Easter is quite early this year. Unlike most festivals it’s not a fixed date in the calendar and it’s not easy to work out when it will come, but if you’re interested it’s always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox on 21 March. And if we’re talking Easter then we’re talking chicks.

In Pagan times, chickens and eggs were seen as signs of fertility and renewal and so were used as symbols around the spring equinox. Early Christians copied this symbolism as it helped them remember the Resurrection and to this day chickens and especially eggs still headline at Easter. Bunnies came to the party very much later.

Our “backyard flock”, as Defra with an unexpected tilt to America now refers to a few hens kept in a garden, consists of half a dozen old fashioned and incredibly rare Brown Sussex hens. They are joined by Collins, our new cockerel, who regular readers will know is the recent replacement for Phil. They spend their days wandering round the farm looking beautiful, but truth is there’s really only one reason for keeping a backyard flock and that’s the reward of a constant stream of delicious fresh free-range eggs.

But there’s a problem. These beautiful, old fashioned breeds with evocative names like Rosecomb Bantams and Scotts Dumpy are rare for a reason – they are unreliable layers. It’s time to moult, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, any excuse to shut up shop will do. So by and large most people who keep a few hens opt for modern hybrids, brands like Red Star, Gold Line or

As soon as a hen’s hormone levels rise then her temperature rises too and she will seek out a special hidden place to lay her eggs

ISA Brown, bred to reliably produce 300 plus fresh eggs a year. But at this time of the year, as the evenings lengthen and the days get warmer, even my posh girls start laying regularly. And then the hope is that at least some of them continue laying for the months ahead before thoughts inevitably turn to motherhood. 

If you don’t know how the chicken and egg thing works, here’s a short guide. If there is a cockerel in the flock then each egg laid will be fertile and, for about a month, capable of developing into a chick. However, development will only commence if the egg is kept consistently warm for 24 hours in an incubator or under a broody hen.

Becoming broody is a hormonal thing and as soon as a hen’s hormone levels rise then her temperature rises too and she will seek out a special hidden place to lay her eggs. Once she has a good enough number, usually around fourteen she plucks the feathers from her breast, skin-to-shell contact being so much warmer, and sits tight. And there she stays. She generally foregoes food and drink and also ceases to give off any smell so that in the wild any passing fox won’t find her. Clever.

And then 20 days later the chicks, from inside their shells begin to cheep, a signal to the hen to turn off broody mode and turn up motherhood. She no longer sits tight and, on day 21, the eggs hatch. After all these years, seeing a proud mum with her clutch of chicks is still a joy to behold and a real sign that spring has arrived. Here’s hoping. 

Happy Easter everyone.