FORGET five gold rings or four calling birds, could you give a home to three ex-battery hens this Christmas? Hundreds of hens in Devon are soon to be given the Christmas gift of a second chance in life thanks to hen welfare charity, the British Hen Welfare Trust.

The lucky hens, which would otherwise go to slaughter at the end of their commercial life, will hopefully be re-homed on Sunday, December 20 at an event in South Zeal to kind hearted members of the public, and go on to enjoy a festive free range retirement.

Battery hens have a commercial life of around 18 months. Although they lay perfectly well after this time farmers cannot guarantee that they will lay one perfect egg every single day.

Local co-ordinator for the charity, Gaynor Davies, told the Times: ‘What could be nicer than to embrace the spirit of Christmas by welcoming a few new members into the family fold? Ex-bat hens make gorgeous, endearing, funny pets and will usually lay an egg in return for good hospitality. They need a home for keeps though, not just Christmas, so please give adoption serious consideration.

‘Ex-bats are simple to keep and have such friendly personalities, they will soon work their way into your hearts, and just think you could soon be enjoying free range eggnog with family and friends using fresh laid eggs!’

If you would like to offer some hens a home or have a little more room in your hen house and space for another Christmas stocking please call the charity at Hen Central on 01884 860084.

The British Hen Welfare Trust is a national charity that re-homes commercial laying hens, educates the public about how they can make a difference to hen welfare and encourages support for the British egg industry. The charity was established in 2005 by Jane Howorth, and is Britain’s first registered charity for re-homing laying hens. This year it celebrates its tenth anniversary.

In the UK there are approximately 16-million hens kept in colony cages. The charity has so far found retirement homes for around 485,000 caged hens, all of which were destined for slaughter.

Later this year the charity hopes to meet Dee, their soon to be 500,000th lucky hen - ‘D’ is 500,000 in Roman numerals.