Happy Hens – The British Hen Welfare Trust

The British Hen Welfare Trust, who won Just Giving’s Charity of the Year 2018 award, are a wonderful trust who care about the welfare and lives of British hens. And Higgidy has been a proud supporter of theirs for a number of years. With ‘Hen Central’ based in Devon, they work incredibly hard to rehome hens nationwide.

The BHWT save over 50,000 hens a year and find them caring homes where they are free to roam and live as they please. As well as this, the BHWT educate the public on how they can make positive changes to hen welfare by choosing free-range options when shopping in the supermarkets.

Over the space of 10 years, the BHWT have re-homed 700,000 hens to loving homes – what an outstanding achievement! We’re proud to support such a caring trust and make sure that we use free-range eggs in all of our recipes. If you’d like to know more about how to spot free-range eggs, the British Hen Welfare Trust have a very handy link here: https://www.bhwt.org.uk/free-range-free-range-egg/.

Most recently, the BHWT have confirmed that they have an exciting project coming up: building an educational centre. This is called ‘Project Vicky’, a 250 square metre building which will offer a state-of-the-art rehoming centre. Allowing for educational visits from schools, businesses, vets and other professionals to learn more about the charity and how they save the lives of so many hens. It will feature a fully-equipped veterinary clinic with access to veterinary surgeons who can treat any chicken requiring medical attention.

The aim is to welcome the first batch of hens to Project Vicky by the end of 2019. Jane Howorth MBE, founder of the British Hen Welfare Trust has said:

“Vicky was among the first flock I rehomed in 1995 and the bond I formed with her led me to realise that chickens are far from being just farm animals, they are intelligent, full of character and individuality and make the most wonderful pets – in the same way as cats and dogs”.

We can’t wait to see the updates of this new and exciting venture. For more information, please visit the British Hen Welfare Trust’s website: www.bhwt.org.uk