About Us
The whole
mother cluckin story!
What we value
Every chook deserves a loving home.
Kindness
To all hens, sentient beings & people. Life is too short for judgement & ‘black & white’ opinions
Interested
Living each day with a sense of wonder, asking why and looking for answers to do good and do better for our hen friends
Passion
We celebrate the small wins with champagne poppers and dance a jig on tables for the big ones!
Integrity
We make decisions for the greater good. Sometimes this means we need to make compromises however we will always work towards having a positive impact on the lives of all hens
Playfulness
Childishness is mandatory! Remembering every day that fun and laughter is the best! Let hens be our teachers! Cluck Cluck
What we do
…in an Eggshell
Who Gives A Cluck is your Australian (& worldwide now) Hen Haven, a place where you can feel a part of an ever-growing hen loving community!
Whether you are a backyard hen owner, a Mother Clucker (aka Hen Parent), a volunteer (we are all volunteers around this coop, no paid peeps!!), a Hen Hero (regular donor) or a voyeur hen lover (that can’t keep hens at home but love ‘em just the same), we are so happy you have found us.
We RESCUE HENS from battery farms before they are culled at around 18 months because they are no longer commercially viable. We give every hen a thorough physical (treadmill and push ups come to mind), give them the royal spa treatment consisting of a full body massage with lice mite treatment, tonic for internal wormies, pedicure to remove those extra long toenails, an ear nose and throat check and then finally, an essential oil mini massage of their comb and wattle. Just what every girl wants!
We meet the MOTHER CLUCKERS (approved hen parents) who provided a ten page document on why they should be allowed to adopt. . . yeah we’re joking; there’s a few questions and some photos to send us, along with your commitment to give your hens a forever home, egg or no egg. We have adoption days from north of Gympie (QLD), Sunshine Coast, Brisbane down to Mullumbimby, Lismore and Grafton in NSW. We make sure they are on their way to their loving forever home where they can retire, lay an egg every second day or so (no pressure), scratch in the garden, catch a bug or two, eat your vege scraps, provide you great poo for your garden, improve your permaculture efforts and generally keep you entertained for hours if you let them.
We offer FREE ADVICE/SUGGESTIONS ON HEN CARE to all backyard hen carers. We practice what we preach by keeping the hens that were not fit for adoption. They are treated at our Hen Hospital in Northern NSW & then when well, they go to our Hen Retirement Village in Mullumbimby NSW. We practice our herbal and natural remedies as well as some procedures when our hens need help such as crop needling medicines or vitamins or ERC (Egg Related Coelomitis) excess fluid removal by catheter. We are in a good position to pass on our experiences and knowledge about how to care for your hens and we only recommend what we have tried. Happy Healthy Hens in every backyard!
We ADVOCATE for all chooks in Australia. Chooks are roosters (or cockerels when they are young) or hens (pullets when they are young). We know we can improve our standards of how we treat our chooks. We want to inspire change for chook welfare and every family that makes the decision to adopt some hens, make this possible.
We are feeling like a pig in mud; a hen catching a worm, a dog chasing a stick, a cat ignoring you again, a cow chewing her cud or a horse scratching his bum on a post (had to bring in all the animal volunteers we have here at the sanctuary!), speaking of which, meet the Flock below. . .
Meet the Flock!
JULIE O’SHEA
Crazy Hen Lady
After 35 years of living the corporate life I took a big left turn and followed my dream. ‘Animals sing to my soul’ but I had no idea it would be hens! In 2012 I adopted six battery caged hens & my love affair with these intellegent, personality filled, feathered friends began. After moving to the Northern Rivers NSW I visited a local egg farmer to take 10 hens home but when he told me he was culling the other 400 in just 4 days, it set the wheels in motion. Happy to say I found caring homes for every hen! That’s when I knew this was to be my future. Today we now have a registered charity, rescuing and rehoming hens from the egg laying industry and growing a community of wonderful families in Urban and Rural areas, that welcome these sweet souls into their family. I enjoy researching everything hen worthy and love sharing hen tips with you!
JADE
Editor in Chief
I’m the Editor in Chief and I am constantly fixing Julie’s wordsmithing! She used to get in my way sometimes, as she dawdled over this and that, stroking my back and purring back to me. So I moved out to live with a friend on the Sunshine Coast and now I work remotely for Who Gives A Meow (I’m the Editor, I can say what I want).
