I rescued two hens recently. Patty and Selma - yes, named after the Simpsons characters - were production hens prior to coming to us. Apparently, hens are no longer considered productive enough for farming purposes once they reach 18 months or so and are slaughtered at that point. Little Hill Animal Rescue takes those hens and rehomes them. We have been perfectly happy with the number of eggs we get - at least one every day, most days two.
Patty and Selma.
I let them out into the garden recently while cleaning their coop, but the poor little things didn’t venture far. I hope they’ll get used to their new freedom.