1 Sept 2022
Students from the University of Nottingham helped out with the British Hen Welfare Trust’s work in Ashbourne, Derbyshire and Newark, Nottinghamshire, and have more volunteering planned.
Vet Times
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University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science students have pitched in to help rehome almost 400 hens at the British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT) rehoming days in Ashbourne, Derbyshire and Newark, Nottinghamshire – and now plan to take on more projects in the future.
In a separate move, the vet school and the BHWT have launched an online six-week poultry health course to increase veterinary knowledge on treating pet hens.
Lauren Cox, who runs the university’s Shelter Medicine Project, had helped rehome around 40 hens with her grandparents during her childhood, and helped out at the Ashbourne rehoming day.
She said: “Although they probably aren’t the first species that pop into your head when you think of shelter animals, they are rescued from slaughter and provided with a chance to live a better life – so I figured, why not?
“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 practise these skills, and it was amazing to see everyone become so much more confident over the course of the day.”
