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Quarterly Update: July to September 2026
This quarter started when we celebrated four years since moving in, on July 4th! Only a few short weeks later, we celebrated a second historic day - we received our charitable status! Behind the scenes, we’re excited to announce that we’ve started prepping our first-ever strategic plan! We are looking to expand our board of directors as we enter this exciting new time for the sanctuary (more details here).
So many things make this sanctuary something I’m incredibly proud to be part of. I see our volunteers show up week after week, prioritize an accessibility audit to ensure we're truly welcoming to all, and work on a research project that will help hens like ours overcome reproductive disease. Craig and I don’t do any of this alone; this entire community makes a real difference.
I cannot wait to see how we keep growing and what the next quarter holds, but as usual, here’s a moment to pause, reflect on the good work we accomplished this past quarter, and a report to hold us accountable.
With endless appreciation,
Liz Wheeler
Co-Founder of Secondhand Stories
Chicken Care
If y’all know Lottie, you’ll know she’s had a rough time keeping her feathers. First, the other hens bullied her and plucked at her; then Rolo & Hershey overmounted her. We separated her and moved her in with Ezra, opting to implant her to help stimulate a moult. Well, Lottie’s feathers grew back, and she has been absolutely flourishing with Ezra! We’ve never seen her look so good!!!
Then, on July 12th, Rex joined the family. He quickly became a sanctuary superstar, capturing folks' hearts. Rex is a Serema, an “exotic” chicken breed that originates in Malaysia. His breed is the smallest in the world, and he weighs less than 500g!!! He spends his life half indoors and half outside as he’s still learning how to be a chicken... I mean, he dust baths in his bedding instead of dirt. He is the funniest little man with the biggest personality, and we are sooo so so happy to have him join our family.
And as the world of the sanctuary continues to turn, we sadly said goodbye to our beloved Oats. Like her siblings, and many of our sweet Rex Sex Link hens, Oats developed a reproductive tumour because of the excessive egg-laying she was bred for. It’s always hard to say goodbye, and when it’s because humans exploit hens and modify them to lay more eggs than natural, it’s especially heartbreaking. We ask that you leave eggs on your plate, in memory of sweet Oats.
Over the past few months, Hershey’s bumblefoot has come back. Our poor dude has had such bad luck (okay, it’s actually quite common with his breed) with having recurring bumblefoot. We’ve returned to the routine of Epsom soaks & foot wraps, and we're checking in with the vet often.
We welcomed four new hens who were surrendered from a dairy farm. Molly, Polly, Ruby, and Sterling have been the cutest new additions to the family. They’ve just passed their isolation period, which thankfully wasn’t extended too long. They arrived with mites and sneezes! Luckily, we have an awesome vet and could treat them right away. Ruby, however, still had some plaques in her mouth, so we’re trying a different antibiotic and hoping she will be all better soon. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to bug her, as she yaps at us daily! We can’t wait to see how their personalities blossom!
On the non-animal care, but still important animal-care related: we finished replacing the soiled roof of Rolo’s coop and fixed and updated the bottom sides of Ezra’s coop, moving the hardware cloth against the wood to keep mice from nesting inside. We expanded two runs, updated our gates, and added T-bar caps. Every little thing makes a difference as we think about what the best home for the chickens can be.
Sponsor a chicken and join the The Kind Friends Club! This includes a custom sponsorship packet mailed to you, a private tour, and our quarterly updates exclusive just for Monthly Donors.
Advocacy & Education
We’ve been out in the community tabling at VegOttawa Fest, Ottawa Pride, and Ottawa Humane Society’s Wiggle Waggle Walk & Run! It’s been amazing to introduce folks to our work and share chickens' individual personalities with everyone.
We continue work on our Suprelorin project, increasing access and affordability of implants for sanctuaries across Canada. Stay tuned for a publication later this year!!!
We hosted our 3rd annual Open House, welcoming over 175 folks to the sanctuary throughout the day, and hosting 3 tours to educate the public about how we can best protect and advocate for better treatment of chickens across our community.
We’ve hosted 22 tours this year so far, and hosted four volunteer events - welcoming over 150 folks to the sanctuary.
We continued our online education efforts, showcasing each of the individual chickens and posting, on occasion, about special dates like International Homeless Animals Day.
Finances (2026 so far)
In 2026, we budgeted $47,000 for expenses. We’ve had $27,167 in expenses, broken down into the following categories:
Medical & Animal Care - $14,175 (52%)
This includes the chickens' basic food needs, bedding, and supplements. It also covers enrichment treats & toys, nesting pads, and more. As well as disinfectant. Our 2026 medical expenses include exams, treatments, and medications. Some of the most notable costs include implants for Snowflake, Suzie, Mocha, Gunta, Lottie, and Etta. Oats, Emma, Eggie & Ari’s reproductive cancer treatment & end-of-life care; Mocha's treatment for her stuck eggs; Rolo & Snowflake's ear exams and treatment; intake exams for the new rescues; and the flock's various upkeep needs.
Operations - $5,708 (21%)
Our operations costs are the ones we hate the most. Unfortunately, even when we’re doing amazing work as a charity, we still have expenses we can’t avoid. We have to pay for insurance, charity registration, GFAS accreditation application fee, QuickBooks (accounting). If you’re reading this, it’s because we’ve had to pay for a website and email plan. Our fundraising platforms always earn back far more than we spend, like our auction platform, Donorbox donor form fees, and banking fees. There’s also postage & printing. We try our hardest to keep these costs low. For instance, we switched from having board-specific emails to reduce Google service costs. But sometimes we also have costs we could avoid, yet feel are important to our mission. For example, a $15 kudo board so folks could contribute online to memorializing a beloved resident who passed away, or $20 before we were given a printer to print our emergency plans. In 2027, we will look closely at how we can reduce these costs as much as possible.
Programs (Advocacy & Education) - $3,946 (15%)
The biggest expenses within our advocacy & education programming were actually funded by three grants we received! The Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada supported our Suprelorin Implant Project (costs such as participant incentives, report design), The Pollination Project covered our What The Flock Friday initiative (giveaway prizes), and Vegan Grants generously funded our tabling fees for the year! Our program's expenses also include Freedom of Information requests (to uncover Burnbrae Farms’ environmental wrongdoings and Smiths Falls’ Backyard Chicken Bylaw wrongdoings) as well as some smaller technology costs for apps for our Movie Night series and presentations.
Infrastructure - $3,337 (12%)
This year we were able to nearly fully update Coops #4 & 5, removing old insulation, installing hardware cloth, and insulating. We only have to add the plywood now, and every coop will be finished! We also refreshed the run landscapes for the chickens, extending the runs for two coops, adding coarse sand to the covered runs, and making much-needed fixes to the gates that kept getting stuck in the winter. We are so excited to have the coops up to a standard we can be proud of, and confident we are providing them with the best possible home.
How You Can Help!
Here are some incredible ways you can uplift our work:
Make a donation! All gifts over $20 now receive a tax receipt!!!
Volunteer to help out with animal care at the sanctuary.
Help us cut down on our expenses by purchasing an item from our wishlist.
Are you an Airtable wiz? Send us a message - we need help!
Know someone who does tote bag printing? We have about a dozen canvas totes we'd love to have someone help us brand!
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