Prudence was found completely stuck in a shed full of manure in November 2013.  She could not move at all. She would’ve died there, like thousands before her over too many years.

You see, battery egg farms often have Manure Pits. They are underneath the sheds and this is where all the chicken manure goes. Chickens actually live in these pits from either being thrown down there or from falling out of the cages during depopulation. The flocks of chickens who live in these pits live on mounds of manure that go up to my chest or more….I know, I sank down into it many times. It’s like quicksand…made of manure. They live off whatever food they can find including their own eggs. Many girls get trapped in the manure and can’t get out and die from dehydration and starvation. There are dead trapped chickens everywhere in the manure pits.

Prudence was lucky, she was saved, but there’s so many who aren’t.

It took us hours to clean Prudence and her friends up that night. Their bodies were completed covered in manure.

Prudence at Lefty’s Place, clean free and alive.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally

We found her in April 2013, huddling under the towers of the battery egg cages. She stood there standing amongst the bodies of other hens who had died of starvation on the ground. The bodies who had slowly turned to dust surrounded her. She could have ended up on the floor in a few ways, but the most likely is that she was taken out of the cage by a worker who thought she was ill/dying and thrown to the floor.

The amount of dead hens in this shed was shocking. The air actually smelt of death. Our clothes were permeated with the smell of death. My friend got on her stomach and shuffle under the cages and grabbed her. She was frail, had a broken wing and was terrified. Two weeks later, this entire shed of hens (80,000 hens) were denied food for up to two weeks before they were taken out of their cages and sent to slaughter on a truck in the middle of a freezing night in early May.

I named her Dawn, mainly because she could now see the dawn every single day.

Dawny is such a sweet, friendly girl. She is a big talker who is very interested in my daily chores and likes to follow me around checking on my progress and being a general inspector of my work.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally

Retro came from Edgar’s Mission’s 2012 huge chicken rescue, “Chicken Run”. 1,500 hens were rescued by Edgar’s Mission from a battery egg farmer who had a change of heart ( read about it all here www.edgarsmission.org.au/8073/chicken-run-2012-australias-largest-farmed-animal-rescue )

I adopted 12 hens from Edgar’s Mission that year and Retro was on of those hens.

Retro was such a lovely hen, she was so calm and friendly. She was one of those chickens who never thought anything was a drama. Posing her on top of a bag of chicken seed – no drama. Taking her into the produce store for a photo shoot – no drama. Standing on top of the sheep for a photo – no drama. She was such a relaxed little lady.

I named her “Retro” because she was two toned brown and two toned brown automatically  makes me think of the 70s!

Retro passed away in early 2014 from Egg Yolk Peritonitis. Sometimes you can do all in your power to save them, but it’s just not enough. I miss sweet little Retro.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally

She came from a Werribee battery egg farm. She had served her 18 months in a tiny cage with 5 other chickens and was sent to the room where they sell “spent” hens to the public for things like soup. She waited in a cage in that room with thousands of other hens. The room was right next door to a cafe that operated on the property. People would come in and get their morning coffee and eggs for breakfast – whilst in the next room, thousands of starving, featherless hens who laid those eggs waited for their next ticket to death.

She was rescued by a brave person who also saved ten other sickly, featherless girls at the same time. They all made the journey to Lefty’s Place the next day.

Poor Mrs Gideon had such terribly short beak. All hens who are born into the commercial egg laying industry are de-beaked. Apparently de-beaking helps prevent hens from causing serious injury to each other whilst they are locked up and frustrated in tiny cages of a battery egg farm or when they are living in a flock of 60,000 free range hens who have to fight to keep their place in the hierarchy every single day. De-beaking is done without any pain relief. De-beaking makes it difficult for hens to preen themselves properly and makes it difficult for them to eat certain foods. De-beaking is incredibly cruel.

Mrs Gideon was named after a character from the comedy series, “The Mighty Boosh”.
She left this world late 2013. I hope the freedom she had in the last years of her life outweighed the misery of the first few years she had. I hope.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally