RESCUING hundreds of chickens that were due to be slaughtered is no yolk-ing matter, but Diana McChesney knew eggs-actly what she was doing when she helped with a special animal rescue recently. The scale of the task might leave some people in a fowl mood, but Diana and the other human helpers were only too happy to help. With a well thought out plan for how to move the birds, they certainly weren’t winging it with any bird-brained idea, as they moved the hens from their former factory home to a temporary base, before they’re all rehoused at new homes. While John Doonan’s experience of driving hens about in his party bus doesn’t usually involve the feathered, clucking variety, he was delighted to help.

John Doonan's party bus is well used to a rowdy bus full of hens but this week the hens looked a bit different to the usual hens he transports. Diana McChesney rescued hundreds of hens from the slaughter with the help of the party bus driver and a local farmer with a cattle trailer.

Diana refers to her rescue mission as ‘Operation Pecker’ after she acted to rescue hens who were due to slaughtered today (Thursday) as they were formally housed in a factory as battery hens.

Diana estimates that between 600-700 hens were rescued.

She commented on their temperament and said: “They are into everything and some are very nosey hens.”

The hens rescued were only 72 weeks old and having been rescued from cages they will now see grass for the first time as the hens have never been outside.