Farmer gives rescued hens a home but calls wider cull tragic

Priit Lomp, a chicken keeper who took in some hens rescued from a battery farm in southern Estonia, says the rescue involved only a small fraction of the birds facing slaughter. He spoke to ERR’s Ringvaade programme.

Lomp’s family first placed the rescued hens in a greenhouse, following advice from the animal welfare NGO Nähtamatud Loomad to let them regain strength and confidence before introducing them to the family’s existing flock of 10 hens and a rooster. The rescued birds ate the basil growing in the greenhouse but left the family eggs.

Images from battery farms had moved Lomp and his children to adopt rescued hens two years ago, he said. Hens sent for slaughter are only about one year and three months to one year and 10 months old, while the family’s own hens are six years old. Lomp said they were doing everything possible to help the birds join the flock safely.

About 400 hens were rescued from the southern Estonian farm and placed in new homes. Lomp said about 700,000 birds remained in farms and were likely to be killed soon because their laying period had ended and they were no longer as productive.

He advised people buying eggs to check the numbers printed on them, which indicate the conditions in which the hens are kept. The family buries its hens when they die naturally, though Lomp said keeping them free-ranging carries risks: a hawk has taken some of their birds.