Launceston Fresh Start for Hens

03/08/2024

A few of the ladies who will be winging their way here on 31st August 🐓♥️🐓♥️🐓♥️

01/08/2024

What a little darling Barbara is. We have had a few crossbeaks in the past, it didn't affect them at all. ☺️

01/08/2024

It's the 1st day of August.. and that means that there are only 30 days to go before our next rehoming day at Launceston Collection point. If you would like to give some little hens their Fresh Start and a new life, please do whizz over to the main website www.freshstartforhens.co.uk to reserve your ladies.

31/07/2024

26/07/2024

Our next date is 31st August!! Please share far and wide 🥰 thank you for being part of the network ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

25/07/2024

New dates around the country!

New dates are live on the website!

We have 4 farms coming up over 3 dates, with a total of 10,500 hens looking for homes.

Hens are all free range and those available on 31st August are free range organic.

With almost 100 collection points open for you to choose from, you are spoiled for choice!

Please share our post and help these hardworking hens find their forever coops!

24/07/2024

Lovely Clare helped us last weekend and made this fab video! 🐓☺️♥️

21/07/2024

More marvellous advice and tips from our very own chicken Doctor!

21/07/2024

This little lady went off to her new home on Saturday.. look at her beautiful comb.. and look at that stare!!! Approx 1.5 kg of sass! 😂♥️

20/07/2024

When your new hens arrive home, they will have been going through their first moult. Nettex Seaweed powder can help them to grow new feathers.
Not sponsored! We use it on our hens. 🐓🥚🐓

Nettex Poultry Seaweed is a natural feed supplement for chickens to support yolk colour, egg and feather quality.

20/07/2024

Well that’s another rehoming day done!
Big thanks to all the rehomers who came along and took their hens ~ we couldn’t do it without you!!!
🐓🥚🐓🥚🐓🥚🐓

20/07/2024

It’s Hen Rehoming Day!!

The farm team are on site usually at 4.45am to start carefully catching the hens, in the dark with red head torches so they don’t startle the girls.

Hens are carried to the craters, who count in ten girls and make sure all upright and secure.

Craters call for lifters who then carry crates to the vans where they are organised on each vehicle depending on how many are required at each collection point.

Numbers are worked out meticulously so every hen in a flock is taken and rehomed. Magic is worked by the admin teams who beaver away behind the scenes for every rehome.

Everyone has other jobs.

No-one gets paid for this.

And whilst numbers are important it is not the be all and end all! It is about lives saved in a gentle way with follow up care to rehomers so hens can be properly looked after.

The Fresh Start For Hens team ALL do a fab job, for the love of hens. I am proud to be part of that.

I am a small cog in that machine and we always need more cogs to help, whether through helping physically on farms, administratively, opening a collection point, volunteering at a collection point, fundraising or simply sharing posts!!

Every action taken with good intent helps save lives 🙏

19/07/2024

Exciting times! It’s Chickmas Eve!!! Lots of lovely hens are about to begin their Fresh Start!!

15/07/2024

Good morning Wonderful Rehomers!
If you are collecting your hens this coming Saturday 20th July, the email which shares all the information you need has been sent to you today.

Please ensure your hen carriers are fit for purpose. Letterbox slits along the sides of cardboard boxes need to be 1 inch deep.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday - but remember to respond to the email and confirm you're coming along!

10/07/2024

Launceston's next rehoming day is 31st August!

Hop, skip and jump all the way to reserve your lovely hens and give them their best new lives - visit: www.freshstartforhens.co.uk

Looking forward to seeing lots of hens beginning their new lives.

22/06/2024

FLYSTRIKE ~ information for hen keepers.

. *** FLY STRIKE ***

It doesn’t happen often, but if it does, you need to know what to do - this is an EMERGENCY.

