Improving pet hen health with new veterinary grants

Anyone who has ever kept hens and had one fall ill will know how difficult it can be to find appropriate veterinary care for their pet. Unless you’re lucky enough to live near a specialist vet with avian or poultry expertise, it can make taking care of your poorly hen, which is already a worrying situation, even more stressful.

That’s why, as part of our commitment to improving pet hen health, we’re offering six new grants to veterinary students and vet nurses to conduct a student research project in chicken veterinary health.

The grants, one of which is being part-funded by the prestigious British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) PetSavers, are for up to £3,000 each.

The first round of applications closed this month, but people are still invited to apply for the second round of grants before 15th July 2022. So, if any of your friends or family are eligible, help us to help hens by spreading the word and letting them know.

The aim of the student research project is to help improve veterinary understanding of chicken health, as most vets receive minimal training on pet chicken diagnosis and care, and ultimately increase the quality of welfare and longevity of pet hens.

Applications should be made by prospective supervisors of undergraduate vets or vet nurses from UK universities with veterinary students.

To apply visit: https://www.bhwt.org.uk/improving-pet-hen-health/smallgrants/

Holy cluck! We’re spreading our wings again with three new adoption sites

Since our last issue of Chicken & Egg, the BHWT has had the opportunity to create three new adoption sites, increasing to 44. In September, Sutton Coldfield was added to our map, with a very enthusiastic Reverend Chris Dowd offering up his church to the BHWT volunteers so they can provide salvation to hundreds more hens being saved from slaughter.

Check out the work they are doing at Sutton Coldfield on page 25

In Cwmbran, All Creatures Great and Small have also signed up to be a new adoption site, providing us with another place to rehome in Monmouthshire. The sanctuary has been operating in South East Wales since 1992 and it’s great to see a new team being built.

And last but not least, the Dean Farm Trust near Chepstow have also joined the BHWT family, rehoming from their site twice already and helping hundreds of hens to have that second chance in life they so deserve.

Campaign is growing even bigger!

Regular readers will know all about our Size Matters campaign by now. But just as a quick recap, and for any new readers, we’re encouraging consumers to switch from large eggs to small or mixed weight eggs.

Why? Quite simply, small or mixed weight eggs are better for everyone.

Most importantly, our beloved hens won’t be forced to lay large eggs which can cause health problems such as prolapsing. If people start buying more small or mixed weight eggs, it also means farmers won’t feel pressure to manipulate their flocks whilst consumers get an even better ratio of yolk to white. Win-win all round!

We’ve received a lot of support for the campaign so far. But one person who has really got the bit between his teeth and been talking about our campaign to everyone, including top magazines and a foodie podcast, is Orlando Murrin, President of the Guild of Food Writers.

It’s fantastic for us to have someone so well-known in the food world in our corner on this positive campaign and you can read more about Orlando and why he’s so passionate about Size Matters in an interview on page 14.

The importance of the campaign has also been highlighted by a recent study by the University of Copenhagen. The university examined 4,800 hens in 40 flocks and found keel bone (the long bone at the front of a hen’s chest) fractures in almost 4,100 of them.

Researchers concluded that most of these fractures were caused by laying large eggs regardless of whether the hens were kept in cages, barns, free-range or organic, and that this was a global issue.