The purpose of the network is to help find homes for unwanted chickens. We're a non-profit, volunteer-powered operation running on a shoestring budget (cheap shoestrings, not those fancy ones with the plastic tips). The idea for the network came to me from a couple of different directions.

In early 2007 my partner and I adopted a dozen rescued battery hens from the SPCA. At the time I found out just how few of the millions of battery hens in New Zealand get rescued each year (the rest being "culled" due to economics). We still get a lot of pleasure from these great critters (and more than a few eggs).

In late 2007, I was trying to facilitate the re-homing of some chickens through a community group I belong to. The response I got from people looking to adopt chickens was amazing - with offers to adopt far outstripping the number of chickens available. Other people then asked me if I could help re-home their chickens so I started looking for a way to bring everyone together.

I had seen other mailing-list based services like the Freecycle Network that seemed to work really well. I thought there was no reason why we couldn't apply the same model to finding new homes for chickens. So I combined my IT background and passion for animal welfare and the Chicken Rescue Network was born. 

We live on a lifestyle farm in the beautiful Wairarapa with our chickens, sheep, cows, horses and cats. 

Thanks for stopping by.

John