What came first - the chicken or the egg?
Well, whatever smart answer you may have to that timeless question, in a typical London house in Herne Hill the answer is: the hen run. Only when that was in place could the chickens arrive. And only after the chickens could there be eggs.
Chris Roseberg and Ann Daniels have kept chickens on and off for a number of years. But numbers were small and they knew that to have a decent flock they needed a large and secure space. So last year they set about planning and building a hen house and run for their back garden in Herne Hill. It had to be big enough for 8 or so hens, give them shelter and a decent run, and offer a proper laying space for them to have their eggs.
The concept was simple: a commercially made shed, adapted to suit the hens’ requirements, and a basic frame of railway sleepers and 4×4 uprights. On to this they built a solid frame with netting on all sides and on the top, and then a roof of clear sheeting to keep the run dry in wet weather.
Everything except the roof was ready in April when Chris and Anne collected 8 hens they had ordered from the British Hen Welfare Trust. This is a charity that rescues battery hens and gives them a free range future. The eight hens bought by Chris and Anne would have been slaughtered. But now they have a comfortable life in South East London, where hopefully they are safe from our foxes too. And the roof is now on, so the hens have a dry space outside all year round.
Keeping hens is a hobby, not a business, for Chris and Ann. Chris says the eggs are a bonus, but do not cover the outlay of keeping the hens. But it is well worthwhile. Hens are quiet, calm, friendly creatures and rewarding to keep.
Nor are they the only hens in the area. A surprising number of people are eating eggs from their own chickens.
British Hen Welfare Trust website
Do you keep hens? Please tell us! How about forming an organization of South East London chicken keepers?
