The Chicken Saga
Last March before we set off to UK for the birth of a Grandson we had to get our chooks looked after for the six months away.
We
have wonderful friends who also share our desire to keep chooks BUT no
roosters so I was left with the horrific task (for me ) of killing my
lovely big rooster. It was made even harder as I had some six weeks
before I nursed it back to health after neighbourhood roaming pet dogs
had attacked the chooks and so traumatised the rooster he had gone blind
and was unable to eat for several days by itself.
After
completing the gruesome task I took the remaining five chooks to my
friends to look after them. I was glad they had a rather large run for
their chooks.
Not all was to run smoothly however whilst we were
away the youngest "hen" not yet laying began to make certain noises that
did not bode well for a lengthy life in the suburbs. My kind friends
began offering the rooster around the area free to good home. Then Free
to any home and finally Free as a good feed! Still no takers.
At
last another of our friends heard the call and decided to help out - he
was good at despatching roosters. Alas the task was done.
When I
arrived home I had four fat healthy contented chooks left. I promply
collected the hens and returned to our place to install them in their
old home.
However during our time away the termites had done more
damage and made the hen house less secure. The first night was fine and
we collected a couple of eggs. What joy our own eggs again instead of
the usual hotel fare.
To my dismay the next moving as I approached
the chicken run I did not hear the sound of chickens alas I heard no
sound at all but I did see lots of feathers of differing hues. When I
entered the run I noticed a hole in the wire then another hole on the
other side. No Chickens!
The foxes had killed all my chooks!