I am in love with words, especially when I see them being typed across the screen. I just want to eat them all up!
Words are my catnip, my resplendent reverie when life throws you fur balls (yeah, I’m showing off).
NAHLA & BODHI
Security
I understand the importance of this work and how focus and quiet is needed when you are delivering such an important support service to our customers. This is why Julie appointed me Head of Security instead of Bodhi. You can see how focussed I am, whereas Bodhi. . . she’s just Bodhi!
I have an uncanny knack for detecting unwanted visitors minutes before they arrive. It may be Minnie Moo demanding too much attention or it may be our complaints department because clucking complaints are so draining, right?
To do this work, you have to be mesmerisingly adorable, have the ability to hold focussed eye contact until the other person blinks to establish your dominant Alpha position.
MONTY & VICTOR
Postage & Handling
I know how to get from A to B in the quickest time possible. It’s this innate talent passed down through my bloodlines that has secured me as Postage & Handling Manager for this business. Delivering on time is an underestimated talent, as is looking as good as I do, while contemplating the deliveries I’ll be making today but let’s not get caught up in my stunning good looks and regal nature.
My Side Kick, Victor, is somewhat height challenged but we work brilliantly together as a team because he can get the stock on the bottom shelf like no one else can. We both like being together, not mixing too much with the other volunteers. If you had only hooves to seal parcels you would like a bit of privacy too! Licking stamps is my speciality, though getting them off my tongue and onto the envelope, well that’s another stable story!
HENS
Complaints Department
Everyone needs to be heard. We know this. For half our lives, until we landed these prime jobs with Julie, we struggled to stand out in the hen house and didn’t feel listened to. We know what bad customer service is all about. We will listen to you. We will acknowledge your feelings with supportive and appropriate cluck clucks.
We want you to know however that there is a hen pecking order to how we will accommodate your complaints. If you’ve just had a bad day, then go take a dust bath, that’ll cheer you up.
If, however, your complaint is leaving you debeaked, featherless or lonely, we will put you to the top of our priority list and give you all the straw, mash, clean roosts and sunshine you could want for.
SUE & XENA
Research & Development
Testing food before they are fed to the hens is vital. We researched our living areas and unearthed many obstacles that needed to be overcome before we put our snout of approval on anything.
We work hard to keep the hens out of our wallow, while we lay in there for hours on end. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.
We do really live happily together with our feathered friends except when they try to flap ahead of themselves and get into our feed before we’ve tested it for them.
MINNIE MOO
Resident Psychologist
We all need love and understanding. I will cow eye stare at anyone willing to ponder the meaning of life and it’s mysteries. My specialty is demonstrating ‘being in the moment’. It’s an art form that I have mastered without any formal training because I grew up without a cow mum.
Julie is my mum and my special client. With all the hen rescues and rehoming she does, she needs time out and I’m just the one to help get her zen on! While I struggle to teach her how to chew her cud, she’s doing very well at the ‘do nothing and rest afterwards’ psychological principles I adhere to.
Oh by the way, I do have a cow friend now. His name is Bolo & he’s a steer so he’s just a friend, got it! Mum thought I needed to feel my cowness. It’s working
The Who Gives A Cluck Charity Committee
- Kristy Miller. Mum, health care professional & animal lover. A combination of love, respect and patience that our charity needs to be reminded of, often. A specialist generalist brings so much life experience to our work.
- Kerrie Ginnivan. Radiographer, management and amateur bird photographer. Kerrie is the voice of reason, hen anatomy novice (how different are they to us?), and resident photographer.
- New Chookie – Kelsey Truter.
- New Chookie – Bonney Ruegg
- New Rooboy – Dean Tindale
- New Chookie – Narelle Noonan
- New Chookie – Linda Boydle
- New Rooboy – Kim Wingerei
Josh Muntz
Pixel Pusher
Josh is a professional pixel pusher for digital teams and has been building and managing websites for well over a decade for companies and small business.
He was introduced to Julie by an old boss many years ago and he’s been along for the ride every since.
He supports WGAC by managing all website work and any other fandangly questions Julie has. Learn more about him here.