Vet students lend a helping hand to hens

We get all kinds of people wanting to lend a hand at our rehomings, so were delighted when a group of veterinary students approached us about doing just that.

We’ve been working closesly with the University of Nottingham to create our online poultry course, but they’ve gone one step further and donated some of their student vets to help rehome hens!

No fewer than 18 students got involved with our rehoming days in Newark and Derby, and more plan volunteering in the future.

Between them, they helped rehome hundreds of hens who are now enjoying life free ranging in back gardens, instead of the alternative.

Lauren Cox runs the university’s Shelter Medicine Project which is researching the different needs between one or two pets and groups of dozens or hundreds. The project’s aim is to produce practical information which can be used by vets and other animal welfare professionals working in rescue shelters, rehoming centres and charity hospitals.

Lauren already had a deeply embedded affinity with the charity having rehomed around 40 hens with her grandparents throughout her childhood. She and 11 others attended a BHWT rehoming day in Ashbourne, Derby in July and, alongside the charity’s team of regular volunteers, sent 291 hens off to new homes.

Lauren told us: “During the first few years of vet school, chicken handling practicals take place with the hens we keep at our smallholding. The rehoming day was a brilliant opportunity for us to really practice these skills, and it was amazing to see everyone become so much more confident over the course of the day.”

A further six students then volunteered at the charity’s Newark rehoming in August when 196 hens found new homes.

A round of applause for these wonderful volunteers, please!