Havilah hosted a special opening at their Harkness Street campus on Monday to mark the arrival of five feathery friends.

A new chicken coop has been constructed for residents to enjoy, which Havilah’s Janelle Peart said has been in the works for some time.

“It’s proven that having the chickens around is calming, it takes a lot of agitation away and helps reduce loneliness. Our residents can come out to watch them and be with them, and help collect the eggs,” she said.

“We’ve wanted this for a while. A few of us got together and made a little committee to plan it — we held a few raffles here and raised money for it.

“Gwen Reeves, who was a resident here, has sadly died but her husband Jim actually donated $500 towards it, and now we’ve got it.”
A plaque, ‘Gwen’s Hen House’, was installed on the coop in honour of the donation.