I'm in serious trouble. Today at the garden centre, instead of just buying the great garden swing I saw, I wandered on down the outside displays and came upon a new addition - hen houses complete with HENS!!!
Apart from the ones bullying the ones being bullied, they were just adorable. I still have a big hole in my heart from losing my darling Henry last summer, but I could never get another African grey, because it wouldn't be him.
When I was a little kid, my parents kept chickens, and I can just about remember them and the crowing cock. It was still soon enough after the war for a lot of town dwellers still to have some chickens. But I have no idea about looking after them, or what they would need.
I'm drawn towards rescuing some battery hens. Farmers wear them out with constant laying in tiny cages inside artificially lit sheds. Their life is a nightmare. Then they go to be slaughtered.
But there are charities that buy them from farmers and rehome them so they can have a few happy weeks, months or (hopefully) years before meeting a more natural end.
A recovering battery hen.
The trouble is, I would not be able to let them range free except in my presence, and that may not be enough. Also, positioning a henhouse with run might be tricky in my "natural" (ie. overrun) garden, which is "designed" to be a wildlife haven - including foxes...
This is going to take a lot of thought and planning.