This article was originally published on Hubpages in December 2009. Hattie and Joyce are ISA Warren hens (AKA ISA Brown), a hybrid breed known for their placid characters and for reliable egg-laying. Named after Hattie Jacques and Joyce Grenfell, they are cheerful ladies who know exactly when it's feeding time. Penny and Felicity are Silver-laced Wyandottes, named after the actors in The Good Life. You'll notice all our hens are female. Local bylaws often curtail keeping cockrells in residential areas due to their piercing cockadoodling.* The hens enjoy sunbathing, (on their sides with one leg stuck up in the air), and a cuddle. Fresh snails rooted out from under a plant pot are considered heaven indeed, as are woodlice, slugs, ants - especially flying ants - worms, and insects of most kinds. Happy hens will lay eggs without a cockerel being around. If you have neighbours who are likely to object to cocka-doodle-doing, then make sure you only buy hens. Here in England, the law...

 This article was originally published on Hubpages in August 2009. Ygraine loved snoozing under the St John's Wort. In the Beginning... The garden was a wild tangle of waist-high grasses, weeds, brambles and mare's tail when my husband and I bought our home in 2000. The media was merrily enthusing about the Millennium celebrations; we were almost as happy to locate our hidden-by-weeds boundary fence. I burnt out two strimmers levelling that lot. And then I was left with a dejected-looking "lawn" which rapidly sprouted a carpet of dandylions, buttercups and bindweed - and more mare's tail, with which the locality is heavily infested. A lumpy tarmac path emerged, initially as a brown stripe when the thin layer of turf hiding it died. Under the tarmac lay thick concrete, and under that lay thick hardcore. As hiring a JCB was out of the question at that time, I admitted defeat and reluctantly incorporated a dead-straight path into my design. A layer of builder's s...

 This article was originally published on Hubpages in July 2009. Ink sketches of Ygraine, my West Highland White Terrier The trick to sketching pets is speed. If you wait for them to stay still then you may be waiting for a very long time! If animals move before your sketch is finished, you can be assured that they will never, ever adopt exactly the same pose again. So loosen up, and try to sketch an impression rather than fuss over exact details. Observation and quick drawing responses are vital, then, and also a sense of timing - which is why I often wait until they're snoozing or at least relaxed and sitting still. And a sketch is supposed to be a quick impression of the subject anyway, rather than a detailed finished drawing. I find a small sketch pad kept nearby is more convenient than a larger pad, and with an ink pen all you need do is take the cap off and you're ready to draw. If you start rummaging in drawers for pencil sharpeners or watercolour paints, or begin turnin...

 This article was originally published on Hubpages in February 2010. Chickens love to roam free in the garden. Until I kept chickens, I had no idea how much fun they are. They are easy to care for, and will pay for themselves by the eggs for provide. I have two ISA Warren hens - and would love more. Be warned, this is a very addictive hobby! On this page you will find plenty of information on how to properly house, look after and feed chickens, and see some cute photos of my little flock foraging around my garden. Foraging for bugs and a juicy worm or two keeps chickens happy. The beautiful plumage of an ISA Warren chicken. Life in the Chicken Coop The word "hen" indicates an adult, while "chicken" implies a young bird, however both words tend to be used interchangeably. The male cockerel's cry can be noisy, and while I enjoy hearing their piercing cock-a-doodledoo your neighbours probably won't be so forgiving. Therefore, in a suburban setting only female h...

Jim knows how to make himself at home. He does have a dog bed of his own. Several, even. But given half a chance he much prefers to snuggle down in a soft pillow and duvet. Rosie is still enamoured of the knitted blanket. While he's busy snoozing, I've been busy tweaking my YouTube site, improving video descriptions and creating a few Shorts, all with the aim of increasing viewing figures and subscription numbers. Maybe it's just a matter of persevering? I'm enjoying filming and video-making, anyway. Rosie and Jim had a check-up at the vets last week, and were both given a clean bill of health. Jim weighs 10lbs. He's supposed to be a chihuahua. Erm, right.... A chihuahua crossed with a Jack Russell Terrier, we had supposed. This vet was unconvinced, reasoning that Jim's bigger than a Jack Russell, broader across the back, and with a noticeably wider head. Rosie is more dainty, and weighs 5.3lbs, which is still bigger than a chihuahua but easily smaller than a ty...

Rosie and Jim Discover Snow Rosie and Jim give their Verdict of Snow Here on the Wirral peninsula we've had 2" of snow. Our dogs hadn't seen snow before, and so they were eager to explore the garden. They soon changed their minds, especially little Rosie who rapidly scurried off back to bed. The knitted patchwork blanket in the second photo was a bargain find. The wool it's made from would have cost far more than I paid for the finished item. No sooner had I brought it home and stretched it out on the living room carpet to take a better look than the dogs had claimed it as their own, settling down on it and preparing to snooze. They were quite disgruntled when I put it through the laundry rather than just hand it over to them there and then. On Monday 15th January, I returned to my day job after having been on sick leave for five weeks, having developed a horrible chest infection. I've never been so ill before in my entire life. I've lost almost  stone in weigh...

Rosie helping in the garden Earlier this week, at approximately 5am, we were awoken by our dogs barking. The room was full of flashing blue lights and a strong smell of heavy smoke, and we could hear voices outside in the road. We looked out of our bedroom window to see various neighbours in PJs, all looking and pointing in the same direction. Thick black smoke was billowing up the road and one neighbour's dogs were running around in panic, whereas they are usually either in their garden or with their owner. Other neighbours corralled them in one front garden, and a police officer captured a ball of fluffy white fur and carried it over to join its buddies. The fire was quickly extinguished and then all the police suddenly sprinted for their cars and even commandeered an approaching van, or so it seemed, whose driver followed the police vehicles off the scene, all driving very fast. All this took place within a very short time. It turns out that someone threw oil or similar onto our...