“My Mother wants to know whether Edward has ever made the Hen House which they planned together”

Hens, pigs, sheep—the Austen’s raise a lot of animals for food and I never knew that ladies did not leave these things to servants but I can not see Mrs. Darcy designing the hen house? There is a lot of talk in Emma about chicken thieves but I do not remember her being involved with the chickens. I don’t think I have heard anything about pets either in the letters? Birds, dogs, cats—were they expensive to maintain?