Hilltop Hens

27/08/2024

Minister of Agriculture has agreed to meet with FTP and they have this petition they want to give to her

Please sign so they can put some more weight in the argument that the community wants an overhaul into the welfare of pig farming

The government is about to launch an enquiry into pig welfare and have a look at animal welfare in agriculture so this is super important we show them we demand better

Thanks ❤️

After over 10,000 public submissions, hours of hearings and months of deliberations, the Victorian inquiry into pig welfare has released its final report. The report, which has already been supported by government MPs, makes 18 recommendations to end some of the most cruel and outdated practices in....

01/11/2023

It’s been an expensive year at hilltop hens and now we are reaching out for help so we can ensure we do right by our beautiful girl Goldie.
we are hoping it’s a treatable impacted crop - but it could also mean she has tumours and cancer in her ovaries and digestive system which is sadly a common issues for ex commercial hens who are bred only for their eggs and their bodies just cannot take the constant egg laying.
We have taken her to get her crop flushed and had some tests done but she is still unwell and we need to do a review of her situation so we make the right decisions- which could mean making sure she is comfortable and watching for her to let us know she is ready to leave this earth.
Any financial assistance would be gratefully received so we can make sure she is comfortable and getting the correct care.
Please send Goldie your love 💕 she is such a Gentle lady who is not Interested in getting to the top of the pecking order but a companion to all those who feel sick or picked on. She is madly in love with storm the rooster and is so caring to her best friend Evelyn 💕

Hello it’s Clare from hill top hens chicken sanctuary reaching out to our community of animal lovers. O… Clare Easton needs your support for Goldie vet bills

16/12/2022

We are having a fundraiser to help us out as we have multiple hens that require some treatments and tlc including check ups, we have a sick chicken that my have reproductive issues and we also need some hormonal implants. We don’t like to ask for help and we are always self funded however it can get quite expensive when there are multiple issues all at once which isn’t surprising after all this rain we have had

we want to make sure that when it comes to paying the vet bills we can continue to say - “cost isn’t an issue just help these girls feel great and live their best lives”

They certainly deserve it after being liberated from the intensive farming situation the lived in previously.

Thanks you for all your support and love you show our flock we all appreciate the love!

Hello, my name is Clare and I have a small sanctuary for chickens in the Dandenong ranges. We ar… Clare Easton needs your support for Hilltop Hens fundraiser

14/10/2022

are you a parent, are you a teacher? Do you have an elderly relative in a home that has had hatching programs? The power is with YOU! You need to complain to the school, the kinder, the aged care home about them running hatching programs! They are cruel especially to the male chicks which go god knows where, they don't teach about life - chicks usually hatch with a mother hen to guide them not an incubator and heavy handed humans. The hatching programs are done for money not animal welfare. Most concerning of all, we do not know what happens to the male chicks other than the ones that end up on the rooster warriors page 😬😢 please put in complaints in writing. Make them listen 💔

10/10/2022

Goldie had a trip to the vet as I just knew she wasn’t herself. Chickens are so good at hiding illness it’s really important to get to know each one their personalities as it’s so easy to miss. As soon as I took her away from the flock she let her guard down and just got some rest and snuggles in at the vets. It turns out she has gastro - which is going around a lot for animals at the moment due to all the rain we are having- lots of bacteria and parasites. She will be in antibiotics and we also have her a hormonal implant to give her body a rest for a while. Once she got back to her flock she was happy to see everyone again and ran to eat some food. She had an ultrasound as I was concerned about reproductive issues but I’m so relieved to find out that she is doing well. Please send her your well wishes and we hope she gets better asap!

10/05/2022

Can’t get over how cute and tiny pebble is 💗

07/05/2022

Lots of space for these ex battery hens to just be chickens at last and they are loving life -and so they should

Can you imagine they spend 2 years of their lives crammed into a cage- the legal minimum here is Australia is 18 hens per M2

Let that sink in for a moment….. that’s 18 chickens in a metre squared wire cage with no flooring, no roosts, no soil, no mental stimulation, laying with no privacy or nesting box, no hay, no raspberries…. Laying every single day…. Until they are considered spent at 2 years old where they are rough handled into tiny crates, shipped of in a truck and hung upside down to get their throats slit and dumped in boiling water (sometimes still alive…)

Now this is not acceptable on any level- fact not opinion

even if agriculture say it is ethical it’s all bu****it and lies- do you think it is ethical? I mean it’s pretty obvious this is not acceptable right?

I can’t believe our girl’s were saved from all that, my heart breaks for those we cannot save - but we will continue to fight and advocate to end caged eggs for good.

