Droopy the Hen

Some of you probably saw my Facebook posting a few weeks ago about a little brown hen that turned up in our neighbour Rob's yard. She wandered up and down our fence, looking in at our girls and we thought she had probably escaped from someone else's property close by, as Rob doesn't have hens. I secretly thought she was our Harriet or Hermione reincarnated, as she is a New Hampshire and very similar in colouring to them.

Our neighbour Mike (at the back of our property) checked with his adjoining neighbours who have hens and I went across the road and checked with other hen owners, but little brown hen was not claimed. So, after a few days we brought her into our hen yard to be with our girls and she ate and drank voraciously. We called her Droopy because her comb droops to one side.

Droopy easily found her way around our la cour des poules (hen yard) and even made herself at home on one of the roosting bars in the loft of le palais des poules (hen palace). But she didn't really look all that happy... probably because Hyacinth picked on her, as the new girl on the block. We didn't worry too much as hens can take a while to get their pecking into order, and we relaxed in the knowledge that Droopy now had a good home with love and attention and plenty of food and water.

Late that afternoon, someone rang our front door bell. Our neighbour Rob from next door was enquiring about whether or not we had seen a little brown hen. We told him what had happened and he said that three hens had made their home in the back corner of his yard. He didn't know where they had come from, they had just turned up and that he had been feeding them scraps.

I said he was welcome to take Droopy back as we really didn't need another hen. So we went up to the yard and Jim picked her up and popped her over the fence. We watched then as she followed Rob all the way his property to the back corner - she was so cute. I was sad to see her go, but relieved she had a home.

Droopy visits now nearly every day! I give her some seed or the odd piece of leafy green vegetable and I've set up a permanent water bowl on her side of the fence. So now, when I go up to the yard I quite often see seven hens, correction, six hens and one rooster - one of our chicks has unfortunately turned out to be a boy.

But that's a story for another day...

Comments

  1. Looovvveeee your story….. love Droopy…… :-)

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