The follow version substitutes wife for hen, and is published in Harry's Ladder to Learning (1850).
I had a little wife, the prettiest ever seen,
She wash'd all the dishes and kept the house clean;
She went to the mill to fetch me some flour,
She brought it home safe in less than half an hour;
She baked me my bread, she brew'd me my ale,
She sat by the fire and told a fine tale.
Nothin' yet.