In the ad we actually see two chickens, "Suzy" our star, and a dead chicken. Suzy was one of eight hens rescued from the torture of a battery farm.

The dead chicken also came (already dead) from the same battery farm. Finding a dead chicken for the ad wasn't a problem. It is all too easy to find chicken corpses in battery farms.

The eight rescued chickens were immediately taken to a vet, given shelter, freedom, fresh food and a solid flooring before being taken on set to perform in the ad.

 

The set of the TV ad wasn't just Suzy's film debut. It was a day of many firsts for her.

Used to being trapped in a cage that is half the size of her wingspan, Suzy flapped her wings...for the first time.

Initially when Suzy walked she would slide and stumble. She'd never had a solid floor under her feet before. It didn't take her long to get used to not having to clutch onto wire all the time.

As Suzy got more used to her freedom she started to move around more. The significance of this was not lost on the film crew, everyone watched as she took her first few steps knowing it was the furthest she had ever walked in her life.

Within a couple of hours Suzy had grown in confidence testing out her wings and to our amazement even flew up some low steps.

Suzy even laid her first free range egg on set (after seeing her condition no one on the crew wanted to eat it.)

Suzy, now a television star, was a long way from the crippling battery farm. Among so many triumphs that day it was the first time Suzy and her fellow rescuees had ever seen the sky, ever walked more than 20 cm, or ever flapped their wings.

Coming Soon

Suzy and the other rescued hens are being looked after in a sanctuary. Here they can run, perch, nest, dust bathe, lie down, interact with their sisters or escape to privacy, explore, forage and peck at a variety of things. On the morning they were rescued a vet examined all the chickens.

In around 6 months of being rescued most chickens' feathers will have grown back. Unfortunately the chickens have all been de-beaked by having a heated blade cut through half their upper beaks and one third of their lower beaks. This damage may never be repaired and may cause nerve pain when the chickens eat.

The good news is that the chickens were rescued young enough that their organs hadn't yet sustained permanent damage and they are expected to make a full recovery.