Betty and BLM

Hello Betty Badger Fans. We have been protesting with BLM and getting very wet and then very hot.  Two weeks ago we got so wet in the rain that Mary washed me and the cubs and hung us on her line to dry.  A bit undignified for a Badger of my mature years....

but the Cubs really enjoyed it. 

BLM means Black Lives Matter.  On that rainy day I stood in my usual place in front of Downing Street and the BLM hupeople crossed over the road to join me.  The Police were not happy about this and told them to go back to the other side of Whitehall. The protesters said that if the Badger could stand outside Downing Street then they could too.  The Police explained that single Badgers or Hupeople are allowed outside Downing Street but not groups.  This is the Law. 

Anyway, because there was a big fuss I told the Police I was happy to go to the other side of Whitehall and the BLMs followed me. We all got so wet and I felt so sorry for the BLMs as their nice flags and clothes got so wet.  Here they are:

And here is some of the writing their friends did on the walls.  I wonder if Mary should do that too... :

And here is some of the family along Whitehall keeping their paws off the ground to keep them dry.

On the next Thursday the weather was 34 degrees, Mary said, which meant it was too hot and our brains began to boil.  The police officers were worried about us and offered us water and help. When we saw the paramedics and emergency ambulance come we thought it was for us, but it was someone inside Downing Street.  We survived, although Mary was pretty smelly by the time we finished.

BLM means Black Lives Matter.  It's about treating Hupeople differently because they are a different colour or race. You might call that racism. There is something called speciesism which means it's OK to make Chickens and Pigs suffer all their lives and then eat them, but not OK to do the same thing to Dogs and Cats. Although in some countries that's OK too. In India Cows are sacred and you can be punished if you hurt one.  Humans are strange. One of Mary's favourite quotations is from Bill Hicks and it says , "Humans are Virus with Shoes" and I think he might be right....

BLM can also means Badgers Lives Matter or we could set up a group called B&WALM  specially for Badgers being shot in the kill-cull meaning Black and White Animals Matter. They do you know....to Badgers and their friends like Mary.  If they didn't, she wouldn't have been going to London on Thursdays for all these years. Of course, Zebras and Skunks could also join...

We have found a way to make our trips to London Town more fun.  Now that we go to Downing Street rather than Defra we get off the silver tube and walk though St James' Park.  Oh what a place, full of water and strange Creatures and plants.  Sadly there are no Badgers still, being so close to Parly Ment, they would probably shoot us anyway.  We have met the big Geese and the Swans and their Cygnets who their parents are teaching to beg.  I think the animals are hungry because there are so few tourists.  A Squirrel ran up Mary's leg looking for food.   Everyone wants to kill Grey Squirrels because they are aliens, but they love Red Squirrels- another example of speciesism and racism.  We Badgers have been in the country since the Ice Age yet, although we are not aliens, the farmers want us all dead..  

Humans play God and decide which Animals are acceptable and which are not.  They used to kill Red Squirrels but now they are regarded as cute and acceptable. As I said last time, if an animal reduces profit then it is vermin.  This is a grey squirrel ; I think they are nice Animals and I only wish I could leap from tree to tree like they do.

The strangest Creatures of all in the park are Pelicans. They were brought to the country in 1664 by a Russian Ambassador and have been there ever since.  They like eating Fish but one of them ate a whole Pigeon while it was still alive and that upset the tourists. . I keep the Cubs well away from the Pelicans, just in case, although I do like a chat with them.  Here is a picture of Pelicans by Dave Pearce, because it is better than Mary's picture.

And here are the swans

Sadly, Rosie the chicken died in spite of the Buffet and Hobnobs that helped her feel better for a few days but the peritonitis got her finally.  I bet if you had to have a baby every day for years your insides would be pretty worn out too. Still, there is some good news on the bird front.  Mr & Mrs Pheasant have had Chicks, so all that mating I showed you a video of was not in vain.  Unfortunately their numbers are dropping by the day as various predators including Fox and Buzzard pick them off.  We still had three in the garden yesterday but who knows what today will bring for the little family...

If we didn't have predators then the world would be overrun with Creatures. Since Hupeople have killed all their own predators Nature invented Viruses to control their numbers, although we need another more serious virus to really get their numbers down to where they stop destroying the Animals and the Planet.  Badgers used to have predators including bears and lions but the Hupeople killed them.  But of course we are not out of control because we are sensible with our mating.  Here is a baby pheasant. 

