Compassion in World Farming

Monday 24 August 2009

An emotional roller coaster!



Followers of my blog will know that I have been having terrible trouble integrating ex-battery hen Jess with the rest of the hens. She was a sad, outcast of the group of 6 ex-battery hens we adopted & had twice been injured by them. We had placed her in the sectioned off area of our little field with Seymour & Daisy the friendly Aylesbury ducks, so that the rest of the birds could see her every day but not get at her. On Friday night I decided to try again & stealthily snuck her into the main hen house under cover of dark. On Saturday morning when I let the birds out Norah, one of the other ex-batts immediately flew at her with beak & claws. But this time Jess actually stood up for herself & started to fight back! Agitated by the scuffle two more ex-batts joined in the fight! What a disaster I thought - I had never seen hens fight like this before! However, clever Jess lay down on the floor & quietly backed herself away. So the three, silly fighting hens were just fighting each other & had forgotten that Jess had been their intended target. Jess happily carried on her morning business of searching for tasty morsels! When the foolish three came to their senses they did look rather embarrassed & quickly set about preening their ruffled feathers! I'm happy to report that Jess spent the rest of the day without mishap. Hurray I thought - we've finally cracked it!


On Saturday evening youngest son & I rounded the ducks & geese up & shut all the houses tightly as we always do. We did a scout of the field for stray hens as we always do. I made a mental note to put the birds away a little earlier the next day as the evenings were drawing in quite fast. On Sunday morning I raced up to let the birds out a little later than normal as I had enjoyed a little lie in - BLISS! I looked out for Jess as I am particularly fond of her due to the close contact I have had with her through her stay in the back garden. She is a friendly little soul & quite happy to be picked up & cuddled (yes, I'm sure some of you are horrified at the thought of hugging a hen, but they are my little friends & definitley not destined for the table!). I said a cheery good morning to my girls as they emerged from the house. But no Jess. I opened the door, thinking she was maybe feeling a little overwhelmed at being in with so many others, but no Jess. I checked all around the field, no Jess. I checked the house again & the stable, no Jess. I started to feel a rising sense of panic. Where was my lovely girl? Had she not gone in with the rest of the hens the night before? Youngest son arrived, wondering why I was so long. Together we did a complete sweep of the field & all the houses, no Jess. Had she managed to get out of the field? I checked our neighbours garden (they are away at the moment), no Jess. I was starting to get a bit tearful by this point. There was nowhere else to look. Had I put my little hen in danger by not checking she was safely away? Had she been left out on her own at the mercy of Mr Fox? After everything she'd been through & recovered from, had I let her down when finally her future had looked rosy? I felt desperately sad, but could do no more but return home & break the sad news to hubby.

The day wore on & I went about my chores with a heavy heart. I couldn't bring myself to go up to the field all day, but come evening I knew I would have to as the hen house needed cleaning out. I managed to put it off until about 7pm but then had to just buck myself up & get on with the task in hand. I took up some chopped courgette as a treat & almost by way of an apology to the rest of the hens. As they were enjoying it something caught by eye over by the goat's woodpile. A flash of purple stained feathers, just like Jess had. I looked again. There was a hen that looked just like Jess pecking about in the wood. I looked again & this time my brain woke up. Oh my goodness - there was Jess, as large as life right in the middle of the field! I was astounded! I ran over to her, grabbed her up to my chest & hugged her hard. 'Jess, where have you been? Oh, I'm sooo glad you're back' I choked through my tears of joy. Poor Jess looked up at me with a most bemused look on her face. After a moment of just holding her & feeling her warm feathers against my skin I popped her down & tore down to the house, shouting 'She's back! Jess is back!' Well, hubby & the lads were as amazed as me & so happy at seeing my beaming face. Straight away eldest son & I went back up to the field to gently clip Jess's wings to prevent any further possible escape. We only wished that that we knew where she had been!

I spent quite a long time on Sunday evening just sat among my birds, feeling happy & at peace. I was about to pop back down to the house to grab a cup of tea before it was time to shut the birds away, when something caught my eye in the wood pile. Feathers? I looked again. Sure enough as I got closer there was a little brown feathered hen's bottom just visible between the logs. So that was where she'd got to! Mystery solved! I let her be while the other hens got settled, then later I gently rescued her & placed her inside the hen house with a gentle kiss. 'Night, night' I whispered & vowed always to check more carefully for loose hens every evening!!

22 comments:

  1. Sis, you got me in tears again, stop it!! Seriously though I'm so glad Jess is alright, and has found herself a litle hidey-hole

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  2. Hens will be hens - we once lost a cockerel for a week and found him in the wood pile, hiding from another one who had been bullying him. I am afraid they are not quite as nice as they seem sometimes. But glad you found Jess. Hope she is still settling in well with the others - they soon forget their fights.

