It’s a quiet, drizzly spring day. The brooding hen’s chicks are hatching. This is what a hatched egg looks like. For the first day or two, it is next to impossible to see the chicks. The mother keeps them tucked in underneath her. At times you can hear them peeping, but if you approach, she will tell them to be quiet. This evening, we will move her and her chicks into a protected nursery.

Ina-Svenda is one of my favorite hens. She has a face that is impossible not to love.