At its laying hen campaign on Saturday, July 18, the SUST was able to deliver over 650 spent laying hens to new homes. Once again, all the hens from the farm found a good new home: not a single animal had to make its way to the butcher's store.
The new keepers waited patiently in a long queue until they could receive and take home their "bred out" hens in Watt (ZH). These animals are now allowed to stay in their new homes until the natural end of their lives.
The SUST place supervisors will continue to support the new hen keepers with advice and assistance in the future.
--> We thank the farmer for the long and good cooperation: www.oggthefarmer.ch/
--> And we thank the leaders of this
SUST project Sabina Flammer and Simone Maurer for their tireless efforts!
--> We thank all SUST helpers who packed hens, prepared boxes and crates, kept lists and did many other important jobs during this campaign!
Laying hens are hard working egg producers The life of a laying hen is short and busy: After ten to twelve months of intensive egg laying for their producer, they come into the so-called moult. The molt is a hormonally induced rest period during which the laying apparatus of the animals regenerates and the feathers are renewed. The moult lasts two to three months, at least three weeks of which are spent laying. During this time, the hens no longer produce the desired profit and are therefore gassed (or otherwise killed) after this first laying period and replaced with young chickens.
Two million laying hens are killed in Switzerland every year after only a few months of their lives, although they could still live for a long time. However, some of them are lucky and are allowed to live on: The Susy Utzinger Foundation for Animal Welfare was able to reach an agreement with the owners of various laying farms to take over animals for which it finds a new, species-appropriate place and continue placing them. Such removals have taken place several times a year since 2010.
--> Here you can learn more about the SUST lay hen campaign: www.susyutzinger.ch/Aktivitaeten-/Soforthilfe/Legehennen