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down like this in years,” she said.
I hear versions of this over and over again. The work of rehoming hens is, on one level, practical. It involves transportation logistics, coop checks, biosecurity measures, volunteer coordination, and endless communication with adopters. But beneath all of that, something else is happening too. A community is forming. People who might otherwise never meet are finding themselves connected through these birds: retirees and young families, longtime farmers and first-time chicken keepers, gardeners, animal lovers, neighbors curious enough to stop by and ask questions over fences.
And there is something fitting about this happening within the Agricultural Reserve. The Reserve has always represented more than farmland alone. It reflects an ongoing conversation about stewardship, conservation, food systems, and the relationship between people and the land around them. HenPals feels, in many ways, like an extension of those same values.
We are still in the early stages of building HenPals, but the response so far has been remarkable. Across our first two rehoming events, 560 hens have now been placed into backyard homes throughout Maryland, and interest has begun spreading into neighboring states as a broader network of adopters, volunteers, and partner farms starts to take shape. We are also moving toward a monthly rehoming rhythm.
For now, though, my favorite
moments remain the quietest ones. A hen stepping cautiously onto grass for the first time. A volunteer holding a hen in her arms who needed extra care.
An adopter sending a photo of birds settled peacefully into their new backyard life.
Small moments, perhaps. But together they amount to something hopeful: not only a second life for hens once considered to have outlived their usefulness, but a reminder that care, once extended outward, has a way of circling back.
Abby Johnson is the founder of Hen- Pals Network, a local nonprofit dedicated to rehoming commercial laying hens into backyard homes. Learn more, support, or adopt at www. henpals. org.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
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