Stevie Burston is the Great Lakes’ gustiest girl with a heart far bigger than her 11 years might suggest, and this weekend she is inviting the community in to be a part of her noble cause.
A trip to Sydney with mum, Fiona quickly turned into a mission to change the world and lives of little friends who couldn’t change it for themselves; it was a mission Stevie accepted immediately and wholeheartedly.
“We adopted four battery hens from an organisation called “let the ladies go”, which rescues retired,” Fiona explained.
We are getting 300 rescue hens up from Sydney on Thursday, and we will be holding an adoption day on Sunday, April 22
“Stevie just fell in love with them, and that was that, she said, “mum, we need to do more, we need to help more,” and that’s what she did, she organised adoptions for 50 more hens in the Great Lakes.
“We drove back to Sydney in our little car, and picked up these 50 battery hens to bring them back up and find them new homes,” Fiona laughed.
“Stevie was just smitten, she is so passionate about helping these chickens.”
But this still wasn’t enough for the Great Lakes’ youngest warrior, who went on to arrange a chicken adoption day from the family home on Bullocky Way.
“We are getting 300 rescue hens up from Sydney on Thursday, and we will be holding an adoption day on Sunday, April 22, from 11am-5pm, for people to come along and adopt these hens,” Fiona said.
“They are retired from laying at 18 months when they slow down, and having spent their entire lives in these little cages they are so excited to get out into the world. These chickens have never seen the sky, never been in the sun, they haven’t seen colours before, it’s so important to give them another go at life.”
Finding homes isn’t enough for Stevie, who has also been keenly spreading awareness, even taking one of her bald chooks in to school to do a presentation and inform her peers.
“She feeds them every morning, and they all have names of course,” Fiona said.
“She collects their eggs every day and sells them to buy more chook food, this whole thing has snowballed so quickly from just four little hens!”
The adoption day will take place from the back of Fiona and Stevie’s house, located on Bullocky Way, off Failford Street.
“We will have signs up to help people find us, we really hope people will get on board, come and adopt some little hens and give them another go,” Fiona added.
“We love the happy endings, we love giving poor little animals a second chance.”
For more information about Stevie and her mission, see her Facebook page, “Stevie’s Place”.
