The Chickens - Rosemary, Tarragon, Fennel and Dill

We adopted 4 ex-battery hens in September from the British Hen Welfare Trust.  I drove to the remote hills north of Camarthen to collect them - they had already travelled all the way from Devon.

When I safely delivered them to their new home, imagine my surprise when one had laid a egg in the cat box she had been carried in! 

They looked a little worse for wear as the photos taken shortly after their arrival show (one of them looked more like a Turkey!), but they did seem to get the gist of being free-range pretty quickly and still generally lay an egg each every day.

We sell a dozen eggs to our neighbours each week which tends to cover their feed costs so they do earn their keep! 

The hens need shelter when not in the coop and so one was fashioned with some old sheets of corrugated iron and a few fence posts.  A very rustic affair.  A couple of straw bales have been added to give them shelter from the wind.

As a fortieth birthday present, Ian's Auntie Maggie kindly offered to pay the set up costs, namely the chicken coop and 50m of electric fencing which seems to be the only way to protect the hens from cunning foxes.

It now gives them a very extensive range to explore and they love digging in the old garlic bed.

The fencing and chicken coop (a Sonning Minor) was purchased from Wells Poultry in Ebbw Vale, Gwent.  So far, no complaints from us or the chickens!