An illustrated compendium of common and rare breed chickens by the Sunday Times bestselling gardener

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.