Chicken Licken: A Tale About Happiness in Hens, Offers Insights Beyond a Sky Falling Scenario - Arthur Parkinson
In the world of agriculture, one initiative stands out for its commitment to animal welfare and ethical food sourcing: Sainsbury's Woodland Eggs. This initiative, launched in 2004, sees free-range farmers partner with The Woodland Trust to plant trees inside their poultry ranges, offering hens a more natural and enriched living environment.
The Sainsbury's Woodland Eggs initiative provides hens with access to outdoor woodland areas where they can forage, roam, and exhibit natural behaviours. This approach offers significant benefits for the hens' welfare, as they enjoy more space, natural light, and environmental enrichment, contributing positively to their physical and mental health.
However, maintaining these optimal conditions comes with challenges. For instance, hens may panic if they do not have access to overhead shelter, and barn-reared pullets can become perplexed and dizzy when first allowed to roam outside. In such cases, innovative solutions like solar panels used as shelter for chickens or smart fabric structures stretched over metal frames, as seen in operations like Cacklebean, are being explored.
Farmers are also repurposing everyday items like hazel hurdles, raised wooden pallets, children's trampolines, picnic tables, and rust bucket farmyard machinery to create shelter for their flocks.
Meanwhile, in the gardening world, Arthur Parkinson, a gardener, writer, and broadcaster, faces a different set of challenges. Parkinson, who has authored four books, including 'Flower Yard: Growing Flamboyant Flowers in Containers', keeps hens but finds the dry and hot weather this Spring and Summer particularly challenging. He is constantly spraying henhouses with products to get rid of red mite.
Interestingly, the wild ancestor of chickens is the red junglefowl, a pheasant-like bird that inhabits subtropical woodland. Domestic chickens have inherited the fear of the open sky from their wild ancestors, spending their hot days in the shade to stay cool.
In another intriguing twist, the Duchess of Devonshire allows her flock to walk freely around the Chatsworth carpark, where they shelter under visiting vehicles. Chickens can also help break up ground elder and bind weed when they dustbathe, making them beneficial additions to a garden, despite their potential to damage plants.
Arthur Parkinson's gardening journey began at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, before he worked for Sarah Raven and as the head gardener at the Emma Bridgewater factory garden. His yard, however, is currently brown, dry, and lifeless, reflecting the challenges of maintaining a garden during a hot and dry summer.
The Sainsbury's Woodland Eggs initiative continues to make strides in promoting better living conditions for chickens by providing a more natural, spacious, and enriched environment, potentially leading to healthier animals and more ethically produced eggs. As for Arthur Parkinson, he continues to navigate the challenges of hen-keeping and gardening, sharing his experiences and knowledge with the world through his books and broadcasts.
- Arthur Parkinson, a gardener and author, faces challenges maintaining a lush home-and-garden during dry and hot weather, often spraying henhouses with products to get rid of red mite.
- In contrast, the Sainsbury's Woodland Eggs initiative enhances the lifestyle of their hens by offering them access to outdoor woodland areas, enriched with trees and natural spaces for foraging and exhibiting natural behaviors.
