Catherine

The oviduct is part of a hen's reproductive system. Because hens in factory farms are physically manipulated to lay an abnormally high number of eggs, their reproductive organs are constantly stressed past the limit. The overworked bodies of egg-laying hens deteriorate quickly. After a short life of 17 or 18 months, they are considered useless to the egg industry and are slaughtered. In the case of Catherine, her body had been so abused that its organs literally collapsed. The gruesome result was a painful protrusion hanging from her vent (where eggs and waste come out). It was bloody, infected, and covered with filth.

Because of the prolapse, Catherine had been unable to sit down on the wire floor of the battery cage. She had spent days or possibly weeks on her feet without any relief. During her recuperation period, she seemed immensely happy to rest for hours in the hay, drowsy and content beneath a warm heat lamp.

Today Catherine is a big, healthy hen with clean white feathers. She lives on an animal sanctuary with other chickens.