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Back in pre-Covid February (seems like a long time ago now doesn't it?) I had the fortune to interview the magnificent Jane Howarth MBE, the founder of the British Hen Welfare Trust about her amazing charity that rescues and re-home ex-battery hens.

• Chickens are our closest living relative to the awe-inspiring T-Rex! Over 65 millions year ago, one lineage of the dinosaur that survived mass extinction was the bird - and chickens are by far the more primal and dinosaur like of all our birds.
•  They out number humans by 4 to 1.There are more than 25 billion globally and they are the most common bird species around.
• They are smarter than you think and studies have proven that they share similar traits to primates. They can distinguish over a 100 faces of their own species - this ability alone rivals that of an elephant.They are even cleverer than a toddler as they can problem solve, exhibit mathematical reasoning and understand the basics of structural engineering. All this as well as displaying object permanence - the ability to understand that an object still exists even if it's hidden.
• Contrary to popular belief, chicken have fantastic vision and are certainly not colourblind, in fact their color vision is better than ours. They have five different types of light receptors which allow them to see lots of colours in any given part of their retina. And just like humans, they dream when asleep! We share the sleeping phase, REM (rapid eye movement) which signifies the ability to dream but chickens can go one further, they can sleep with one eye shut - an evolutionary tactic which allows them to watch out for predators while asleep.
• Chickens are omnivores. Besides eating grains and grasses, they love nothing more than scratching in the dirt for a juicy insect. They even devour the odd lizard, young mouse or small snake.
• They are now the 6th most popular pet in the UK.

• They have a life span of about 5 to 10 years however according to Guinness World Records, the oldest hen was named Matilda, she was a magician's assistant and lived to the grand old age of 16yrs!
•  They gave us the terms "pecking order" and "hen-pecked". Flocks operate on a strict hierarchy with top chickens ruling the roost by bullying and literally pecking weaker hens into submission. Despite this, they live in relative harmony as pecking orders are established very early on in a chicken's life.
• In terms of defensive behaviour, these ladies have been know to gang up on young or weak predators. A group of hens once attacked a hawk that dared enter their coop and another report claims a young fox met its' death with a run in with a particularly angry flock! So next time you call someone "chicken", think again.
• Mother hens communicate the their unborn chicks by chirping, this is reciprocated by the chick through their shells.
• They have a sweet courting ritual where the cockerel performs a little dance to woo the hen called "tidbiting". This involves him making a certain type of call while he moves his head up and down. It's also been noted that hens are especially attracted to cockerels with a large wattle!

•   Chickens are the most consumed animal on the planet, in fact more chickens are killed for food than all land animals combined.
• In the wild, chickens can often live to 11 years of ages, those raised for the meat industry are lucky if see past 41 days and "free-range chickens don't fare much better, they are usually slaughtered as soon as they hit 56 days. As for male chicks, they are routinely killed as soon as they are born.
•  In their natural habitat, wild chickens lay about 12 eggs a year during their breeding season, the egg industry breeds hens to lay eggs every day which leaves them exhausted and with painful reproductive disorders.
• Sadly these sensitive and intelligent birds experience awful conditions whether they are raised for the meat or the egg industry. One abattoir alone can slaughter up to 12,000 hens an hour, as for battery hens, the less said the better.

So if you can, please consider free range chicken and eggs and if you are lucky enough to have a garden why not consider re-homing a hen. You'll have the best tasting eggs and a wonderful pet.     

For more information on the British Hen Welfare Trust click here