The story came home to roost !

Pumking cheese cake

Some of you may remember a story we put on our blog a couple of years ago about Nick’s mum Jackie knitting vests for rescued battery chickens who had pulled their feathers out through stress and  boredom.

Well the story has come home to roost !

Umbrian autumn views

As you know we now have 5 chickens and one cockerel, of course they are not battery hens and have a large area to roam freely so we couldn’t understand when 2 of the chickens started to get bald patches. Was it some terrible bird infection ?

So as usual we called for the help of our friend and neighbor Mariella “ NO it’s not an infection” she said “ IT’S HIM “ pointing to the cockerel “his harem is too  small and he is bored with his love life, the best thing to do is get rid of him “she said pulling her finger across her throat. Well, that was a shock and although we both nodded our heads in agreement  we both knew we couldn’t do it . As Nick said after “it might not be him”. It never happened when we just had the 2 chickens , it only started when the 3 newcomers arrived, maybe there is some jealousy between all the girls and  they all want his  attention.

In the end we decided to make a separate home for the injured pair and see if he pecked at the 3 that were left.  At the same time sparks began flying from Jackie’s  knitting needles as she created a wardrobe of vests to cover the bald patches, so that when the really cold weather comes they will be kept warm  while the new feathers grow.

Jackie knitting

So what do you think,  is he guilty or not guilty, or is there a bit of a struggle for girl power going on here. If only Hilda (the goat ) could talk and tell us. Watch this space

Dressed chickens and I