The following is a protocol used by many vets:

Flush the area with water to flatten down the feathers. This will allow you to see the extent of the problem more clearly and will also flush away a few of the maggots.
Next, spray the area with F10 spray. This contains permethrin and the maggots will start to die immediately. Physically remove the maggots as they are dying using the F10 spray, a shower head on a gentle setting and manually with forceps/tweezers.
Removing all the maggots is important because toxins are released when the maggots die.
Keep flushing and spraying until you are sure every maggot has been removed and there are no remaining fly eggs.
Pain relief is important at this stage, the damage inflicted by the maggots is very painful. Meloxicam is the usual medication used.
One application of Ivermectin can be given as it will kill any maggots that you have missed.
A dose of EXZOLT can also be given at this stage (see later).

Shock can be a serious complication when treating fly strike. Once the initial treatment is complete, dry your hen with a hair dryer on a warm setting and put her somewhere where she can relax and feels safe. A dog crate is ideal and food and water need to be readily available. Nutridrops or Critical Care Formula are beneficial too.

Fly eggs are small and look a bit like sawdust. When they hatch, the maggots burrow down into the flesh. Often the first thing you see is a poorly hen with a wet area around the vent.
Provided the damage is not too severe, the resulting open wound will heal. Applying Leucillin or Vetericyn twice daily will help to counter any superficial infection. It is amazing how quickly these wounds can heal.
The hen is vulnerable to repeat attacks so attention to the cause is important. A vent area that is soiled with faeces is the most common initiating factor. Treat any causes of diarrhoea such as too much green vegetables or worms.
Exzolt can be given to help prevent a repeat attack in the early stages. Exzolt will kill maggots as soon as they hatch and start to feed. The two doses a week apart will give your hen a month of protection.
F10 Germicidal Barrier Ointment can also be used as a preventative.

Provided you are well prepared, hens can survive even quite severe damage if you treat promptly.

List of materials and equipment needed:
F10 Germicidal wound spray
Shower head
Tweezers
Ivermectin
Leucillin/Vetericyn
Meloxicam (prescription only)
Exzolt (prescription only)
Nettex Nutridrops or Critical Care Formula
Dog crate and cage cups
F10 Germicidal Barrier Ointment or Battles Summer Fly Cream

https://www.viovet.co.uk/F10-Products-Germicidal-Wound-Spray-with-Insecticide/c22592/
Contains cypermethrin

20/06/2024

How an egg is made..

17/06/2024

Yippeeee! Saturday 20th July is the next marvellous rehoming day! If you would like to rehome some gorgeous hens and give them their best summer yet, please hop over to www.freshstartforhens.co.uk to reserve your girls.

And of course.. please do share this post and spread the word, so we can give as many lovely hens their Fresh Start and new lives, as soon as possible!!!

16/06/2024

One of the things we love the most is when rehomers share their photos and updates about their new hens.

Yesterday, this savvy little hen took herself off behind an empty feed bin so that she could watch the proceedings. Once she came out, Liz held her for ages. The lucky little darling went off with Katie, South West Veterinary Nurse Services to live her best life with her three new sisters.

Today Katie sent me this. Apparently ‘Amelia Egghart’ has settled in very quickly and was given her name because she was the first one to fly up and try the swing!

If you want to send in photos of your new arrivals or share them on the page.. please do! 🥚 🥚🥚🥚

15/06/2024

Big thank you’s all round!

Thank you to all the wonderful Rehomers who came and collected their girls today. We couldn’t do this without your kindness! Lots of little hens are now starting their new lives all thanks to you.

Thank you to our wonderful hen delivery driver and hen collector extraordinaire.

And thank you to Liz and John who come and help us at every rehoming day. The day is always funnier when you two help us prepare before the girls arrive on the van, meet and greet and catch hens! X

11/06/2024

This is Figgy pudding. She came here after a rehoming day as she and her sisters were too weak and unwell to be rehomed. We always hold on to the ones that look like they are broken and Figgy and her sisters were certainly that way. Figgy Pudding, Cherry pie, Minnie and Midge took two full months to decompress and have the stamina and confidence to join their sisters in the big hen run. Now Figgy lives her best life. When she’s not chasing me so she can peck my wellies, she takes herself off in an adventure and finds a lovely bit of ground to dustbathe on.

