One of the tasks on my job description is Checking the Chicks. I try to keep them roughly together, with limited success. Let me introduce the Chicky Girls. Four lovely egg-laying hens. Lovely hens, lovely eggs.

The leader of the pack is very definitely Harriet. She is by far the most brazen and bold. She knows she really shouldn’t be in the kitchen. Their day starts when they are released from their compound and they head straight over to the house for breakfast. A generous handful of corn each. They then pootle about all day, rummaging around in the grass and undergrowth. Occasionally one will head back to the hen house to lay an egg, and then emerge squawking madly trying to relocate her sisters.

Come evening they head back to their compound, tummies full. And are locked in for the night. This is because we have regular, unwelcome visits from our neighbour, the Fox… He is not our friend.