How a chicken got the better of me!
I mentioned that I was looking after a neighbour’s chickens while they were away.
Well, what I had hoped wouldn’t happen did, 2 days running!
In the morning, I let the hens out of their enclosure so they could roam the top part of the garden for the day, scratching and pecking.
I return in the evening to shut them up safe for the night.
One day I arrived and 1 was missing – again. I counted them 4 times but it still came to the same number – there were 7 instead of 8.
This had happened the day before. The hen had escaped somehow from the garden and gone to visit next door. I had tried to see where she was getting through but couldn’t. I went next door and found her at the bottom of their garden. I picked her up and returned her to her friends.
I was a little mortified when it happened again the next day. I could hear her next door again, so I went round, apologising for disturbing them again and headed down their garden.
There she was. However, she was different from the day before. She watched me as I approached, and I swear there was a look in her eyes that said:
“On no, not again. You’re not getting me this time!”
And with that, she did a runner. Every time I got close, she would run away.
After about 5 mins of pursuing her back and forth across the garden, I managed to grab her. ( I’m glad the neighbour didn’t see this, although if it had been filmed I could have got £250 from You’ve Been Framed!)
She was not pleased. I am sure she had words with her friends when I returned her home.
Sometimes what you dread does happen. However, the consequences of a hen going walk about are not serious.
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