An Oxfordshire volunteer team has reached a remarkable milestone, rehoming its 25,000th hen through the British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT). The achievement has been marked by team coordinator Lucia Singer, who has spent more than a decade helping ex-commercial hens find new homes across the county.
Singer first became involved with BHWT in 2012, initially hoping to rehome hens herself. After discovering that local collection points were difficult to access, she approached the charity with an offer to use a former RSPCA site where she had been volunteering.
“I emailed the British Hen Welfare Trust saying, basically, ‘Would you like to use this site for rehoming hens?’” she recalls. What followed was unexpected: “I believe they misheard, to be honest, and made me a coordinator.”
Thirteen years later, Singer’s meticulous record-keeping confirms that the Oxfordshire team has now rehomed 25,000 hens. “Thirteen years and twenty-five thousand hens later… we’re still going strong,” she said.
She vividly remembers the first hens the team rehomed, rescued from unenriched cages. “When we brought them here and put them on the patio, they just stood stock still,” she said, describing how unfamiliar even a twig beneath their feet was to birds that had only known flat wire floors.
Rehoming days remain physically demanding, often involving hundreds of birds in just a few hours. “You’re working in the cold, you’re dirty, you’re lugging crates about,” Singer said. “But thanks to our lovely team, it’s the most fun you can have, while also doing good.”
While many hens pass quickly through the site, Singer admits she forms bonds with those that need extra care. “The aim is always the same: if a hen can just get through this one bout of illness, she’ll have a lovely life ahead of her.”
She credits the success of the Oxfordshire operation to teamwork and community spirit. “As coordinator, I end up being the person people see and thank. But really I’m just the cherry on top of the cake. The team is the delicious, important bit of the cake.”
Despite challenges such as avian influenza, Singer remains committed. “Whenever Hen Central rings and says, ‘There’s a rehoming coming up, can you do it?’ I simply can’t say no.”
Reflecting on the birds themselves, she adds: “I wouldn’t say I’m surprised any more – I expect them to have strong characters – but I’m perpetually enchanted. They are beautiful, intelligent little dinosaurs.
