76132-01ABOUT 400 Wootton Bassett residents are looking for new accommodation after accepting redundancy.

The all-female group are living in temporary housing outside the town after arriving from Devon four weeks ago.

Having been in an intensive industry throughout their working lives, they are now looking for more relaxing outdoor work, and they possess one talent that most Adver readers are unlikely to acquire, no matter how hard they strain.

They can lay eggs.

In a scenario familiar to anyone who has seen the film Chicken Run, the hens were rescued from battery farms and taken to the Swindon and District Animal Haven.

John Warwick, owner of the sanctuary, said: "These hens are put into cages at 19 weeks of age, and at 72 weeks they usually get their necks rung and turned into animal feed. That is the life of the battery hen.

"This is all done so that we can buy eggs cheaply. It's a horrible way to go."

In the film the chickens were helped by rats to escape in a special aeroplane.

In this case an aeroplane was not needed, as animal lovers have been taking the hens with the farmers' permission, so that they will not be killed.

The hens have then been brought to the animal sanctuary. And they keep coming.

At the weekend another twenty arrived.

Mr Warwick said: "There's a glut of hens coming in at the moment, as a lot of battery farms are closing down.

"It gets expensive to feed them all but as a rescue centre we have a duty to save them. We've re-homed 100 already, but we need people who can give them good homes and want a few eggs for breakfast.

"There are hens all over Swindon now. People have little chicken boxes in their gardens."

If you are interested in taking a hen or two, contact John on 07990 868887.

Get some advice on helping sick animals

A new leaflet giving advice on how to deal with injured animals, will be available soon.

The leaflets come after the success of the Wildlife Hamper Campaign in which Swindon Services' Ranger Team and South West Swan Sanctuary (SWSS) asked people to donate items needed to treat sick animals.

Sue Hulbert of the SWSS said they decided to produce the leaflets, which will be available from the rangers at Coate Water in the spring, after people asked questions on how to deal with injured animals.

David Andrew