Alex Jones shares chicken coop update from Cluckingham Palace: 'It's such a rewarding thing to do'

Alex Jones has opened up about her positive experience of rehoming chickens, which might make you a "convert" to the idea of building a coup, just like hers.

The presenter of The One Show first shared the news that her family had adopted some chickens back in 2025, posting updates on her social media of their progress over the years. This week, after a request from fans, Alex treated us to a look behind the scenes at her garden to admire ‘Cluckingham Palace’ in all its glory.

Showing how surprisingly agile and easy it is to create a safe and homely area for the chickens, Alex is inspiring others to follow in her footsteps, saying, "Honestly, it's such a rewarding thing to do."

Alex built Cluckingham Palace in 2025, just like the royal residence of King Charles's pet chickens. Alex revealed at the time that her coop was from pet housing experts Omlet.

The green pen fits in perfectly with the garden, and in her new video we see more of the design features, including the igloo for sleeping and a chicken run for the hens to stretch their legs, as well as easy feeding and water stations.

'I thought you might like an update on the chickens, because lots of you have been asking," she starts in her video. She greets "the ladies, as I call them" and explains they are looking so much healthier than when she first got them.

"They have got names, but I couldn't tell you which is which. But this one over here, which I know actually is Gladys, she is looking a lot better than when we picked her up.

Explaining how the process works, Alex says: "You can contact them, you can go and pick the chickens up. This setup can house 10 chickens, but we thought then we'd have too many eggs.

"We already share a lot with like parents in school and stuff in the mornings. So six is kind of the limit for us."

She continued, "Honestly, they're such nice pets. They bend down for you to stroke them when they trust you a little bit… They make excellent pets.

"I'm going to give you three facts about chickens, right? Number one fact: the only animal that can recognise 100 faces. Amazing."

"Second fact: they're one of the only animals that feel pain emotionally and physically like humans. We can't think of that when we think of the fox incident." In April this year, Alex shared a sad update that two of the chickens - named Sophie and Matilda - were sadly killed when the coop door was left open overnight.

Back to chirpier news, though, Alex finishes her three facts. She said, "Also, they do love to be held. They do love to be cuddled and I think people don't know that about chickens. They're lovely."

How to adopt chickens of your own

If Alex has you convinced, here’s how to hatch a plan of your own to adopt some chickens and give them a new home. Like Alex, you can adopt from the British Hen Welfare Trust.

The minimum number of hens you can reserve is three because hens are sociable and like to be part of a flock. The maximum number of hens you can adopt is 20, and they must all stay together with you. The volunteer teams around the country usually hold rehomings every four to six weeks.

A donation of £3 per hen contributes towards the running costs of the charity and they explain that you can convert a regular shed or outbuilding, build your own coop, or buy a purpose-built hen house.

In terms of the space they might take up, hens need a minimum floor space of 30cm squared per bird, and a minimum perch space of 25 cm per bird.

Ex-caged birds need a minimum of 1m squared per bird for outdoor running space, while all other hens need a minimum of 2m squared per bird, plus the ability to free range each day.