We saw the Fox this morning with something in its mouth.  We only hope it's not one of the babies:   Here is a video of the incident.

There is another petition to stop the Badger Kill-Cull and there has been something in the Press saying that the government has gone back on its word about phasing out the killing, which they have.  Here is a link to the petition so you can sign it.  Badger Petition

Mary's garden is overrun with Rats because they like eating the Chicken food, so Mary has invested a lot of money in something called a Grandpa's Feeder.  It is not for feeding Grandfathers but for feeding Chickens.  The Chicken stands on the treadle and the lid opens and then they can get to the food.  It takes three weeks to train them to use it.  Personally I think the Rats will get the idea before the Chickens and some of them are heavy enough to make the treadle work. Here is a picture of the new feeder :

....and here is a picture of one of Mary's Rats taken by her friend Andrew  They hang off the feeders and swing from the gutters.  Mary always hopes her visitors don't notice them...

We have met lots of interesting Hupeople in recent weeks. We met Richard who works for the Railways.  He was very friendly and he loves Badgers.  Last Thursday we met two Humen from the RAF in Norfolk.   RAF Humen have wings and can fly.  They are trying to get the public to like them so they had their picture taken with me to show how nice they are.  I think Mary was particularly attracted to one of them....  

I had my picture taken with lots of Human Cubs and I only made one of them cry... I am quite scary to small Children and Dogs.  And a couple of Hupeople tried to give me money, but I said no, because you can't eat money because the coins break your teeth.  Badgers don't need money; we only need love and compassion.

We had a big lovely surprise when Nuclear Human came walking up to me and said hello.  We always meet him and his Dog outside the Conservatory Party Conferences in Birmingham and Man Chester. He is committed like Mary, although some people might describe them as eccentric. Here is his picture from some years ago:

Mary has more poorly hens and she took them to the vet on Friday to have implants put in to stop them laying eggs to give their bodies a break.  Anyway, Mary's metal box on wheels broke down in the vet car park where she and the chickens were stranded for 3 hours.  The chickens were happy enough but Mary got an idea of what their lives might have been like before they were rescued, but only for 3 hours and not for 18 months... Here are Clover and Buttercup waiting patiently for the RAC Human Andrew, who was lovely. 

There re too many Chickens in this Blog this week so, to finish,  I will tell you something interesting about Badgers. Here is a sign I saw at St James Park:

That's how I knew it was a park......  That was a joke!  Apparently all the Hupeople toilets are closed because of the Lock Up and there is Poo everywhere.  Mary says we Badgers are quite Fastidious in our toilet habits.  That big word means we are very concerned about matters of cleanliness.  Well it looks as it the Human species isn't very fastidious.  One Human urinated in Whitehall the other week.  I would never do that... We Badgers dig out latrines at a polite distance from our setts so we don't spoil the nice fresh atmosphere around our home.  We all know where it is so we don't accidentally stumble into it.  Here is a picture.....and our poo is usually green, much nicer than Human poo!

Well clearly I have plumbed the depths when I begin talking about Poo so I had better finish. Mary sends her best wishes to all Badger Lovers.

Night Night, 

Betty 🐾🐾 

Betty and The Bobby

Hello Betty Badger Fans,

There has been so much going on in Whitehall in the last few weeks and I have been part of the excitement although my drama didn't quite hit the headlines.

When me and Mary were doing our vigil on Thursday a member of the public went up to the Police Officers in the Downing Street Cage and shouted "There's a Badger in the road".  And I looked round to see that my nephew little Bobby Badger had been blown by a strong gust of wind into the middle of Whitehall with cars zooming around him.  I began to trundle into the road and a kind Police Human said "No, let me" and he dashed into the road and saved Bobby's life.  He placed Bobby on the ground into the protection of the rather heavier Big Bessie Badger. So Bobby was saved by a Bobby.  The Bobby let me take his picture but couldn't have a badger in his hand in case it suggested he was in support of my vigil, which I am sure he is.  Anyway, I am so grateful for his prompt action.  Here is his picture.  It's a shame he has to stay in a cage for much of the day: 

The Police Hupeople are having a pretty hard time just now and I don't think it is fair.  They are very kind to me when I hang around Downing Street and we have nice chats.  They are always pleased to see me and ask if I need water etc.  One of them was injured last week when Protesters threw one of the barriers over the fence at him.  And then there are the poor Police Horses. We say hello when we meet and they are so brave, but even a brave Horse can get scared when someone sets a firework off near it.  I would run away very fast.  I do wonder though why they need to use Horses.  I am sure the Horses would prefer to be in a green field munching grass and wild flowers and going for the occasional canter.  I would prefer to be in a nice field too rather than Whitehall, but I have to keep going until Badgers are safe.  Here is a picture of a couple of my Police Horse friends:

