective breeding, reproductive issues are common in hens, particularly in commercial breeds. Over the years, we have built up our knowledge of caring for hens and taken in special care cases, inspired by Karen. We have learnt to manage a range of common issues in addition to reproductive health, such as bumblefoot and pendulous/slow moving crops and also tackled some less common ailments such as aspergillosis. Our experiences have shown us just how hard it is to find help and answers. That's why Karen's Kind has launched the Help for Hens campaign to help rescued chickens and pass on vital knowledge in chicken care.