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  3. sara, I know VERY well how you feel!!!
    you are doing everything you can to get them to accept Jess, but perhaps you may need to accept that it may never happen....
    I have a small enclosure with three bullied hens in it and they are happy as larry!! they just need to be away from the main girls...(albeit seperated by thin chicken wire)
    sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and realise that not everything in the allotment is fluffy!
    perhaps team her up with a bantam hen or bantam cockerel in their own run......may work
    xxxxx
    (

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  4. Your writing is awesome!
    You should write a book!
    I do happen to know a writer and I will be telling him about this post!
    Awesome!

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  5. John is so right...I have given up trying to integrate Violet Dorking Hen with the bigger hens, despite being hatched out by one of them (!) she is constantly bullied...she looks smaller and more different to the others and is so much more gentle so she and her sister Ruby Dorking get pecked all the time...

    so I now have a large hen house in the paddock where Violet can go, it has food and water inside and I shut the door at night the same as I shut the other runs...

    Violet ( and her sister Ruby) can hide inside, safe from the others and I let them out to join in the others in the morning...but the Orchard paddock is big enough so they can run away if needed...it seems to be that morning/evening time inside a run is where the bullying is worst....

    I think sometimes we have to just accept that hens are not very nice to each other, and make the best of it..... :-(

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  6. Lovely story, thanks for taking the time to write it for us. You should write that book "chicken whisperer", i think it would open up lots of eyes! I third the second run as this is where my little lovies go too. Even when the peace is maintained, we know intimidation is in the air, and who wants to live out life like that? Peace for all

    p.s. did you download a copy of my book, i would love to share with you "our sister bond to the feathers" :)

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  7. Thank you to everyone for your very kind & thoughtful comments. As each day goes by Jess is looking more settled in with the main flock. She gets the odd peck but isn't being bullied or injured any more. She keeps herself to herself a little & just doesn't seem keen on going in the hen house with the rest, despite the fact they aren't attacking her in there, so I'll keep an eye on her & move her back in with the Aylesbury ducks if she seems unhappy. I do love that little hen! It's sad to me that the only hens who have ever had a go at her are her fellow ex-battery hens. But I guess savage conditions breed savage behaviour. Whoever would have thought looking after hens could be such an emotional thing!

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  8. Well I went out tonight to lock in the girls and when I couldn't find Violet Dorking, I looked all over the hen paddock...and found her dead under the dust bath conifer....

    She seems to have had a heart attack...she was being bullied by EVERYONE this morning, and then a jet flew over mid afternoon....

    I am SO sad...she was a lovely, friendly hen and we hatched her out under our Maran just a year ago....

    Sorry Violet, I couldn't help you to integrate and I shall miss you a lot... :-(

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  9. Great post. Denise Nesbitt told me I had to come here and read it!

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  10. I don't live on a farm but I obtained 2 chicks and 2 ducklings which grew up together and eventually when I had to relocate the chickens to an animal farm nearby, they acted like ducks staying out in the rain. They were our pets though.

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  11. Compostwoman - I'm so very sorry to hear about Violet. I know it's heart breaking when you lose one you're particularly attached to. Sometimes they can be such fragile things & go without any particular warning. Sending you BIG comforting (((HUGS)))) xx

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  12. She actually died from a broken neck. I guess she got so scared she hit her neck on the tree. Still, at least it was quick.

    Thanks for the hug, I do feel a bit glum about it.

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  13. My sister keeps chickens and I occasionally write about them on my blog. Who knew chickens could be so entertaining? She also has ducks and one of the hens kept getting picked on and would fly over the fence to be with the ducks. that's where she lives now. Prefers the ducks company to the other hens.

    I'm here by way of POTD.

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  14. wonderfully written. congrats on the POTD mention over at Davids.

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  15. What a wonderful tale of love. I'd be hugging her too.:) I flew over here from David's coop. Yours was the only POTD name with which I was unfamiliar. I'm glad I landed in your barnyard. Great tale. :)

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  16. Oh, I'm glad Jess is ok! I came over from David's blog. Congrats on the Post of the Day Award!

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  17. I find the hugging of hens nothing short of lovely...and I loved this post and hell, I love you and Jess...lol...wow...I'll be back here again and again! I'm gonna be a stalker! No, a follower, that's right...congrats on Post of the Day Nomination...you're a WINNER in my book...
    Sandi

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  18. Oh wow! I feel so humbled by all these lovely comments. I tend to pour my heart out a bit in my postings & usually think people will think I'm totally off my rocker, so it is a really special thing to know that they may be bringing pleasure. Thank you :-D

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  19. How glad I am to find you!! I so often sit with my girls... all 5 of them, just to breathe in the peace, and enjoy those wonderful peaceful sounds they make. Glad you found your Jess. She sounds a sweetie.

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  20. I wonder what was going through Jess' mind!! Glad you found her. Congrats on POTD!

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  21. Wonderful that you found your Jess. Here via David's - congrats on your POTD nod :) That's quite the meagerie you have. Our menagerie is more of the wild variety ... 'cept the dog and the cats.

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  22. Ladybird World Mother - Lovely to 'meet' you - so nice to know I'm not alone!

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