Most of my life I’ve had hens, but since moving to this house we hadn’t really thought about keeping them again. I thought we’d need to spend a fortune fencing them in against the dogs and foxes. Then I saw some hen houses with small built in runs. That got me thinking. What if I was to make them a bigger run and to keep them in the vegetable garden which is already fenced?

Thus, three hens arrived a couple of weeks ago. There is Brighton the Sussex hen who will lay light brown eggs, Blackpoule the Black Maran who’ll lay chocolate coloured eggs & Blucia, a White Legbar who will give us beautiful pale blue eggs. In theory they are ‘point of lay’ hens, but Blackpoule and Blucia are way ahead of Brighton. You can tell by their crests. They don’t stand up and look gorgeously red until they are ready to lay.

I made them a chicken tunnel, The Chunnel, and Ali made a covering to give them shade, The Hent.

Scout the dog absolutely loves the hens and squirms with pleasure if I let her in to spend some time with them while I’m working in the potager. Jonty the other dog isn’t allowed anywhere near them as he would dive at them in a heartbeat.

The girls put themselves to bed at around 9:15pm, although a little earlier each evening as the nights begin to draw in. Blucia and Brighton share one nest box and Blackpoule has one to herself. She’s pushy so I imagine she made that decision. It’s odd. I’ve always known hens to sleep on the perches - crossbars - in their houses. However, these girls prefer the nest boxes. They also love pasta, New Zealand spinach, having their toes sprayed with the hose and paddling in water. While I’m cleaning my teeth in the bathroom at 6:45am I can hear them calling to be let out of their house. Once I unlock and open their door they come tumbling down the ramp to see what I’ve brought them, chuntering & squawking as they go.

I’ll let you know when they start laying.