I too had hens,a White Leghorn and two Gold crosses R.I Red xWhite Sussex.
Bought as day old chicks on Gent poultry market.
Sadly or maybe to my advantage they were kortegeweeked,( I hope I have remembered the spelling) in other words they had their little wings cut off!
They had never seen a hen being incubator chicks .
To keep them warm we had them in a big aquarium with a small voltage lamp up high and a feather duster suspended over.
You should have seen them fight to nestle under the duster!
We taught them to peck with a wooden skewer ,tapping it among their food.
They were hilarious as they scratched,stepped backwards to peck.
Once a rat got into their food bin when they were fully grown , as it must have crossed their enclosure the big Leghorn ( which looked like a cockerel)
pecked it right in between its eyes,just like a shot. Dead instantly!
I could put them to sleep by putting their heads under what remained of their wings,then move them round in a circle and they would stay like that until I had cleaned everything and brought their heads out and they woke up!An Old farmer taught me that.
They were lovely,pets really.
We visited the open air museum at Beamish once, ,there were some magnificent
fowl in the farmyard area.
One huge black cockerel was on a fence ,strutting along.
I can crow like a cockerel very convincingly,Wow! He did not like it at all and
flew at me feet first!
My O.H had his jacket over his arm - flung it between me and the cockerel , gosh it was angry, but a bit confused so we skedaddled !
I wonder what I said !
Perhaps I mentioned cock a leekie soup !
Viktoria.
P.S. What say you we do “ The Messiah “ on ice?
I have a score .
V.
