Adrienne and her friend, Hedy, are two of 250 hens rescued from an egg factory near Seattle. When their story began, the owner had decided to go out of business. Adrienne and Hedy and the others had simply been left to starve.

Making many trips in her sport utility vehicle, PETA member Jeune Gibson loaded up 102 of the pitiful, frightened little birds, while other caring souls took even more. Then the owner changed his mind and ordered the rescuers off his land.

Some of the sickest hens died during the two-hour ride to Jeune’s sanctuary. The weakest of the others, including Adrienne, were carried into the house and medicated with an eyedropper.

Within an hour, Adrienne had the first of many epileptic-like seizures that would rack her fragile body during the ensuing weeks. Her entire being convulsed—her head was thrown back, her factory-severed beak opened and shut, her spine stiffened into a backbend, her legs kicked and her wings flapped.

“It only lasted a minute or so, but it seemed an eternity,” said Jeune. “When it stopped, she was utterly exhausted. I wrapped her in a little blanket and put her in a basket under a lamp for warmth. She began to convulse every 10 minutes—I think it was from starvation.

Jeune pictured how it must have been for the little hen, having the convulsions in the battery cage, packed with five other hens into a space less than the size of a folded newspaper. She wondered how many hens in egg factories suffer such seizures during routine forced molts, in which they are denied food for 10 to 14 days to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle.

"As soon as she had a moment, Jeune raced back to the dead pile and checked each hen one more time." “All except Hedy were cold,” she said. “Even though her legs were stiff and her eyes were closed, she was not cold like the others. I thought, ‘My gosh, she’s not dead.’”

Jeune brought Hedy inside and warmed and medicated her and put her in the airline kennel with Adrienne.

The first few nights, Adrienne slept on a blanket next to Jeune’s pillow, so Jeune could keep one hand on her, feel her when she began to convulse and medicate her. Finally, the seizures became less frequent and severe.

Still, Adrienne and Hedy were too weak to stand. Their combs were so swollen that they flopped over. Adrienne hadn’t the strength to lift her head; she just laid her head in her food dish. So Jeune fed them with an eyedropper.

After 10 days, the birds were standing and eating normally. After two months, the two, now fast friends, were ready to go outside with the others. Jeune’s bedroom opens onto a spacious deck enclosed with wire fencing, including overhead, for protection. At one end, a ramp leads to the garden, also safely fenced in, where the hens run and scratch and peck in the dirt and take dust baths and stretch their wings in the sunshine—all things the hens in egg factories never get to do even once in their whole lives.

Adrienne and Hedy fit right in with the flock. They love their life, and they love Jeune. When the sliding glass door to her bedroom opens, they run right in to see her. Hedy runs over to Jeune and sits down, wanting to be petted.

But not Adrienne. Adrienne’s too busy scampering around, investigating everything. This dear little chicken who, like billions of others, was destined to spend her entire life in a space less than a foot square cannot get enough of her glorious new world.

PETA PICK! fake chicken = real good! Want “chicken” salad or Shake ’n Bake without the guilt? No problem! An ever-increasing array of delicious faux poultry products now lines the shelves of health food stores and supermarkets. Look for Chickettes, Wheat Meat, Tofurkys, Tofurky slices and more (in the UK, try Cheatin’ Chicken and Cheatin’ Bites), and use these products as chicken. The only things missing will be the suffering, diseases and antibiotics that come with the corpses of real-life Adriennes and Hedys. For a quick lunch, make Tofurky sandwiches. For a great mock-chicken salad, mince Wheat Meat and mix it with celery and Nayonnaise. Chickettes are great hot or cold.