Last thursday we let the hens out as usual, a beautiful sunny day. They are totally free range wandering around the hedgerows, popping into the polytunnel to lay an egg behind the strawbales that are stored in there. Or dustbathing in the field. A perfect life for hens that have come out of the battery farm. As I said on thursday they were let out at about 9am....... by lunchtime they were dead. 17 hens brutally killed. I found piles of feathers where they were each individually brought down. 2 bodies in the hedgerow , the rest all gone. My poor little hoppity hen would have stood no chance trying to get away, neither would my bantam cockrel who was blind in one eye. I found one little exbat hiding in the polytunnel under a piece of plywood. One hen hiding in the barn, very traumatised with feathers missing on her neck. 2 hens were found half dead in their houses. 4 more returned towards bedtime, we had a neighbour who was dockspraying for us who waited out til 10pm and as they emerged he picked them up and popped them safely away. We now have just the 8 hens who are down at the house in a stable. We cant let them run free again, as we drove down the road this morning a fox crossed from our land across the road in front of us, unfortunatley I was not going fast enough to run the bugger over. As I said I am not sure they can ever run free again. They have all recovered and are even laying for us in their stable but it really doesnt seem right to give them this from the life they used to have.
Topic: Fox again............:( (Read 3201 times)
