A (not so brief) history of the chicken farm from conception to realisation

I was keen for Alan to get hens as my family kept Marans and other poultry while I was growing up and I knew how fascinating they can be to watch and interact with. He certainly seemed determined to go about the project in the right way; exhaustive research into poultry breeds and husbandry commenced, both through poultry books and on-line research.

One of the most important considerations was where the hens would be kept. Alan lives on a housing estate next to an industrial estate. He initially looked into keeping hens on a nearby allotment but a combination of the amount of hassle it was going to be and stories of allotment s banning hens discouraged him. Luckily his next-door-neighbour was not using the bottom half of her garden and the promise of tidying up this area, which was completely overgrown with waist-high bracken and full of rubbish coupled with the promise of regular eggs when the hens came into lay was incentive enough for Alan to be able to use this land.

Clearing the future chicken farm was hard work. Pulling the bracken took the best part of a weekend and caused aching and blistered hands even through the stout gloves we were wearing. It was incredibly satisfying to see the bare earth and shorter grasses emerging as the piles of bracken grew. Several trailers of rubbish were taken to the rubbish tip.

Our next challenge was fencing for the area. before we could put any of our own up we had to remove the council' existing wire and concrete post fencing. Digging the posts out was exhausting and it took two people to carry each one. At the time we were not entirely sure which breeds Alan would decide upon so we didn't know what height of fencing would keep them in. We did however know that the nearby country park contained a thriving population of foxes; Alan had almost collided with a fox cub in the woods a couple of weeks prior. Although these were in theory "urban" foxes and more likely to be interested in leftovers from nearby fast food outlets than live chickens, we were not prepared to take any chances. We also had to contend with the fact that the back of the area was parallel to, and separated by only a narrow grass verge from, a major entrance road for the industrial estate and therefore passed by lorries and other traffic almost constantly during the week. We needed to screen the hens from sight as much as possible and discourage two-legged predators with a padlocked gate with a 6 foot high panel fence, the posts secured into the ground with post fix. To the top of this we attached another two feet of chicken wire loosely to prevent cats or foxes from jumping up onto the top of the wooden fence.

The concrete posts removed earlier were re-used; the majority were laid on the ground on the inside of the fencing to make it harder for predators to dig under the fence and the remaining three formed a very substantial base on which the chicken house was eventually built.

Because the area is a residential one it was important the the "chicken farm" was tidy and didn't upset the neighbours. The panels didn't all match as some were second-hand so i painted them all red with Timber Care which was watered down in a miserly fashion and it all looked quite smart once it was finished.

One amusing incident happened while painting the fence; Alan felt something land on his shoulder and thought i had thrown paint over him! Unfortunately the truth was much more sinister; one of the charming seagulls which fly unceasingly over one's head in that area of town had taken very good aim and defecated down his back. I found this hilarious but Alan didn't share this sentiment unfortunately!

Following extensive research, a visit to a smallholders' show where there were many different types of housing on display and a lot of planning done in Alan's head (!) the design for the chicken house was forming; there was to be a sloping roof, nest box, pop hole (for the chickens to be let out every morning) and a larger door one could climb in to clean the hens out. The house was constructed using three 8 x 4ft boards . these were relatively cheap but also quite strong and heavy ­ not usually considered an advantage in chicken houses but a positive boon in an area where anything not nailed down could fall prey to opportunistic thieves.

The chicken house design itself was very simple but Alan had fun with extra details like ornate black handles and gate ornaments, cabin hook to hold the pop hole open (initially the plan was to have a completely round "hobbit ­ style" pop hole but this was eventually deemed impractical,) the larger door has a Gothic arch and despite my concerns, Alan managed to pull off a truly spectacular chicken shaped window. Unfortunately this has to face the back fence of the enclosure to shield the birds in side from the elements so only the very special people get to see it.

The hen-house was painted with light blue paint to match the house Alan lives in and the roof was painted with bituminous paint and covered with roofing felt.

Once the chicken house and run was nearly completed we could start looking for hens to populate it. As Alan lives in a town and his neighbour had had problems with other residents complaining when her cockerels crowed it was decided that only hens would be kept. Any cockerels that might later be acquired for breeding would be kept at my home in a nearby village.

Alan and i both agreed that pure-bred chickens appealed to us more than commercial hybrids who would lay more eggs for a couple of years but have a shorter lifespan. Alan liked the idea of a traditional dual ­ purpose bird so that if he did breed his laying hens any surplus youngstock would make good table birds. I was strongly in favour of cuckoo marans as i have had them previously and they are very vigorous, proud chickens with a great shape and beautiful plumage. They also lay gorgeous brown eggs. Alan on the other hand had fallen in love with Light Sussex, having seen a big placid Sussex cockerel at a Smallholder Show. It was decided that Alan would get three Marans and three Light Sussex and see which one he preferred before expanding his flock the following year.

Tracking down the hens wasn't too much trouble. We initially were going to go to a large producer in Norfolk but were warned off by another poultry keeper as they had sold them sick birds which had died soon after arrival. The chap we were recommended had just sold out of Sussex so i trawled the internet, eventually stumbling across a recommendation from a lady who ran a B & B who had bought her hens from The Hen House Garden Company and used their eggs to feed her guests. Through her site i found the website of Hen House Garden Company and rang the proprieter who was very helpful and had both Marans and Light Sussex coming up to point of lay. He was more than happy for us to come at 7pm on a Friday night to collect our chickens so we had the weekend to settle them in.

When we arrived at the premises we were welcomed by a neighbour who said the owner was still out delivering hen houses and suggested we wander around until he arrived. This was very useful as it allowed us to see the conditions in which the birds were kept for ourselves, not just what the company wanted customers to see. There were many different breeds of chicken dotted all over the place but all looked very healthy and well cared for. We were very impressed with the birds we received and Alan also bought a Victorian style bucket drinker and a feeder with a waterproof top. Half a sack of the pellets the hens had been eating was purchased too so that their stomachs wouldn't be upset by an abrupt change of diet. By the time we got back to the "chicken farm" it was dark and the chickens were put straight into their house for the night. They all appeared unable to reach the perches so the Marans slept on the floor in the straw and the Sussex huddled up at one end of the enormous nest box.