We know very well how awful the life of a hen can be if she is kept in a cage, whether a ‘conventional’ or ‘enriched’ one. How sad the life of elderly people in care homes can be, too, when insensitive and senseless health and safety rules force them to separate from their companion animals.
Hen - Isla del Sol, Colombia, 2009
Fortunately, this absurdity is rejected by a large number of care homes, to the extent that in a single web directory for the UK over 8,000 pet-friendly care homes are listed.
As an interesting complement to that, an unconventional project was started in 2012 by Equal Arts, a British charity that promotes “creative opportunities for older people” through cooperation with artists and freelancers. The project brings together hens adopted as companion animals and pensioners, who were quickly nicknamed ‘hensioners’.
HenPower “helps set up hen-keeping in older people’s care settings to offer fun and stimulating activities for residents, families and other independent-living older people”.
HenPower projects have already been set up in several centres in the north-east of England and are expanding (depending on requests and available resources).
Each care setting is supported by a small network of volunteers who either know about hens or enjoy looking after them. Each project also has weekly activities based around hen-keeping, which could include creative writing, digital photography, local history or other creative activities.
You can read more about this project on the HenPower or Equal Arts websites.
