A neighbour 3 doors away has a bunch of ex-batts which are sort of enclosed by a very low, slack, inadequate circle of chicken netting which they hop over whenever they please. so to all intents and purposes they are fully free range over the whole neighborhood. I have spent many a happy hour helping my next-door-neighbour, a tidy man, to catch stray birds in his garden, where they enjoy digging in his borders, and returning them 'home.' A couple of them have been killed on the road outside, and I've found all I can do is to shoo them back in under her hedge when I see them out along the verge because I always have my terrier with me when i go past and she also has lots of cats which drive him mad if I go in with yet another hen under my arm.
Yesterday morning, after a freezing night, I noticed one of her exbatt girls on her own, under some bushes in a friend's front garden, so when I got back I told the owner where she was. The owner just said 'Oh, that's where she went, I thought a fox must have got her.'
Today, after a night where temperatures went down to -3.5C. here, I checked as I went past, and there she was, still pecking around under the same bush. Full of indignation, after the dog walk I set off, determined to quietly catch and 'kidnap' the poor neglected, lost hen, give her a good feed of nice warm mash and a drink of water, keep her in my eglu and spare run for a bit, and then try to integrate her with my bunch if she seemed OK after a week or two. So I knocked at the door and offered to catch the hen. My friend said 'Oh no, please don't do that - that's Mollie, she goes home at night and comes over here during the day to eat the food that falls from the bird feeders.' And then I noticed that, under the shelter of the bushes, not visible from the pavement, there were indeed about 6 or 7 well-filled feeders, and a dish of liquid water. 'We like having her there,' my friend went on, 'she picks up all the dropped seed and so we don't get the rats.Yesterday she brought one of her friends with her as well, but her friend had to go home by lunchtime. We put out extra high-energy bird seed for them as well as in the feeders.'
So I'm now watching with interest to see how many of her friends she teaches to follow her on the perilous road crossing to the rich pickings in my friend's garden. Another story demonstrating the intelligence and resourcefulness of ex-batts!
Yesterday morning, after a freezing night, I noticed one of her exbatt girls on her own, under some bushes in a friend's front garden, so when I got back I told the owner where she was. The owner just said 'Oh, that's where she went, I thought a fox must have got her.'
Today, after a night where temperatures went down to -3.5C. here, I checked as I went past, and there she was, still pecking around under the same bush. Full of indignation, after the dog walk I set off, determined to quietly catch and 'kidnap' the poor neglected, lost hen, give her a good feed of nice warm mash and a drink of water, keep her in my eglu and spare run for a bit, and then try to integrate her with my bunch if she seemed OK after a week or two. So I knocked at the door and offered to catch the hen. My friend said 'Oh no, please don't do that - that's Mollie, she goes home at night and comes over here during the day to eat the food that falls from the bird feeders.' And then I noticed that, under the shelter of the bushes, not visible from the pavement, there were indeed about 6 or 7 well-filled feeders, and a dish of liquid water. 'We like having her there,' my friend went on, 'she picks up all the dropped seed and so we don't get the rats.Yesterday she brought one of her friends with her as well, but her friend had to go home by lunchtime. We put out extra high-energy bird seed for them as well as in the feeders.'
So I'm now watching with interest to see how many of her friends she teaches to follow her on the perilous road crossing to the rich pickings in my friend's garden. Another story demonstrating the intelligence and resourcefulness of ex-batts!
