THE BEGINNING

IT ALL STARTED BY ACCIDENT - I WAS ASKED TO CHICKEN-SIT WHILST THE OWNERS WERE AWAY..........

I run my own business"WALKIES4ALL" which is mostly dog walking but I also do pet-sitting.

I have looked after lots and lots of different animals but these where to be the start of a new passion..

Chickens have the ability to make you see life in a completely different way. They are funny and very entertaining and more than happy to provide beautiful tasty eggs on a regular basis.
When I die I want to come back as a "Free Range Chicken!"

The two chickens that I was asked to look after were always so pleased to see me each day and clucked and chased me back and forth whilst I fed and watered them.

We had recently been bereaved of our pet rabbit and although as cute and fluffy that he was he didn't really entertain us like the chickens. Bunny was very reserved but I think that this was probably due to the continuous flow of children through our house and garden and our dogs that made him somewhat reserved.

ON NOW HAVING AN EMPTY SPACE IN THE GARDEN.. A PLAN BEGAN TO HATCH! (LIKE THE PUN?)

I did lots of research and located a local chicken supplier (Cotswold Chickens) and began to draw up plans and supervise the conversion of our garden shed into a Des-res for chickens.

It didn't take much persuading of my wonderful husband to get him to begin the conversion with our eldest son Harrison. Who acquired lots of power tool experience!

We used a very large dog crate opened up to create an secure run of some 8 foot and attached it to the side of the shed with their newly cut access. This meant that whilst the dogs were in the garden familiarising themselves with the newcomers they would be very safe and secure.

We also divided the garden by putting up a new fence the length of the garden so the dogs and chickens could eventually (under close supervision) be out in the garden together but still with a divide.
However we had underestimated the determination of both dogs and chickens..
The next part is very distressing but a harsh lesson learnt very quickly after a lot of tears.

Despite the constant reminders to all three of our sons, one managed to fail to secure the gate properly and one of our dogs (who shall remain nameless) took advantage and pushed though. It managed to corner a chicken who although managed to make an impressive and scary attempt to stand her ground however, resulted in her sudden death - which I can only assume was due to shock.. the other chickens promptly ran into the run and then into the shed to find safety of the highest perch.

There was NO BLOOD or suffering- despite a descriptive report given anonymously to the RSPCA by one of our nosey neighbours.

It was a very, very sad and distressing episode and a huge hard lesson learnt by me and all the boys..
I have to say that now thankfully everyone seems to of settled in alongside each other well and the dogs aren't interested anymore - however I am not that daft....

To update all on the RSPCA visit that came about after the anonymous call. The inspector was more than impressed with the set up that we have for our chickens. And checked out the rest of the animals at our home and gave me a glowing report.

She was most annoyed at having had her precious time wasted and complemented the safety procedures that we have in place and said she would happily recommend my services as a pet-sitter and dog walker.

So one up for the Marshall's again.... Sorry anonymous nosey neighbour.