06/05/2022

Evelyn looking spectacular as a ray of sunshine appeared through the clouds lighting her up 💗 she is a beautiful colour with her new winter feathers. Evelyn was found in the street with Harper and their story is unknown- maybe dumped or escapees but whatever their story was they have started a wonderful new chapter here in the forest 💗

05/05/2022

Happy to report that storm has been signed off as healthy and is able to join the flock again- much to the delight to all his girls they went bananas over him today! He just needs to finish his course of antibiotics in about a week and then we wait for his beak to grow. Thank goodness he is on the mend. We love you storm!!!

01/05/2022

Wise old Kemistry, she has the darkest brown feathers and everyone respects her in the flock. She absolutely loves cucumber, raspberries, weetbix and eggs and when you pick her up she snuggles into you- but just for a short time - she is a busy lady with lots to do in the garden. 💗

29/04/2022

Summer chilling out on a rainy day -this is her favourite spot in the run after a good time out free ranging in the garden. They love to hang out in their run as there is heaps of hay, yummy food, roosts and weather protection. Nice place to sit and observe the garden and chat to your mates!

29/04/2022

Sparkle actually has a cute lil face with a blue crest and cute sparkly eyes - but you never see her face as she has this big fluffy head! She is best friends with liquorice and has a beautiful cute little spirit 💗

29/04/2022

Storm is hard to catch - he is very strong! We catch him once he is in the coop morning and evening to medicate. Once he is being held he is easy and cuddly!
He has three pills- pain killers / anti inflammatory and antibiotics The vet said Storm fought them even when sedated under anaesthetic!

He has a follow up appointment next week to check all is healing. In this picture you can see we put a towel on his food tray so he won’t hurt his beak when eating. While he is in the hospital coop he can flirt with the girls through the wire so he doesn’t feel alone. We will integrate him back next week if the vet is happy.

We hope he heals quickly thanks for all your kind messages xx

27/04/2022

Update- it’s not in the bone! He is tired and high on pain meds but will be okay with lots of tlc

we will update more tomorrow we are tired tonight! Xx

Please send storm all your best wishes, our beautiful boy has an infection in his beak and is currently at the vets being sedated and prepared for an X-ray as we need to make sure the infection hasn’t gone into his bone (which we can’t bear to think about)

If the bone is good then he will come back home, get set up in the hospital coop to be medicated with strong pain killers and antibiotics and will be given some time to rest and ensure his beak can get strong. We have no idea how this happened, and we are just glad we got him to the vets as soon as we noticed something wasn’t right.

Storm is such an important family member, and integral part of the flock and a big part of our lives. We love him dearly and he always makes us smile when we hear him crow in the mornings along with the dawn chorus. Hearing his beautiful voice call out out there amongst all the wild birds singing and chatting is just awesome.

13/04/2022

We don’t need to breed chickens at home when there are so many looking for homes. The rooster issue is a big concern, we also get asked to rehome roosters- we wish we could take them but we can’t.

The industrial egg industry… well that’s just another story that’s just heartbreaking.

Adopt don’t breed!

06/04/2022

Tamara is incredible I don’t know how she does it. These photos break my heart and it hurts so much to see such inhumane treatment of animals. It should be illegal to treat animals this way - if you saw dogs being treated like this the perpetrators would be in jail- why are chickens any different? I’m so grateful for the freedoms we can give our small family here when I see Tamaras photos I am always reminded of where they came from and it’s shocking.

The real price of eggs is portrayed throughout this body of work. Hundreds of images from years of documenting in caged egg farms, barn laid egg farms, free range egg farms, hatcheries and abattoirs - where ALL egg layers are sent to be horrifically slaughtered.

Eggs cost them more than one carton could ever cost you, they cost them their lives.

Don't eat eggs.

26/03/2022

Kemistry -you have our hearts girl! 💗

05/12/2021

Hayley enjoying some morning sunshine.

We use herbs and plant them all around the runs so they have natural shade from the sun so it still allows a nice breeze. We plant some herbs that grow in summer and die back in winter so they are getting warmth from the winter sun and shade from the hot summer -such as comfrey, yarrow and valerian. We plant lavender, rosemary, thyme,and mint too as this helps deter certain insects and mites and mice don’t like the strong smell. Comfrey and yarrow is then used in the compost after we have cleaned out the chicken coops and this helps break it down and we then use the compost on our veggie patch and herbs. We collect newspaper from some of the community to recycle and use in the coops and we use h**p bedding.

We share our veggies we grow with the chickens - they absolutely LOVE silverbeet and Kale.

We have recently invested in upgrading our coops and runs again- always an ongoing project for us to continue improving their living quarters!