Our hens

After months of research and weeks of planning, we've taken the plunge and bought 5 hens. They came from a local poultry farm and up until now have been caged birds, what we might call battery hens. The farm they came from is moving over to free range but at the moment still has two thirds battery hens.

We were very surprised when we got our 5 little beauties out of the box to discover that far from the featherless wretches we were expecting, they are large, healthy girls with good plumage. The farmer assures us they were caged birds which means he must look after his animals well. They were very wary to start with, hiding in their new home, a wooden ark. Incidentally, we bought the ark via eBay from Happy Chicks, a great place to visit and lovely people to deal with. Their enthusiasm for free range poultry is addictive and a joy to behold. Have a look at their website at www.holdenshappyeggs.co.uk.

After a day our new residents began to come out and explore their new run and even supplied us with eggs for breakfast. After a few days, they are ready to explore the garden and really take on the 'free range' label. We'll be keeping our friends and guests up to date in our regular newsletters but if you want to experience a really fresh, free range egg for breakfast for yourself, give us a call and book a weekend stay.

Chicken diary

Day 2 11th August Good Morning Efenechtyd - last one out's a chicken.
Day 4 13th August Eggsiting eggsplorations.
Day 7 18th August Winnie the Window Chick auditions for "Chicken Run 2" while Jenny is not amused.
Day 10 21st August "Did you hear the one about the ugly duckling that turned into a chicken?"