A few hens scratching about the back garden, turning over the borders and greeting you at the gate with a hopeful cluck — it is one of the simplest pleasures of smallholding life. Hens are forgiving creatures, but they are not indestructible. Get the basics right and you will be rewarded with glossy feathers, calm, friendly birds and a steady supply of eggs right through the year. Get them wrong and you will spend your weekends treating problems that should never have started.

Give Them Room to Be Chickens

Cramped hens are stressed hens, and stressed hens peck, sulk and stop laying. As a rough guide, allow at least 25cm of perch space per bird in the coop, and around 20–25cm of feeder width so the timid ones are not bullied away from their dinner. Nest boxes can be simple — a 30cm square box, one for every four or five hens, lined with clean straw and set low and dark.

Ventilation matters more than warmth. Hens cope with cold far better than with damp, stuffy air. Fit high-level vents that let stale, ammonia-laden air out without creating a draught at perch height. If your nose stings when you open the coop in the morning, the airflow is not good enough. Use wood shavings on the floor for droppings, and save the straw for the nest boxes.

Outside, aim for a minimum of one square metre of run per bird, and considerably more if you can manage it. A covered section keeps the worst of the weather off and stops the ground turning to sludge. If space allows, split the run in two and rotate the hens so each half gets a rest and a fresh flush of grass.

Dust Baths: The Most Overlooked Luxury

Watch a hen flop sideways into a patch of dry soil and kick it through her feathers and you will see pure contentment. Dust bathing is how chickens clean their plumage, smother lice and mites, and socialise. Without it, parasites build up and feathers suffer.

• Set aside a shallow tray or a dry corner filled with a mix of dry soil, sharp sand and a little wood ash.
• Add a small handful of diatomaceous earth and work it through.
• Keep it under cover so it stays dry, and top it up every few weeks.
• Replace it if it becomes damp or caked — a soggy dust bath is worse than none at all.

Security, Rats and the British Weather

Assume the fox is already watching. Foxes dig, climb and hunt in broad daylight, and a flimsy run is an open invitation. Use 16-gauge weld mesh with holes no bigger than 50mm, and bury the base 30–45cm deep, folding the bottom edge outwards so a digging fox meets a wall of wire. Roof the run as well — a determined fox can clear two metres. Fit two-step latches, as a simple bolt can be nosed open.

Rats arrive for spilt feed and leave with your reputation. Store feed in metal bins, sweep up spillages, and never leave scraps lying in the run. Give the hens shade in summer and a solid windbreak in winter; a run that bakes or howls is one they will not use.

Feeding for Steady Eggs

A good quality layers pellet or mash should form the backbone of the diet, offered freely and containing around 16–17% protein. Mixed corn is a treat, not a diet — too much and your hens will go fat rather than productive. Keep separate pots of insoluble grit and oyster shell permanently available so birds can help themselves as their needs change.

• Treats should be no more than a small handful per hen, given late in the day.
• Do not feed kitchen scraps to poultry — it is against UK rules and attracts rats regardless.
• Provide fresh water daily; a hen can drink half a litre or more in hot weather. Scrub drinkers weekly.
• Expect a natural dip in laying during the moult, which can take eight to twelve weeks to complete.

Watch Them Daily: Ten Minutes Saves a Flock

The single best investment you can make is a few quiet minutes with your birds each morning. You will learn what normal looks like — bright eyes, red combs, smooth feathers, busy foraging — and anything unusual will stand out immediately.

Be alert to hens that stand hunched and apart, combs that look pale or bluish, ruffled feathers, sneezing or wheezing, and droppings that are watery, green or bloody. Feel the breastbone occasionally; a sharp keel means weight loss. A sudden fall in egg numbers, or a run of soft-shelled eggs, is often the first sign that something is amiss.

Weekly, run your fingers along the underside of the perch and into the coop's crevices looking for red mite — tiny grey specks that turn red when crushed. Treat an infestation promptly, because these parasites suck blood at night and will quietly wreck your hens' health.

Isolate any bird that looks unwell, keep her warm and quiet, and act early rather than hoping she will pick up. Hens hide illness well, so the sooner you notice, the easier the fix.

Small Comforts That Pay You Back

Happiness is rarely complicated. Hang a cabbage or a string of greens just above head height so the flock has to work for it. Scatter a little grain through the bedding to encourage natural foraging. Provide a perch in the run for sunbathing and a quiet corner for the lowest-ranking hen to escape the attention of the bossiest one.

Do these things consistently and you will have a flock that is calm, robust and productive — hens that greet you at the gate, keep the slugs down and reward you with a basket of eggs that no supermarket can match.