One of those moments of joy that millions of commercial hens are often denied.

10/06/2024

Our latest hen rehoming day is Saturday 15th June. To all rehomers - please ensure your carrying boxes are suitable. Here's a picture which should help. Hens can overheat in this weather, particularly being put inside boxes and then into a warm car. Ensure you follow instructions otherwise we cannot let the hens travel. Thank you!

*Cardboard boxes should be sturdy, not bent or crushed.
The 'holes' should be letterbox slits rather than small holes poked through. The floor of the box should be secure. 🙂

We do not keep spare boxes at collection points and if your box is not suitable, you will need to go and source another before taking your hens home.

08/06/2024

Take a look at this handsome chap. He's just a year old and is a cross between a Seabright and a Silkie. He's looking for a nice local place to live and some ladies to look after. Could you help?
Please pm if you can help this little lad.

27/05/2024

FSFH latest rescue 💜

21/05/2024

is opening on 15th June.. with lots of lovely hens ready for rehoming. If you could give some of these ladies a fresh start please go to www.freshstartforhens.co.uk to reserve yours now!!
Please feel free to share this post on your local pages or groups - let's get the girls some wonderful new homes for summer!

19/05/2024

A local lady has contacted me as she has inherited 6 little Pekin bantams. They are only a year old. Three cockerels and 3 hens.

Currently 2 of the cockerels and hens are housed together and the other pair are housed alone due to the boys fighting.

If anyone can help, or would like a cockerel or two to join their current flock, please drop me a message on the page. Thank you ☺️

09/05/2024

We are back open in June for rehoming! Please share share share.. let’s get the next lot of lovely hens into their new homes for a wonderful summer and new life 🥰

We have had a CRAZY busy couple of months, with almost 30,000 hens rehomed from the end of February & every weekend throughout March and April, culminating in almost 4,000 hens rehomed from 4 different farms on the 27th & 28th April!

Most of the team are enjoying a well earned rest during May, although we are now taking reservations for our June dates!

Here's where can you collect hens in June:

1st June - Free Range Organic
Bedford
Bishop Auckland
Darlington
Durham
Faversham
Guildford
Hastings
Hitchin
Middlesbrough
Milton Keynes
Soham
Sutton Bridge
Tenterden
Tunbridge Wells
Watton
Worthing

15th June - Free range from 2 different farms
FARM 1 - Free range
Aberdare
Alfreton
Ammanford
Aylesford
Basingstoke
Biggin Hill
Boston
Brecon
Brundall
Callington
Carmarthen
Eastleigh
Folkestone
Hastings
Heathfield
Hertford
High Wycombe
Holsworthy
Horsham
Huntingdon
Launceston
Lingfield
Mablethorpe
Malvern
Newton Abbot
Northampton
Penkridge
Reading
Ross on Wye
Spalding
Watton
Whitland

FARM 2 - Free Range
Holmfirth
Keighley
Scunthorpe
Selby
Wakefield
Whaley Bridge

29th June
FARM 1 - Free Range Organic
Atherstone
Aylesford
Basildon
Biggin Hill
Bristol
Bury St Edmunds
Charlwood & Newdigate
Chelmsford
Colchester
Coventry
Crowborough
Horsham
Lincoln
Melton Mowbray
Newark
North Walsham
Redditch
Selston
Solihull
Sturminster Newton
Taunton
Watton
Whitstable
Wisbech

FARM 2 - Free Range
Aldbrough
Anglesey
Congleton
Corwen
Harrogate
Llanfyllin
Selby
Uttoxeter

Lots to choose from!!

Reserve yours today: www.freshstartforhens.co.uk

Today's post has been brought to you by the much missed, Ginge, courtesy of Heather Clark