Fowl Not Foul - February, March, April 2000

By Mid-February, little balding Ever-Ready had grown most of her feathers back, and was allowed to return to the rest of the flock. Having been away for so long, she'd lost her place near the top of the pecking order, and the rest of the flock took great delight in reminding her that she was now relegated to the bottom of the order. Sensibly, Ever-Ready avoided the others and kept herself to herself.

On Wednesday 15th March Sian the goose laid her first egg of the year. She followed this up with about 2 eggs per week. I had been taking her eggs away from her in the hope that she wouldn't go broody. This obviously hadn't worked, because she went broody ten days later. She had squeezed herself into a goose-shaped space between the Poultry Ark and the fence, and was sitting on an egg. I tried to encourage her to move by taking her egg away and pushing her gently, but she wouldn't budge. In the end I just picked her up and placed her on her feet, and finally she trudged down the garden toward Pseudo, her mate, who was frantically calling for her.

At Fowl Bedtime on 25th March, Greencell was missing. I couldn't find her anywhere. I didn't want to have to leave her out for the night, and as a last resort I carefully searched the shed one more time, calling for her. Amazingly, little Greencell answered me with a weak "I'm here, help me," call....But I couldn't see her anywhere. The shed was dark, and filled with packing boxes, garden equipment and tools. I found a torch, and continued my search for Greencell. In the end, I found her on the earthen floor of the shed, slightly in front of an egg she must have gone into the shed to lay. But she was making no attempt to move. Looking more closely, I discovered that poor Greencell had her I.D. ring caught on one of the prongs of the grass rake. She was well and truly stuck, for in her struggles to escape, she had knocked over other garden tools which had fallen against the rake, thus putting paid to any escape plans Greencell may have had. She was stuck in such an awkward way that it was very difficult for me to get near to Greencell's leg so that I could gently remove her ring with wire cutters. While I worked to free her, Greencell behaved impeccably, staying totally still until I had freed her. Luckily her leg wasn't badly damaged, and was only missing a few scales, showing that she must have known that it would be better for her to wait for help, safe in the shed, rather than struggle and injure herself further. She had obviously waited for a long time, because she was cold and her crop was completely empty. I kept Greencell in the house for a night and a day until I was satisfied that her leg was OK and that she had got over the shock of her ordeal.

Above:- Darwin, ever curious, investigating one of my signwriting jobs.

On 4th April 2000 I couldn't find little Professor Helm at all at fowl bedtime. I searched absolutely everywhere. Disappointed, I decided to leave her and hope that she would still be alive in the morning.......and lo and behold, she was ! She came strutting toward me when I came to let the rest of the flock out in the morning, as if to say 'Where are all my friends, then?'.

Above:- Flathead, showing the typical stance and comb-flop of the Ancona breed. Flathead lays good-sized white eggs.

February and March were wet, rainy months. A few dry and warm days triggered an absolute frenzy of dustbathing amongst the hens....The pictures below were taken on 3rd April.

Above:- Roadkill watches Darwin (foreground), Roaster (the white bird), Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma, and Attilla the Hen (background) enjoying a dustbath under their shelter.

Above:- Professor Helm watches Attilla the Hen, Roaster and Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma luxuriating in their dustbaths. The Brahma has her eyes half-closed with pleasure, and Roaster has almost turned herself onto her back !

Above:- Attilla The Hen in her dustbath.

Thursday 20th April was Roaster's final day of life. In the early evening she was thanked for her life and humanely killed (out of view of her friends, the other hens, of course!) and plucked. She was then taken to my parents' house and eaten at a family Easter Dinner. The chicken (minus feathers and guts) weighed 3 and a half pounds (lb) or 1.6 kg. There was enough tender, juicy and tasty meat to feed five people. Some 'Fowl Not Foul' readers might find this shocking, but here are our reasons for eating Roaster:-

Most of the commercial broiler chickens bought in the supermarkets are kept in unhealthy and inhumane conditions. Many are also fed drugs to help them survive these conditions and reach optimum weight as quickly as possible. These birds are often killed by machine on an automated production line, which we believe is unethical. For more details, visit the FARM ANIMAL WELFARE NETWORK website, and THE DRUGS DON'T WORK - FACTORY FARMING'S THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH. The commercial breeding of these fast-growing, high-profit birds has led to the decline of traditional free ranging breeds. As a result, some have become very rare due to lack of commercial demand. See the COTSWOLD FARM PARK RARE BREEDS CENTRE website for more details on how eating rare breeds can help preserve them genetically. Because of this, we decided that we would try raising our own chicken for eating. That way, we could ensure that: