Chicken Little

Black chicken No. 2 (Mavis or Hilda) finally showed up from under our house on 23rd December with a stagger, a shrunken comb and a squirt of runny poo after her prolonged hide out of over a week. Having more or less mourned the blimmin' bird after countless forays around the edge with a torch we were suddenly close to wringing her neck for the aggro!

No, we (I) couldn't really have done that, it was to me almost a Christmas miracle and I could finally relax knowing that she wasn't wasting away under our very floor.

So now we are back to a full complement of hens and Rita is laying a daily egg again so things a bit calmer on the fowl front. If only the two black Barnevelder hens would sort themselves out into laying we'd be on a winner...