Hen Pen Home Produce

When the turkeys are laying like mad then there’s only one thing to do. BAKE!

1 Shropshire Breeding Ram

1 Shropshire Breeding Ram Kingfishers Eric, has given me wonderful strong lambs every year but sadly health forces me to sell up.

7 Shropshire Breeding Ewes

7 Shropshire Breeding Ewes 2 of these ewes are fully registered pedigree, the rest are pure bred but not registered. This is my very friendly and easy going flock that I’ve use

Good morning! I will be taking some sheep for processing soon so if anyone is wanting meat please let me know as it allows me to take the correct numbers. Lamb is sold out and there is limited Hoggett but plenty of mutton available. For those that are unsure of the difference, basically it’s down to the age of the animal. Lamb is under 1 year old, hoggett is 1-2 years and mutton is over 2 years old. The flavour has subtle changes and obviously the mutton requires longer cooking methods, however, personally I prefer it! Cooked properly it is tender and mouth wateringly delicious 🤤 There’s also some wonderful turkeys available still too ☺️ inbox me for orders and I’ll message to let you know when to collect ☺️ (likely be end may/beginning June time)

Massive congratulations to Saffronlyn Castlebar Rosie of Henpens (Nyx) on the arrival of her beautiful litter of puppies! It’s been a long night but mum and pups are doing well, she’s done a grand job cooking this lot!

There will be some lamb, hogget and mutton available very soon! There’s still home reared, free range turkey available on order too! I’m making a list of interest so once it’s all allocated then that’s that. Message to let me know 😊

Such exciting news this morning! Saffronlyn Castlebar Rosie of Henpens (Nyx) scanned in pup by Southbeck Charging Lancers (Otis) ❤️ puppies due 22/3/24❤️ There is a reserve list and all homes will be vetted, if you’d like to express interest then please get in touch. Please note, this litter is because Nyx is my dog of a lifetime and I want to keep her lines going and keep a pup myself. I would not be breeding her for any other reason! I’m going to find it hard enough to let any of the puppies go but I am realistic and I’m looking for kind, loving, working homes for these special pups.

Would anyone like some quality turkey, home reared, free range Norfolk black turkeys. Would be ideal for your Easter dinner or even freeze ready to use at Christmas! Only 5 available, will be sold oven ready with giblets and neck (without if preferred) £12.50 per kg. I’d expect them to be between 5 and 7kg once prepped. Please PM me if interested.

A post I’ve been dreading to write. Due to my declining health (I have terrible arthritis in both hands) it has become more and more difficult for me to take care of the sheep. The last thing I want is for their welfare to suffer because I’m unable to carry out correct care, thankfully, this isn’t yet the case, my sheep are still happy and healthy and with huge thanks to my partner he’s doing more and more to help me keep them on fresh grass. I haven’t put any of the ewes in lamb for this year and I will simply be getting what I have ready for the freezer which will likely be sometime this summer. If anyone is interested in lamb (will be more hogget by then) and mutton then drop me a message. Also if anyone is looking for live Shropshire ewes and or a ram then again, message me directly. Thank you all for your past custom, I will be continuing with the chickens, turkeys, honey and jams so this is not the end of Hen Pen Home Produce, just the last of the sheep part.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year from all at Hen Pen 🐝🐣🐑🐓🦃

The heather honey is proving very popular and there are now only 3 jars left! First come first served so be quick if you’d like to get some of this rare opportunity, one off produce!! There is of course, plenty of mixed forage honey available 😊

So here at Hen Pen I have something a little special that we haven’t had before and may not get again! You may recall I posted about our bees going off to the Peak District to go into the heather in the summer, well, we now have a very small amount of heather honey for sale! I have only 10 jars so first come first served @ £10 a jar (yes it seems expensive but believe me, there’s a lot of work involved and not only for the bees that make it!) message me if you’d like some 😊

Yesterday was spent spinning all the frames of honey from my bees. This years harvest has a wonderful dark colour and superb flavours. Todays job is to wash and sterilise all the jars and lids, then jar it all up. The process of harvesting my honey takes 3 whole days. First to ensure everything is clean and sterile before the honey touches anything, to spin the frames, return the frames to the bees, jar up the honey and to clean all the equipment up afterwards. It’s a marathon of a job but the product is so very worth it. Don’t worry though, not all the honey is harvested and I ensure every hive has more than enough stores to feed themselves over winter and start spring nice and strong 🐝❤️🐝❤️🐝

