Last summer, Durham Hens hosted a record number of work placements for vet students, from three different universities: Liverpool, Edinburgh and the Royal Veterinary College, London. We also had an A-level student from Darlington working with us, and we wish her luck with her application for veterinary medicine.
Work experience in farm settings is a vital part of veterinary courses and we are pleased to help students with their poultry placement. Most poultry farms are either egg production facilities or broiler farms raising birds for meat. At Durham Hens, we offer students a more varied experience with having chicks, growers, pullets and breeding stock on site. Our livestock is kept in exceptionally good conditions, and we have years of experience that we can share. And we have learned a few things from them too!
We also ran a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) course for the staff in a local veterinary practice who requested a refresher course. I was honoured to show them around Durham Hens, host a hen-handling session, and chat to them about common poultry conditions and their treatments.
This year we already have six students booked in and we look forward to helping them with their studies and achieve their goals.
