Flora, We Adore Ya!

Jo Barlow celebrates the life of an amazing ex-bat.

- Jo Barlow

Some chickens are born great, some achieve great-ness and some have greatness thrust upon them, so the saying goes.

Well Flora-Jane was not born great; she was born a battery chick, destined to be entombed in a barren cage for 18 months, before miraculously being rescued and given a new life as a free hen.

But she did achieve greatness. For Flora-Jayne lived almost six years as a free girl, something quite remarkable. Ex-bats usually do not live as long as other hens, their bodies weakened by those 18 months of abuse. We have always aimed for a minimum of one year free, but two is better. Two years means they have lived longer out of the cage than in it, and that, for both hen and keeper, is a great achievement. Anything over two years is a blessed bonus.

A TOUGH OLD BIRD