My name is Andrea and I live in a semi rural location in Surrey with my husband, two Maine Coon cats and four lovely rescue chickens, Beatrice, Gladys, Mabel and Marjorie (named after some of my Nanny Flo’s siblings. My actual daughter Florence bagged the best name 26 years ago!) We moved to Chobham in 2018 to a tiny bungalow with a massive garden and often talked about our desire to own chickens. We back onto a bridle path and can often hear horses, geese, cockerels and ducks from neighbouring gardens and fields.
The bungalow needed a lot of attention, as did the garden and we have worked hard to try to create our dream home, without going (too) bankrupt. With the majority of the work done on the bungalow (along with the majority of our budget) our thoughts progressed to “what next?”!Given our budget (or lack of it) we agreed that Christmas 2020 would not be a time for gifts. We treated ourselves to a night out in London in December instead.
As I handed Steve his annual Toblerone on Christmas morning I said “I know we agreed to not do gifts, but I know how much you love these”. He dutifully handed me a gift bag containing Maltesers and a Chocolate orange and said the same. Then he instructed me to follow him to view his Black Friday bargain. Which also happened to be my surprise Christmas present. A HEN HOUSE. l was blown away and so excited. It really was the best surprise ever (well along with Christmas 1987 when my parents gave me a Guinea pig).
I snapped away with my phone and fired off pictures to anyone and everyone who I thought would be as excited as me! Now the only thing left to do was to find some feathery friends to live with us. Steve gave me the task of research as neither of us have kept chickens before. He used to be a farmer, but his specialty was driving a combine harvester and looking after sheep. Chickens were a mystery to us both. With the post Christmas blues (along with the post Christmas bills) my research floundered and even though I had purchased a book on chicken husbandry, it remained unopened, under my bed. Along with the dust and the unpaid bills!Fast forward to March 2022, with thoughts of spring and chickens resurfacing, my daughter sent me a screen shot of a Facebook post she had seen from Chicken Rescue UK.
I knew straight away that I needed to offer a home to four of these girls. I contacted Chicken Rescue UK Lightwater as soon as I had seen the post. Amanda was really helpful and encouraging and talked me through the process, passing my details on to Admin and offering me all sorts of invaluable advice. Steve then spent the rest of the week finishing off the palatial chicken run he had started to construct after Christmas. We were all set. Unfortunately, Amanda tested positive for the dreaded “C” word so was unable to hand us our new friends.
However, as agreed with Susan via email, we drove to CRU Bracknell on Sunday to collect our new family members. Susan and her partner, Martin were really welcoming and friendly and their chicken enthusiasm is infectious! Susan gathered four chooks for us and placed them into our carriers. We were all set!
I was struck by how healthy and vital all the chickens looked. They had clearly been very well cared for during their professional egg laying days. Within an hour of getting home, Beatrice provided us with our first egg. I was delighted. This really could not have gone any better. It is now the end of day two with these lovely ladies and they have managed a half dozen between them.
I am in awe of their gentle nature and passive personalities. They simply bring me a sense of calm and joy. I’m really not an early riser by nature, but both mornings they have been with us I have been up at 630am to open their house door and let them into their run. They waddle down their ramp in a dignified order and similarly (very cleverly) put themselves to bed when the sun goes down.
Chicken Rescue UK are a great gang and I would not hesitate to offer a home to more chickens, via this group. As Martin says, “everyone should have chickens”!
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