The pigs cleared the ground completely in the pen we made but look what they left behind! Pumpkins and tomato plants growing wild in the pig pen 🥰 The next inhabitants will likely leave their own legacy too, I leave the pig pen to grow wild while it’s empty and waiting for the next lot to come in March 2024 ❤️

After a friend lost her hives over winter she was worried about losing her heather apiary site as she had no bees to take to it this year. I’ve had a good year with catching swarms so offered her to take some of my bees to her apiary to enjoy the heather. Off they went this evening on their holibobs to the Peak District, now we really need the sun to shine so they get the most from it, I hope my girls enjoy it!

Looks like a few jars of Blackcurrant jam will be made! Redcurrants aren’t far behind either

We will be having our sheep sheared very soon so if anyone is interested in buying some fleece to use in your own gardens then let me know! Natural w**d control, slug control and helps hold moisture in so cuts down on watering, make fabulous hanging basket lining too! Black bin bag of fleece which is more than enough for most vegetable gardens, £5 a bag 🤩

First swarm collection of the year, all tucked into their new hive at the bottom of the garden ❤️🥰🐝

Just a bit of lamb spam for you all. Enjoy 🥰

Well it all kicked off yesterday with 2 sets of twins arriving but Eliza rejected one of hers (again) so sadly this will be her last breeding year with me. Everyone is doing super well, including the new “house lamb” 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Still no lambs on the ground yet, I’m watching and waiting! My favourite time of year ❤️🐑

The ladies are starting to look rather round! Emily especially 🙈 hoping there’s not triplets in there 🙈 These lovely mummas are due end April-mid May (if I’ve got the dates right, unlike last year 🤦🏻‍♀️😂) but I’m keeping a close eye on them, Emily is being monitored VERY closely 😂

Ok people, last call for lamb orders! Some of you have heard from me already so don’t worry, you’re on the list and I’ll continue to be in touch. If there’s anyone that hasn’t expressed interest already and would like either a half or whole lamb meat box then please let me know! £95 for half (you will get joints such as shoulder, leg, chops and mince) or £190 for a whole (you’ll get the entire lamb in joints) and payment needs to be in full up front to avoid wastage of the lambs. Home bred, slow grown, grass fed pedigree Shropshires 🥰❤️😍

Hen Pen has its very own kennel name! Nyx and her litter will all come under this prefix so it’s not just Honey, chutney and jam that carry the label 😂

No filter needed 😍 such cracking ewe lambs

Happy new year to everyone! We had a bit of a surprise in NY eve as the only ewe (Charlotte) to not have gained her condition from having her twin lambs in May 2022 dropped a single ram lamb on me 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 The naughty thing clearly thought getting straight back in lamb in August was the way forward. I will be watching the others like a hawk but as the rams have already covered them I’m taking that as a sign that they’re not already in lamb but, here at Hen Pen who knows?! Lamb will be available very soon so please let me know if you want whole or half and when is good for you to receive. I will need to co ordinate so everyone collects the same day it comes from the butcher (logistic nightmare 🤦🏻‍♀️)

All 5 ewes have been covered by BOTH rams so it’s going to be interesting to find out who was the successful fella 😂 lambs due end of May/beginning of June 2023. It was also interesting to see Eric had also covered La Trelle so I guess he’s just being thorough 😂😂. The ladies will stay in with the boys for another couple of weeks and then go back to the ladies only section then the ram lambs will go off early in the new year, those that have let me know of their interest in whole/half lamb boxes will hear from me in the new year to arrange it all. To ensure your meat arrives as fresh as possible I need to sort everyone to collect on the same day that I get it from the butchers 😊

Would anyone be interested in 1/2 or whole lamb boxes ready for Christmas? Will need to know which you’d like and payment up front please £95 1/2 lamb £190 whole, if there’s enough interest I’ll sort out the logistics. You will need to collect your box from me on the same day I collect from my butcher so it’s going to take some organising 😊. Let me know 😊🐑