dear supporters

I feel old! And I can hardly believe we’re celebrating our 20th birthday on 15th April because that time feels like a happy, feathery blur of wonderful achievements for our beloved hens.

Once again this is a celebratory edition (and why not?!) and we cover 20 special points within the charity’s history that have made an unforgettable contribution. Enjoy reading.

I am hugely proud to introduce our new Patron, Professor Ben Garrod. Ben appears on our radios (R4 Inside Science) and TV’s sometimes, and you can read about his work as well as his very kind words about our work later in the magazine.

I’m immensely proud of Heather too, our Director of Operations, who as a specialist poultry vet has just published two articles in the prestigious In Practice publication. It’s all about how we are helping vets to help your hens.

We have another fabulous competition prize – no less than a National Trust Membership and a Hotel Chocolat Easter egg! We love nice things and remember – someone has to win!

Talking about winning, we have had over 1,600 lottery winners – what a result and at the same time as making our rehomers happy we have raised thousands for our hens.

We talk about our legacy of hope in this 20th birthday edition and hope you will consider giving regularly – we are ambitious and we hope you see we put your donations where they’re needed.

For those who are feeling fit, we have places in the London Marathon 2026, we have fabulous photos of your feathered friends and we have our Hensus! Yes it’s back and we really want you to take part … it’s all about your chickens!

Here’s to the next 20 years, please stay with us – we’re pretty sure we won’t disappoint you!

Warmest wishes

Jane

PS We've decided to trial dropping our lovely Chicken & Egg magazine down to two issues per year - don't be sad, it just gives us extra time to help more hens!