Country diary: Rescued hens are among the spring arrivals on the farm | Andrea Meanwell

Tebay, Cumbria: These ex-commercial hens have a home for the rest of their lives here, where they can be ridiculously free range and entertain us with their anticsThe first crocuses have come out this week, the winter jobs have been finished and we are getting ready for lambing. This winter we planted more than 1km of new hedgerows and an orchard of 16 fruit trees: local varieties of apple and damson sourced from a nearby orchard group. We also repaired drystone walls and fenced off some ruined buildings in danger of collapse.Attention now turns to spring and new life. We hopefully start lambing on 12 April, but before then the sheep pens must be disinfected and set up in the shed as a sort of hospital ward for yows who have a difficult birth or find it hard to bond with their lamb. Most yows have a strong mothering instinct and immediately care for their newborns, but we need to have a backup plan for any who struggle. Continue reading...