Let me introduce you to “Creda”. I’m guessing she has to be at least 12 years old as we have had her for 10 years. A friend of ours was moving house and couldn’t take her chickens with, so we adopted Creda and several other “normal” type chickens, all of which have long since bitten the dust.
We called her Creda as it looks like she has been through a wash cycle and tumble dried – not sure if it normal that clothes come out looking like this but most of mine do after Mrs Rapid Pest has washed them!
Every year, Creda has at least one set of chicks and is the best mother hen ever. She is fiercely defensive of all who dare go near and runs around clucking to keep the brood all together, teaching them to find the best food. Today alas was not a good day for her – Jasmine, my top working dog, decided that the chicks we just too tempting and nailed one. Its very difficult to stop them as we have been dogging in the pheasant chicks and the squeaking they make is similar, but never the less she had a sever telling off for doing it.
Creda has also been through the wars. Several years ago, I lit a large bonfire in the garden having cleared up a fallen tree. Unbeknown to me, Creda had decided this was a really good place for a nest as well. After the fire really took hold, I saw this “fireball” come racing out of the bonfire…which of course was Creda! I caught her quickly and dipped her in the duck pond, thinking that she would surely die from this, but although very bald (and even more ugly than now!), she survived and carried on as though nothing had happened.
This latest clutch of chicks is the first one to have a “Minime” Creda. Out of all the other chicks she has raised none have ever looked like her. Luckily this wasn’t the one killed this morning, so we hope this will be our Creda of the future.
If you have an even more Ugly looking chicken, please let me know – we should start an Ugly Chicken Facebook page! Email me your photos to help@rapid-pest-control.co.uk
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