A hand-painted 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. The gardener and artist Arthur Parkinson has kept happy chickens all his life, and is on a mission to prove that you can too. In Hen Party , he distils everything he has learnt about his feathered friends into one gloriously illustrated bantam-sized guide. Spotlighting more than fifty breeds from the classy Ancona to the lavishly laced Wyandotte, Arthur explores each hen's quirks and qualities alongside gorgeous watercolour paintings of his 'ladies'. Later in the book he shares detailed advice that will equip you with the practical skills to look after chickens 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 for anyone dreaming of the good life.