Saturday, 20 September 2008

Good chicken, bad chicken

Jackie and I enjoyed another warm sunny day in the garden, allowing the chickens out to explore and scratch around.

Our chickens have developed a strange double act. Ethelreda (yes, we’ve named them) is a lovely affeectionate chicken: she comes when she’s called and she seems to enjoy being picked up and carried or stroked. Audrey seems to hate all humankind: she runs away in panic when anyone comes near her, she struggles ferociously whenever she has to be picked up, and she squawks and flaps with great energy at the slightest provocation.

As far as I can tell both chickens have had similar life experiences so their disparate behaviour seems to be a powerful argument for Nature over Nurture.

Since the arrival of our chickens, I worry that Aged Ken (our decrepit white cat) is feeling neglected. He is wary of the chickens. Occasionally he follows us up to the chicken run to watch them being fed. It is clear that he cannot understand why so much attention is being lavished on things whose only real purpose is to provide a flavour of cat food.