Horses And Hens

This month, Jeremy Hobson talks with Joanne Southall-Campbell, a French-living ex-pat, keen showjumper, mounted archery enthusiast and avid chicken keeper

- Joanne Southall-Campbell

How did you first become interested in chicken-keeping?

About five years ago, I bought six ex-battery hens to give some company to a horse who needed rest after an injury. I thought that at two euros each, these birds must be good value and would help prolong their lives… and, if it all went wrong, it wouldn’t be too expensive a mistake! My first ‘chicken house’ was cobbled together in a polytunnel, using whatever pallets and baler-twine there was laying around and yet, amazingly, these ladies laid way beyond expectations… and the chicken keeping bug had well and truly bitten!