Mary has been giving me looks.... It was after one of her friends on the Book of Faces reported that a Badger had got though her six foot fence, her electric netting and through the fox proof cage and killed all her chickens.  Then the  Book started saying that Badgers were wicked and kill all the Hedge Hogs and the usual scapegoat stuff.  Anyway, Mary defended my honour and pointed out that the world expert on Hedge Hogs, Hugh Warwick, doesn't blame us but blames Hupeople and their roads and houses and fences and slug pellets. Mary said that we were excellent predators and brilliant at digging and obviously would eat anything that we came across, but that 50% of out diet was worms.  

I promise I won't eat Mary's hens, but perhaps the occasional egg might roll my way.  Mary is very anxious about Foxes now because the Cubs are learning how to hunt and Chickens are simply not safe when out free ranging.  This means that Mary never goes out any more and doesn't sleep for worrying.  I bumped into her at midnight last night wandering around the garden in her dressing gown chasing off a Fox.

While on the subject of chickens Rosie, the current Chief Chicken, is very poorly probably with the usual Egg Yolk Peritonitis, caused by having had to lay so many eggs when she was in the egg industry.  Mary keeps her in at night and gives her antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.  She didn't eat or drink for 4 days, even though Mary gave her a Chicken meze of worms, cat food, seeds, biscuits and  sugared water.  Here is a picture of Rosie with her chicken Buffet:

Rosie has started to get a little better and her life has been saved by eating Hobnobs, which are a very tasty biscuit full of sugar which Mary gives me sometimes but not too often in case they rot my teeth.  Badgers don't have dentists so we can't afford to get bad teeth.

While we were at Downing Street on Thursday a Dog took a dislike to us.  He was growling at me and wanted to bite me.  The Police Officers thought it was very funny as the Dog was a Poodle.   They probably don't know that Poodles have a long history as hunting dogs.  Anyway, I think they look really silly with bits of fur cut off their tails and limbs.  In fact, I mentioned to Mary that the missing fur made them look as if they have mange, which often removes fur from the tail.  They probably shave Poodles so we wouldn't realise they had mange.  Next time Mary sees a Poodle I have asked her to call it a Mangy Dog.  Here is a Poodle :

And here is a video of one of Mary's Fox visitors who she is treating for mange:

We saw Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, several times  over the last weeks. as he goes into Downing Street  He still hasn't managed to smile at us even though I wave and say Hello , but I will make him smile eventually.   He must have a lot on his mind, especially as Boris wants Hupeolpe to go shopping and get closer than 2 metres.  That might mean they will all get The Virus.   No wonder Mr Whitty looks so worried all the time.

Chis Whitty must know quite a lot about diseases and I must ask Mary to write to him to intervene on behalf of us Badgers.

I don't want to talk about The Kill-Cull today except to remind you that Badgers and their new Cubs are being shot every night.  Please write to your MP and ask them to stop.  Meanwhile in our area Badgers are not being killed very often except by wicked Hupeople called Sadists who take pleasure in harming creatures , oh and Game Keepers who are worried that we might eat their Pheasants so reducing their profits. 

Instead I want to tell you how we are all going on in our sett, or setts to be precise  In summer we Badgers often move some of the more difficult Badger boars to outlying setts so they won't bully the young cubs.  Some of the old Badgers choose to go and live away from the sett because they want to escape all the noise the young Cubs make and scampering around jumping on them and generally being annoying.  There is a lot to do on these warmer days as we have to clear out our homes and tunnels which go on for such a long way.. We take out all the old bedding and fill up our chambers with lovely fresh hay that makes everywhere smell delicious. If you live near a Badger sett you might see discarded pile of old grass nearby. Here is a picture of us doing our summer clean out drawn by Michael Clark who is a Badger Expert. 

We have lots of different entrances so we have other ways out in case the Fox Hunters block them up to stop Foxes escaping down the holes.  Strange that they still do that when Fox hunting is illegal, but there we are.  Mary knows some lovely Hupeople who go out and regularly check the Badger setts in their areas to make sure they are not all blocked up by wicked Humen. 

