A week ago I wrote to you feeling completely hopeless, wondering how on earth to continue the rescue and yet realising how impossible it is to end it. In the last week you have gathered around, donated, shared the fundraising campaign and made me feel that I am not at all alone.
There may not be many of us that are sensitive to farmed animal suffering but when we rally together it really is a powerful thing. Whilst I won’t pretend every issue is solved, I do feel like we can keep taking small steps forward. The fundraising campaign is so much further along and we have had six new paid subscribers. Wow! A huge thank you to every single one of you for making such a big difference.
As I write this, I’m outside supervising the chickens. It is a beautiful sunny day. Wedge-tailed eagles are circling high above but I’m ready with my call ‘Oooo eeee’ between cupped hands to direct them away should they come any lower. Black cockatoos are calling from the gumtrees and Ginny, our little polish hen who has recently become blind, is doing amazingly well navigating the garden by following the sounds of her sisters. She can climb the steps, run for corn and stay with the flock with incredible ease.
I’ve received emails of encouragement, book recommendations, suggestions of grants to apply for, ideas for volunteer accomodation and a lot of kind words. I’m so grateful for every one of those emails, donations or comments. Receipts for anyone who donated to the bank account will be sorted out very soon.
This week has had some very sad lows that I won’t go into now. Instead I’m going to do what a few of you suggested and focus on the good things. I’ve been keeping a gratitude list for a while now and find it ever so helpful. I’m on a 71 day streak of finding things to be grateful for. And there’s a lot!
Today I thought I’d share five things I’m grateful for from around the Hen Haven.
1: Bert and Ernie’s playground
I am grateful that we had enough funds to finish netting another enclosure today!
Bert and Ernie were dumped as babies earlier this year. Same old story I’d imagine. Someone hatching chicks without a thought of what they’ll do with the boys and then discarding them like rubbish. Thank goodness for the people who found them and made sure they were safe.
Out of all the roosters, Bert and Ernie love to play and jump the most so having them cooped up due to the birds of prey was especially heartbreaking. That is no longer a problem. The enclosure is fully netted with wildlife safe netting and plenty of perches (and a swing) to play on, with more to come. We were so close to being out of funds last week and now here we are still making progress, thanks to you.
2: Piggy Pedicures!
We have four beautiful pigs here at the Hen Haven. There’s bossy boots Annie and gentle Buster who were saved from piggeries and certain slaughter. There’s our sensitive Eddie who was bought as a micropig but quickly outgrew his home. He’s only a little smaller than Annie and Buster now and I’m sure he has some wild pig in him. And then there is little Ginger, our cuddly girl who our neighbour bought as a pet, without much thought of the care or space she would need.
For the big pigs, hoof trimming has always been a huge ordeal. There’s only one vet in the area who will do it. Being semi-retired she’s hardly ever available and the pigs hate the whole experience. They have to be fasted which makes them very grumpy and when the vet and her assistant arrive, the pigs get so scared they have to be sedated with a dart gun which is stressful, expensive and feels very dangerous.
And so I began the task of training them to get used to foot handling. I invested in some farrier hoof nippers that were expensive but only a fraction of the cost of having the vet come out. I’ve been going into the paddock and pig shelter with them every day, about an hour after they’ve eaten their breakfast. This is their dozing time so the perfect time to get them used to the tool.
I had planned for this to take months, but it’s going so much better than I had hoped. Annie, Buster and Ginger all allowed a small cut on the first try for which they were rewarded a grape. But Eddie, our most sensitive boy, surprised me the most. He listened as I explained what I was doing. I trimmed a little off his front hoofs, amazed he was letting me do so and he grunted little content grunts. And then just as I was about to leave it for the day and reward him, he rolled over and let me trim his other hoofs! He has done this every day since. I’m only doing a little at a time so as not to cause bleeding, but I feel so happy about this. So much money and stress saved and ultimately much happier pigs! Eddie seems to love the bonding time together and I truly believe he understands that I am helping him.
3: Our Haven!
Something I never take for granted, even on the most difficult days is that this ramshackle property is ours! (Well I guess it’s officially the bank’s but you get what I mean.)
No landlord is threatening us with eviction, no one gets annoyed with the animals, and when something is broken I can call a repair person without the rigmarole of going through the real estate. It’s amazing!
The beautiful skies are ours to enjoy every night with no one threatening to take it all away. I can plant whatever trees or flowers I want. I can ensure no pesticides or poisons ever come onto the property. No wasp nests destroyed. No trees cut down. No spider or fly sprays. No purposeful killing at all! For me and David who will literally never hurt a fly, this is perfect.
I will never ever take that for granted.
4: Morning Cuddles with Max
I won’t list all the individual animals I’m grateful for. We’d be here all day! But the fact that every day starts with Max the bunny grooming me cannot go without mention. It’s the best way to wake up in the world! And to think David and I thought we didn’t have room for him.
This morning, as I waited for my alarm to go off, he binkied and zoomed around the bed for about 10 minutes straight! He brings me joy every day without fail.
Dad bought me a toy bunny, when I was about 8 years old. I called the bunny Snowy and I still have him to this day. I cuddled him every night. These days he’s very raggedy and needs some repair. It feels almost like magic that now I have a real bunny in the bed every night! Max does chew off a couple of pieces of my hair every morning, but oh well. I have plenty left and who am I to argue with someone this gorgeous?
5: Chilling with the Chickens
No matter how challenging the day, I have something amazing I can do. I can sit with the chickens. As soon as I sit on the grass there they are, preening my legs, taking dust baths right next to me and pecking at my gum boots. Just now, as I wrote the last words, Heather jumped up and interrupted my newsletter writing and made me laugh. What an incredible gift!
And once again, I’m grateful for you.
Your support and suggestions have all been taken on board and it means the world to me that people took the time to get in touch, donate or share.
Thank you so much. I will share another update video soon showing the progress you are helping make possible. If you want to check out the fundraiser and see where we are up to, you can check it out here: https://chuffed.org/project/henhavencrisis
If you last saw it a week ago, you’ll be amazed at how wonderful people have been.
Love Catherine x
Founder of NSW Hen Rescue
You are such a LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep shining, you are never alone. <3
How amazingly smart are pigs! Keep going...you are an inspiration