Early in the morning, the new pet owners were ready to receive their retired laying hens in Watt near Regensdorf and to take them to their new places where they could spend the rest of their lives in a species-appropriate way. The SUST place supervisors will continue to support the new hen keepers in word and deed. All the hens from this farm found a good new home today: not a single animal had to make its way to the butcher's shop.

--> And we thank the managers of this SUST project, Sabina Flammer and Simone Maurer, for their tireless efforts!

--> We would like to thank all SUST helpers who packed hens today, prepared boxes and crates, kept lists and did a lot of other important work!

Laying hens are hard-working egg producers

The life of a laying hen is short and full of work: after ten to twelve months of intensive egg laying for their producer, they come to the so-called moulting stage. The moult is a hormonally induced rest during which the laying apparatus of the animals regenerates and the plumage is renewed. The moult lasts two to three months, at least three weeks of which are used for laying. The hens therefore no longer make the desired profit during this period and are therefore gassed (or killed differently) after this first laying period and replaced by young hens. Two million laying hens are killed in Switzerland every year after a few months of their lives, although they could still live for a long time. However, some of them are lucky and are allowed to live on: The Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation was able to agree with the owners of various laying farms that it could take over and place animals for which it can find a new, species-appropriate place. Since 2010, such stalls have taken place several times a year.

--> Here you can find out more about the SUST laying hen campaigns: https://www.susyutzinger.ch/en/Activities/Emergency-help/Laying-hens