Now I am quite an old Badger my job is to help with the cleaning and looking after the Cubs and give them a cuff around the ear when they get too boisterous. I also make sure they don't stray too far or go near a snare.  You might member I had a close shave with a snare last year and Mary saved my life. I go round the area keeping up to date on where the Game Keeper has put new traps.  He has also killed all the buzzards and Magpies and other Creatures he regards as vermin.  The word Vermin must mean, "Creatures that affect profit" .

One of our silly younger males, Brian, has dug himself a new hole close to where the Game Keeper lives.  Mary is keeping very close eye on him but we are not sure Brian will last long. 

Mary has Hay Fever which means that she is allergic to Nature, which seems a bit silly, especially when she lives in a field.  She is really suffering.  I joke that she must remember her Tena lady pants in case she sneezes too vigorously when we are at Downing Street.  That would be embarrassing, for both of us.

I must get back to looking after the little ones.  I thought I would leave you with a picture of one of Mary's cats called Rufus.  He pretends he is a big Lion wandering around the Savannah.  Unfortunately he is not so brave and runs away when he sees a chicken.   

Night Night,  Betty,

🐾🐾

Betty Badger is Back!

Hello Betty Badger Fans.

Your favourite Badger has been busy and risking getting Locked Up in the Lock Down.  I persuaded Mary to take me down to London Town for the past three Thursdays to show the world that BETTY BADGER WILL NEVER GIVE UP.  We have met lot of famous Humen including Chris Whitty and Gavin Williamson.  Last week we met Gavin Williamson, also know as the "Conservative Love Rat", just before he made the announcement about schools opening again.  He looked young enough to go to school himself. He did smile at us and say hello. 

Then this week we met Chris Whitty who looked very miserable indeed and couldn't raise a smile at all. Still, he probably has a lot on his mind in advising Boris on The Virus.

We had to buy a new Betty Bag. to continue with our Vigil.  We had hoped that the killing and our Vigil was all over when Defra made the announcement in March about the Kill-Cull being phased out, but we didn't know then that George Eustice was a liar. His words were just a disingenuous public relations exercise.  This is our third, or possibly our 4th bag.  We have been going to London for 3 years now. The price of the bag has increased by 30% since we bought our last one.  Here is the new one. At least it doesn't leak and smell like the old one.  Mary has no idea what it's like being stuffed in there:
:

I have to admit that me and Mary were a bit anxious about going back after 2 months away.  I was particularly worried about Mary because she is Old and more likely to die if she gets The Virus. She says she would be glad to die if it stopped the Kill-Cull. 

I am not sure if Badgers can get the Virus but if you Hupeople give us the Virus then Defra would blame us and have another excuse for a Kill-Cull.  Your Cows give us bTB then you said it is all our fault and kill us.That's exactly what has happened with bovine TB in Cumbria.  An infected Bull was brought over from Northern Ireland to mate with Cows.  He spread bTB to the Cows and some of us Badgers caught it so now they are killing us.  Last summer they killed 300 of us in Cumbria, all because they wanted fancy Calves from a prize winning infected Bull.  Oh, and only 3 of the Badgers you killed had bTB.  

This is like a bad fairy story and the wicked witch is Defra.  Here is a picture from the Internet Oracle showing George Eustice  burning Professor Godfray's report  which said that Biosecurity and not Badgers was the real cause of the spread of bTB. He burned all the other statistics showing that killing Badgers will not help stop bTB.

Me and Mary both wore our matching masks for our journey to London Town.  We also wore rubber gloves.  

We were very pleased to see that the train and silver tube had virtually no Hupeople so we felt quite safe.

We went to Defra but Marsham Street and Smith Square were both deserted.  It was all so silent and strange.  I wondered if the Virus had already killed everyone in London.  We decided to focus our energies on Downing Street as The Media go there every night for an announcement about The Virus.  

The Police Officers behind bars in Downing Street seemed pleased to see us back. 

One kind Police Huwoman asked of we needed a drink because it was very hot. Then trouble arose in the form of 2 Police Officers who wandered along the Street and were not so pleased to see us.  They wanted us to go home.  Mary was not at all happy about this and told them that she was Socially Distant, Alert to Danger and doing Essential Work to save Badgers.  They didn't agree, so Mary said she would write to the Police Constable and get permission to come next week.  She was very annoyed.  Still we had manged a couple of hours and we were aching with all the standing so were glad to go home.  

