Famous chicken with wonky beak rescued from death's door at egg farm
- 4 months ago
Meet the famous chicken with a wonky beak - who was rescued from death's door at a commercial egg farm.
Wonka the hen has captured the hearts of meat-eaters and vegans alike as her Facebook page - which shows her enjoying daily cuddles and engaging in her "unique" feeding routine - has gathered hundreds of followers.
Wonka, from Wool in Dorset, was born with a condition called cross beak where her upper and lower beaks are misaligned.
Cross beak is common amongst hens - but uncommon for one of Wonka's breed - a lohmann brown.
Jade Cooper, 30, has been caring for Wonka since her parents rescued the hen from a commercial egg farm in June 2021 - as part of their family's charity, Chicken Rescue UK.
Jade said: "It sure is a constant learning curve with a chicken like Wonka.
"She is amazing and has opened my eyes as to how smart these birds really are - before I started this journey I didn't know they can remember 100 faces.
"Wonka has even been to the top of Portland where we had a walk along the cliffs - she gets so much attention, people love her and who can blame them."
Jade, who cares for a small flock of hens with other special needs, admits she was "heartbroken" when she first laid eyes on Wonka - as the poor hen was severely malnourished, weighing just 750 grams.
But in the years that the two have shared together, Wonka has thrived in her new loving home.
Not only is Wonka double her weight now (1.5 kilos) but has grown into her "hilarious, intelligent and amazing" personality.
Jade, who also works as an artist in illustration and animation in Wareham, said: "I will be the first one to hold my hands up and say I didn't care about chickens at all at first.
"It was my mum and dad as well as family friends who first started chicken rescue UK.
"My parents go to the farms themselves, in communication with the farmers as we want them to work with us, and during one visit my mum spotted Wonka out of a flock of about 1,000 hens.
"She was so pale, skinny and a really depressed little thing and my mum asked me if I fancied rescuing her - though we couldn't promise she would survive she was so underweight.
"She just looked so defeated, but because I had experience with my previous hen I was determined to give it a go.
"Two years later - she has a vibrant comb with a very cheeky personality - she's hilarious."
Jade admits that one of the biggest challenges in caring for Wonka was her unique feeding routine - as due to her cross beak, the hen was unable to pick up her own food.
Jade explained: "It was a lot of trial and error. Especially at first when we just got Wonka, as she thought 'you're a human, I don't like you and I don't trust you' - which is so understandable as she was stuck in a barn with thousands of hens fighting for survival.
"But we had to work out the best way to feed her - during the beginning, we just had to hold her head as steady as possible and shovel food into her, just so she would have something in her stomach.
Wonka the hen has captured the hearts of meat-eaters and vegans alike as her Facebook page - which shows her enjoying daily cuddles and engaging in her "unique" feeding routine - has gathered hundreds of followers.
Wonka, from Wool in Dorset, was born with a condition called cross beak where her upper and lower beaks are misaligned.
Cross beak is common amongst hens - but uncommon for one of Wonka's breed - a lohmann brown.
Jade Cooper, 30, has been caring for Wonka since her parents rescued the hen from a commercial egg farm in June 2021 - as part of their family's charity, Chicken Rescue UK.
Jade said: "It sure is a constant learning curve with a chicken like Wonka.
"She is amazing and has opened my eyes as to how smart these birds really are - before I started this journey I didn't know they can remember 100 faces.
"Wonka has even been to the top of Portland where we had a walk along the cliffs - she gets so much attention, people love her and who can blame them."
Jade, who cares for a small flock of hens with other special needs, admits she was "heartbroken" when she first laid eyes on Wonka - as the poor hen was severely malnourished, weighing just 750 grams.
But in the years that the two have shared together, Wonka has thrived in her new loving home.
Not only is Wonka double her weight now (1.5 kilos) but has grown into her "hilarious, intelligent and amazing" personality.
Jade, who also works as an artist in illustration and animation in Wareham, said: "I will be the first one to hold my hands up and say I didn't care about chickens at all at first.
"It was my mum and dad as well as family friends who first started chicken rescue UK.
"My parents go to the farms themselves, in communication with the farmers as we want them to work with us, and during one visit my mum spotted Wonka out of a flock of about 1,000 hens.
"She was so pale, skinny and a really depressed little thing and my mum asked me if I fancied rescuing her - though we couldn't promise she would survive she was so underweight.
"She just looked so defeated, but because I had experience with my previous hen I was determined to give it a go.
"Two years later - she has a vibrant comb with a very cheeky personality - she's hilarious."
Jade admits that one of the biggest challenges in caring for Wonka was her unique feeding routine - as due to her cross beak, the hen was unable to pick up her own food.
Jade explained: "It was a lot of trial and error. Especially at first when we just got Wonka, as she thought 'you're a human, I don't like you and I don't trust you' - which is so understandable as she was stuck in a barn with thousands of hens fighting for survival.
"But we had to work out the best way to feed her - during the beginning, we just had to hold her head as steady as possible and shovel food into her, just so she would have something in her stomach.