Happy egg lets romance get in the way of layer breeding

Another holiday, another scheme from the Happy Egg co to highlight the enrichments its hens receive that, to put it lightly, takes some liberties with the reality of poultry farming.

In light of Bristol University research that suggests hens find human voices soothing, the company has created an enrichment suited to this year’s Valentine’s day.

With science behind them, Happy Egg marketeers recruited romantic novelist Catherine Alliot to write and record  some “chick lit” which farmers could play to hens in their sheds.

The premise is Molly, a Happy Egg hen, desperately wondering if she will be chosen by farmer Ella to be penned up with Clooney the cockerel, to breed replacements for the flock.

That breeding farms are totally distinct from laying farms goes unmentioned in the novella. There’s plenty of reference to substantial breasts and thick thighs though, so that’s alright.