Give A Little Tenderness

The power of animals to recover from abominable treatment never ceases to amaze me. We brought three leghorn chickens not long after we moved onto the block and when we picked them up, we met the seller at a fruit & vegetable shop at a half way point between when we both lived.

It was a scorching New Zealand day, blue skies and no shade. We arrived at mid day for the pick up and when we saw ‘our girls’ stuck in a sealed cardboard box, which stank of chicken droppings, it was SO bad, the box has started to disintegrate and if that wasn’t bad enough, the box had been stuffed in the airless boot of the car for over an hours drive to say we were horrified was truly an understatement.

Worse was to come though…

We changed the box and secured them in an cool car with the windows open to ensure they could cool off.

When we got them home, we let them out of the box, and the poor things were in a dreadful state. Their feathers were dull and lifeless, and they were not in the best of health. And for a few weeks they literally ran around like headless chickens, we had to secure one in a coop on her own, because she was literally psycho.

We realised it was from the treatment they had been given, and being let out into a huge green landscape was too much for them to handle. We were at our wits end, then they molted and the result was quite remarkable.

A little like the ugly sisters story, they turned from a haggard mess into beautiful hens, and they calmed down and really began to enjoy their freedom and started interacting with the others.

This was well over two years ago, and they have been faithful layers ever since. So, this year, we thought ahead a little, we would love their chicks and so we duly began keeping a few to pop under a broody hen.

But, over the course of a few days, we noticed one of our girls called ‘Shell’, would dash towards the nest of eggs, as if frightened we were going to steal them. This was strange behaviour indeed, never once have any of the three shown the slightest interest in the eggs they have laid.

So we began, leaving the eggs where they were, in the vain hope, that she was going broody in her old age. But after a few days, her interest waned, or SO we thought…

I am proud to report, she is now into her third week of faithfully sitting on a clutch of eggs, under the kitchen window!!
So, it really never ceases to amaze me, what a little bit of tenderness, kindness and general acceptance can do for an animal.

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