‘Our first cockerel was an accident called Yvette…’

Imagine Peter Mayle was rewriting A Year in Provence, but from the back of a hen coop, not France. Just as he followed his dream of a life in the sun, so Martin Gurdon followed the dream of daily fresh eggs and chickens in his garden. This slim volume is a record of how it came about.

Part recollection, part practical guide, Chicken Maintenance is an easy introduction to the highs and lows of raising your own small flock; a key part of the self-sufficiency lifestyle. It doesn’t hide the hard work, or the diseases and problems to which your hens can succumb, but it fuses these gentle warnings with a true sense of the joy that they can bring, hopping up on your lap for a stroke and a tickle, developing their own personalities, and causing no end of mischief in the garden.

Gurdon goes through three house moves and ten or so hens in the course of the book, and documents his trials in chicken house building (be careful when using roofing felt), paying vets bills that far outweigh the value of any single bird, and curing egg-bound chucks (blast them with a hairdryer, hold them over a pan of hot water, or massage their egg shoot – with the egg half in, half out – with an oily finger would appear to be the three possible answers).

For anyone dithering over introducing a small home flock, this book is likely to tip them in favour, as every downside is more than compensated for by the joys that the hens can deliver. At the same time, though, Gurdon has the kind of lifestyle few of us can match. He’s a writer, working from home, with only occasional meetings and jobs in an office. As such, he can give his hens the attention they need, and the space they deserve in his generous garden.

So while this book may describe a utopian dream, don’t be blind to the excellent conditions in which he keeps his hens. Don’t let this peerless guide to the chicken-keeping lifestyle push you into keeping hens without first ensuring that your dream won’t become their nightmare.

Price £8.99
ISBN 1-84330-414-7
Pros An gentle, idealistic introduction to the world of backyard chicken-keeping.
Cons None.
Verdict Buy it.

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3. Henkeeping: Inspiration and Practical Advice for Would-be Smallholders : Review