The Police Officers seemed to find the situation amusing and they let Mary take their picture for our Blog:

Mary did write to the Metropolitan Police when she got home but they didn't reply, so she assumed that they will quietly let us get on with our Vigil and they haven't bothered us since. 

All sorts of strange Hupeople hang around Downing Street...... This week we had a Human who just would not stop shouting about conspiracy theories and how clever he was and Star Wars.  After an hour Mary was so annoyed that we went up to him and asked him to stop shouting. as he had given us a headache.  He went quiet for a while but was soon back in full voice. We will try to avoid him in future. We did have our picture taken loads of times in recent weeks.  Someone came out specially to see us from Downing Street to take our picture.  I hope he gives it to Carrie.  By the way, Boris didn't reply to our letter; that's a bit disappointing. 

The killing of Badgers and their cubs begins on Monday 1st June.  Our hearts are broken, and it goes against expert advice and Defra's own plan to begin vaccination.  They just want to kill, kill kill Badgers because their puppet masters the NFU want us dead.   Lot's of tears will be shed by Badger Lovers in the days to come and some amazing Hupeople in the West Country will try to save Badger lives from the Humen with flash-bang sticks.

So let's try to forget about this for a few minutes.  Mary has some videos from the Animals at the bottom of her garden doing bodily functions.  First we have the Pheasant mating.  Mrs Pheasant doesn't look entirely happy about the process:

And here we have a video on a handsome Fallow Deer urinating:

We nocturnal animals are finding the nights a bit too short at this time of year to gather all the food we need so you might catch us out when it is still light. Here is a video of the 3 Legged Fox in the daylight.  You will hear the sound of the Crows and Pheasants giving their Fox warning sound. 

He has done very well to survive all these months with only three legs.  We now have four foxes close to the Chickens which is a worry for Mary; still they seem happy enough, blind to the dangers lurking close by.   I will finish my blog with a happy picture of the Chickens eating some of Mary's plants.  They eat everything: petunia, beans, asparagus, bedding plants of every description. Mary has found that they don't eat Lavender and Rosemary so that's all she will have in her garden form now on.   Here are a few of them enjoying daisies:

If you haven't written to your MP and the TV and the Newspapers and anyone else you can think of about the Badger Kill-Cull please do so today.  Our lives may depend on it.

Night Night, Betty 

🐾🐾

Betty and The Virus

Hello Betty Fans. You were probably wondering if I'd been run over as I have been quiet for a while. I am happy to say that a Badger's chance of being run over has diminished by 75%  since you Hupeople had to stay in your setts during the Lock Up, or whatever it is called. We Badgers and our creature friends think it should be permanent. 

We Badgers and Foxes and Deer and Hares and Rabbits are more confident about going out in daylight now and, as our new Cubs are full of energy, we can let them out to play in the sun and in the bluebells we love so much. The sky is less noisy, the air is less smelly and I am happier than I have ever been in my whole life, except when I was a cub and hadn't heard of the Kill-Cull.

But nothing is perfect because we have noticed piles of interesting stuff appearing on the lanes. This stuff is confusing. Some of it is white with doors and sometimes shelves, other stuff is like worms but made of plastic and metal, other stuff is sharp and shiny and we have to be careful not to stand in it because it will cut our feet. We have to keep the Cubs away in case they get stuck or hurt.   

Here is a picture from Farming Weekly:

 I

Mary is an expert on these things was talking on the radio about rubbish so I asked her and she said it is called Fly tipping. I have to admit that I didn't see any Flies..... Anyway the white stuff is fridges and washing machines . The worms are electrical wires and the sharp shiny stuff is glass, which we have come across before usually in the shape of bottles smelling of alcohol left in lay-byes by secret drinkers...

The reason why Flies and other stuff are being dumped is because the places where you Hupeople dump your amazing amount of waste are closed for The Virus.  The only waste we Badgers produce is poo and used bedding. Humans have very complicated lives... This Virus must be very powerful if it can change lives so much. 

Our little community of creatures has been having a jolly time at the bottom of Mary's garden.  There are even more Rats now because she is putting out bread and fat and jam to hide the homeopathic treatment for the Foxes' mange.  Mary doesn't believe in homeopathy but she is wiling to try anything to stop the Foxes suffering.  The Vixen is the most sick and really does need to have stronger treatment but she is feeding her Cubs so Mary can't trap her and take her to the Wildlife Hospital.   I wonder if Badgers can catch mange?  I must ask Mary.

