.There is more pleasure in giving than receiving. This was certainly the case when I first moved to the country and received a box full of hens as a moving in present. Resourceful and independently minded the hens quickly settled in, roosting in the oil shed and living on bits of bread and whatever else they could find scratching about. I eventually managed to get hold of a poultry keeping book, then a henhouse, an incubator and a rooster, quickly followed by and numerous broods. The main problem with rearing chicks is that quite a few turn out to be roosters. It is easy enough to find homes for pure bred hens but nobody wants a rooster, especially their father. They end up living miserable solitary lives, cast out from the henhouse and forced to roost outside in the hedges, unprotected from the elements and the fox. It's kinder to ring their necks. People who I suspect have never accomplished this feat are full of advice on how to go about it. Books are of limited use, it's hard to describe in words the amount of force required, the twisting action, the floppy neck that indicates success and the look of astonishment from a hand reared, stunningly beautiful creature. My own experience suggests that first timers should choose a dark windy night, a spot well away from the hen house and bring along a friend who has rung a few necks in case of second thoughts half way through. Once mastered it becomes a fairly straightforward chore, never the less the other normally sociable hens will keep to themselves the next day. Chickens have excellent hearing.