Category: Free range chickens

The Simple Things – Keeping Hens

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If you’ve ever fancied keeping hens and need some fluffy-bottomed inspiration, then you might like to take a peek at an article I wrote for one of my favourite magazines, The Simple Things. I was delighted to be asked to share my experience and our adventures with our quirky little flock of allotment garden hens – Dotty, Bean, Sweetpea, Bluebell & Squash. There are lots of tips about choosing chickens, coops, fencing & food and some very tasty recipes for cooking with their amazing eggs.

To read the article in full and for a copy of the recipes you can still buy the June issue of the magazine or have a look at my hen keeping factsheet on The Simple Things website. Keeping chickens is such a joy, surprisingly simple and great fun…

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Natural Henkeeping: Ill Health

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Our little flock are completely at home on the allotment and seem to live a pretty carefree, free-range life. We’ve always been drawn to a more natural way of keeping chickens, as close to their wild environment as possible, including an open coop, a large run, lots of fresh air, natural shade, dust bathing, fresh water and fresh food. All of this helps to maintain their overall health and happiness, but things can go wrong… it just happens.

Parasites, mites, scaly leg, colds, prolapse, low egg production and excessive moulting are all possibilities, to name just a few. This post starts us off with the delights of parasites and prolapses – lovely! – and some ideas for supporting your flock with natural remedies, herbs and some alternative thinking!

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Natural Henkeeping: Health & Happiness

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The health and happiness of our little flock is top priority to us. I think our girls live a near perfect free-range life in the allotment garden – they’re free to come and go from their coop whenever they like, there are lots of different herbs growing in the run for them to peck at, there’s lots of space, lots of greenery and big bushes that offer protection from the sun, wind and rain. If I could speak chicken, I think they’d tell me that they’re very happy….and happy hens lay happy eggs.

Happy hens are healthier too. In our experience there are a few simple things that can make a big difference to your hens health – fresh water, fresh food and a spot of ‘dust bathing’!

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Natural Henkeeping: The Coop

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This is the first in a series of posts about keeping chickens. The coop, the run, food, water, natural health and happiness will all be covered.

We’ve been keeping chickens for years, first in our garden at home and now on our allotment. I just love their quirky characters, their feathery good looks and their delicious protein-packed eggs. What a gift! We currently have 5 chickens, all rare breeds, but in the past we’ve raised chicks, re-homed ex-farm girls and given a final home to old unwanted chickens that don’t lay anymore. We’re not allowed to keep a noisy cock-a-doodle-doo cockerel on the allotment, so it’s an all female environment! They give us fresh eggs and in return I think we give them a near perfect life

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