| Golden Egg Competition | A Real-Life Chicken Run |
There are times when this charity completely blows me away and this is one of those times. I never dreamt in 2005 when I set up the British Hen Welfare Trust that there would be quite so much interest in our beloved ex-bats from so many quarters.
So therefore, it is with a great sense of pride that I can announce that we are collaborating with scientists and undergraduate researchers into the many aspects of hen keeping.
This territory is ground-breaking as currently there is very little information about pet chickens. In fact, one of only two known academic papers on chickens was released last January by Dr D A Singleton at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary & Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool. In essence, he concluded that both bird keepers and veterinarians had limited knowledge regarding the healthcare of backyard poultry and that with the increase in the popularity of hens as pets there was a need for the veterinary profession to become more aware of poultry management.
Our collaborative research efforts will explore a range of areas such as how hens benefit our mental health; seeking veterinary care and appropriate drugs; how the pet hen population has grown and reasons for keeping them; what home-grown remedies are used and which ones work. Furthermore, European Council-funded research is being carried out on non-human life in both London and Delhi, and we hope to see research into end-of-life options and decisions.
Additionally, calls and emails into our Hen Helpline will be analysed to better understand what health problems your hens face.
Some of the researchers have previously adopted hens from us, and it goes without saying that all of them have a great interest in hens as pets, and ultimately the results of the research will provide much needed insight into how we can better shape welfare for our feathered friends.
To facilitate this, we have set up and are hosting an online forum for the researchers so they can exchange information, ideas and learn from one another; all for the greater good of our beloved hens.
I hope my enthusiasm for this work bursts out from this page because I couldn’t be more proud of what’s being done to improve hen welfare; I am deeply grateful to the researchers and equally grateful to those of you who can take part.