My Life With Hens

Chicken Boy

A captivating testament to the mutual rewards and delights of keeping chickens, by the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Flower Yard 
 
Most of us want a dog, or a cat, or a pony when we are young – but for Arthur Parkinson, it was always hens. Growing up in an ex-mining town in Nottinghamshire, the other kids in the playground called him 'Chicken Boy'. The quiet fulfilment of keeping hens became his sanctuary, a tonic for mental and physical health, a connection with his family and the natural world. Illustrated with Arthur's own characterful watercolours and photographs of his ‘girls’, Chicken Boy is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a life in nature.

Poetic... Parkinson writes with great lyricism... His knowledgeable enthusiasm is infectious

A joy from the very first page. Arthur's beautiful, lively and accurate drawings of these enchanting feathery people are irresistible, and I just love the way he writes.  I am now jealous of fox-free areas where chickens may be kept. The photographs are award-winning: the whole thing is bliss

An author whose writing is as unashamedly ebullient as his dazzling displays

This hugely informative, joyful and amusing book has me desperately wondering and hoping that I could, after all, find space in my small garden for a few chickens. Maybe the rhubarb will have to go

John Wright, author of THE FORAGER'S CALENDAR

Arthur Parkinson is the author of The Pottery Gardener and The Flower Yard, and the co-host, with Sarah Raven, of the popular Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange podcast. His writing and photography are regularly featured in the Daily Telegraph, and have appeared in The Times, Country Life and Country Living, among other magazines and newspapers; he has also featured in BBC Two's Gardeners' World.

Most of us want a dog, or a cat, or a pony when we are young &ndash; but for Arthur Parkinson, it was always hens. Growing up in an ex-mining town in Nottinghamshire, the other kids in the playground called him 'Chicken Boy'. The quiet fulfilment of keeping hens became his sanctuary, a tonic for mental and physical health, a connection with his family and the natural world. Illustrated with Arthur's own characterful watercolours and photographs of his &lsquo;girls&rsquo;, Chicken Boy is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a life in nature.

Arthur Parkinson

Arthur's writing has taught me everything useful I know about keeping chickens.... Hen Party is a gorgeous object and a blissful read, thanks to his turn of phrase. It is a repository of essential information, written with palpable love for, and deep knowledge of, his subject

A Celebration

It is my hope that this book will help you discover, or reconfirm, which chicken breeds are your favourites and encourage you to keep them yourself, or at least to remember them. 
 
Spotlighting more than fifty breeds of chicken, from the classy Ancona to the lavishly laced Wyandotte, Arthur Parkinson shares everything you need to know about each breed’s attributes, behaviour, quirks and qualities alongside gorgeous illustrations of his ‘ladies’. Later in the book he offers detailed advice that will equip you with the practical skills to look after hens in your own garden, whether the most common breeds or the most perilously rare – for as Arthur notes, if we don’t celebrate all hens great and small, the lesser-known varieties may well disappear. 
 
Joyful and inspiring, Hen Party is a riotous, clucking poultry show of a book for anyone dreaming of the good life.

Arthur Parkinson

Books by Arthur Parkinson

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter