Dear Friends & Family,

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I have the privilege of sharing my life with a little flock of feathered souls.
They all have a name of their own, which each responds to.
They love to have dust baths, to bathe in sunshine with their wings spread and they love to scratch around and explore their world.
They have disagreements with each other at times and yet preen each other and stick together bravely in the face of adversity.

In these ways they are the same, but in other ways each little bird is unique; each has their own character, their own preferences, their own favourite place and their own individual and delightful way of relating to me.

'Commercial' laying hens are not like my hens though...
They have no individual names, they are all the same.
Although I'm sure they are well cared for, they have minimal needs met for space and variety - they are really there just to lay eggs.

When they are deemed to be unproductive and uneconomical, they are slaughtered.
That is, unless they are rescued and given a home and a peaceful retirement.

The British Hen Welfare Trust is a charity which has saved and rehomed over half a million hens, giving them a chance to express their natural behaviour and bathe in the sunshine - probably for the first time in their lives. Each year they save approximately 50,000 hens from slaughter and find them caring pet homes through their network of 32 regional pop-up centres so they can enjoy a free range retirement.

I want to help them save more hens - which is why I will be endeavouring to do the 'Chicken Walk' - averaging over 10,000 steps a day for 50 days - over 500,000 steps - a step for every little hen that this wonderful charity has saved and rehomed.

Please sponsor me and help the hens have a name of their own and a place in the sun.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Kyra

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.