My Passion with Amanda Vickers: Bobble hats for chickens – sounds bonkers but it works

I first discovered chickens on a holiday in rural France, when the cottage we stayed at had a chicken coop in the garden and we had fresh eggs every day.

My milkman at home in Yorkshire had long been a source of encouragement about keeping chickens, so once I had thoroughly researched the whole idea, I bought an Eglu (chicken house, supposedly fox-proof) and three Rhode Island Red chickens from a breeder in Holmfirth.

Unexpected aspects of chicken-keeping were having to fence round the whole garden, as they seemed to find ingenious ways to escape and we were always rescuing them from neighbouring gardens until we'd plugged all the gaps.

Also there was always a fair amount of chicken poo on the lawn, which put my son off from playing football in the garden and which needs clearing up if we have visitors (it goes if you mow the lawn). The lawn is, however, always lovely and green.

They don't like snow, and won't walk in it. This means that in winter, you have to clear trails to their food and water so they won't starve.

"One winter I tried to protect the combs on the top of their heads, which are 90 per cent water and can freeze, with tiny bobble hats that came on the top of smoothie bottles. The ones that managed to keep them on suffered much less from frostbite. People did think I was bonkers but, hey, it worked.

I'm now on my second set of chickens, this time three different breeds. I have a Light Sussex called Gloria, a Blue Star called Delilah and a Black Rock called Mabel. And, just recently, we adopted a stray chicken who had been wandering, dusty and bedraggled, on a main road. She was very thin but healthy. We have called her Sally because she sallied forth.

Keeping chickens can be a lot of work – I get up with the light to let them out and have to remember to lock them up after dark. They need cleaning out, feeding, watering and regular health checks. In return, they are a constant source of entertainment and are a fantastic antidote to stress – just relaxing in the garden after work with a cold beer and the chickens doing their scratching and pecking in the undergrowth, chasing insects and having dust-baths, seems to work better than watching TV.

There is a whole domestic, small-scale chicken-keeping online community out there, all ready to support each other with advice.