Wish I had more room!

My daughter works with someone whose husband has a free range egg business.  Have just found out this morning that their (Lohman) hens are due to be captured tomorrow morning for dispatch.  They have thousands of them and are only one year old.  I have been offered the chance to rescue some but don't have the room for them.  I could accommodate 2 more hens but I am getting 2 Welsummers as an early Christmas pressie off my Aunty.

The farmer only gets 50p per hen but with the charges for catching and tansporting them I think they are out of pocket.  Apparently eggs are going the way of the milk.  Supermarkets are giving the farmers less for the eggs and the price of feed is increasing at an allarming rate.  So much so that they are not going to replace the hens that are going tomorrow.  They have thousands that will be going in about 9 months time and are considering the viability of the business.

The only good thing is that they have had a truely free range life.