A LOWER Peover farmer has joined free range egg producers across the country in creating a happier habitat for his hens.

Ben Wharfe has planted 420 trees on Sapling Home Farm as part of a planting campaign run by the British Free Range Egg Producers Association.

Over the past ten years, the association’s 400 members have planted in excess of one million trees.

Chickens derive from jungle fowl meaning they express their natural behaviour when provided with the shade and shelter offered by the trees.

Ben, who established the farm in 2011, said: “Now the trees are now more established they offer more shelter for the hens, it has encouraged them to range for longer, further and more often.”

The trees Ben planted include oak, silver birch and field maple, and offer huge benefits to the egg enterprise, which supplies 3.5million eggs annually.

“It wasn’t just a commercial decision, it was also ethical,” he said.

He has also planted a variety of grasses and clovers out on the range to attract a variety of insects and provide lots of different tasty treats for the 12,500 layers.

Biodiversity is also important on the farm and the family has a wildflower meadow and has planted 600 metres of new hedgerows, with around 20 hedgerow trees.

“We chose different species of hedgerow plants to provide flowers, berries and cover year round which benefits all the wildlife on the farm,” added Ben.

To be free range, a farm must provide at least one acre of field for every 1,000 hens. Flocks are free to roam over the pasture during the day with hens will naturally moving indoors at dusk to roost overnight.