Here ore some videos of out nights in the garden. The first is me with my Fallow Deer friends:

And here is the Muntjac

And here we have a Fox, a Muntjac and, of course, me

As the whole Human world has stopped because of The Virus we Badgers all thought Kill-Cull would be stopped too . This is not the case.  Remember how I didn't trust the announcement about the Kill-Cull being phased out.? Then we heard it was in fact being increased to 18 other areas and more Badgers than ever.will die. 

Mary has been busy writing to people asking them to put more pressure on the government to stop the killing. She wrote to Professor Godfray who did the TB review for Defra; she wrote to Tracey Crouch MP and Zac Goldsmith who are Conservatory MPs opposed to the Kill Cull; she wrote to Lord Krebs; she wrote to the Newspapers including The Guardian; she wrote to Louis Theroux; she wrote to George Eustice and finally to Boris Johnson. She also wrote to Farming Today on the BBC Radio asking them to do an in-depth investigation but she got no replies.  110,000 Badgers killed for no good reason and there seems to be nothing we can do.  Why does nobody listen and stop this cruelty and injustice to us Badgers? Probably because everyone is too busy worrying about the virus.  Or perhaps because Hupeople are just so wrapped up in their little lives that they don't care about anything else. 

And Defra has just announced that it will stop testing young calves before they are allowed to be moved around the country These are calves :



Oops!  wrong kind of calves.  These are the sort of calves that will be allowed to be traded around the county spreading TB:




Most Creatures think it would be best for the world if Hupeople died out with The Virus.  There are some nice Hupeople like Mary and her creature loving friends.  We will miss the nice Hupeople but, as a species, they do more harm than good, so we will learn to do without the good ones who help us when we are ill.  When I asked Mary's friend the other day what good Hupeople have done he said Poetry and Music and Art.  Well, I'm not sure that quite balances all the destruction of our woods and wild flowers and all the loss of species and the climate and the pheasant shooting and animal factory farming and cars and planes and sewage and chemicals on farms that make us feel sick and all those other things Hupeople have created such as corruption and cruelty and killing for fun. We creatures kill to survive not to feel powerful.


Here is a picture of The Virus from The New Scientist.   



It looks very pretty.  Who would think that it could turn your lives upside down? Perhaps if you Hupeople left Animals alone then you wouldn't have all these Viruses  At least 75% of new Viruses come from the way you interact with Animals; eating them, destroying their habitats and treating them like meat and food machines in factory farms.

Me and Mary are so angry about the continuation of the Kill-Cull and were planning to defy the Lock Up and go to Defra today.  We have decided to postpone today as Mary has important work to do in the next few days for a Human who has died  of The Virus.  So we will go next week whatever happens and risk Mary's life and being arrested for the sake of some publicity for the Badgers.  What else can we do?

Mary has now only got 12 Chickens because 2, Comet and Orlando, died last week.  Mary eyes leaked for days, mostly about all the suffering you Hupeople inflict on Animals in your factory farms. These are her chickens sun bathing. 

At the end of the Betty Log you can read Mary's tribute to Comet; I bet it makes you cry.  It would have made my eyes leak too but Badgers can't make tears.  If we could, then the countryside would be flooded with our tears.

Night Night,

Betty 🐾🐾🐾

­­­­­­­A Tribute to Comet

My name is Comet and I am a chicken, or perhaps a hen.  Either way, I am not very good looking; even my mother wouldn’t describe me as pretty. Still, when my humans took me in they saw past my bare bottom and focussed on my wonderful long tail so called me Comet. The name Comet is also very true of my behaviour because, being the ugliest chicken in the flock, I am the bottom of the pecking order so I had to learn to move fast otherwise the bigger chickens would have pulled out 

my remaining few feathers.  

I have had 2 lives and my second one started 5 months ago when I was put into a crate with lots of other chickens and then into a white van. We had heard stories about what happens to chickens when they are put into crates and we were sure we were taken to the happy chicken factory to be made into cat food. That’s what happens when we reach 18 months old and start producing fewer eggs. Luckily for us chosen few we were collected by some nice Humans who took us to their homes.

Oh and I have had such a good time in the Garden. For the first time in my life I have scratched around in mud and caught worms; eaten leaves, although the Human wasn’t very happy about losing all her seedlings; I have had a dust bath in dry soil, which is handy because being covered in dust means I’m less likely to get sunburn on my bare bottom.

Even better than all that, the Human gives us wonderful food and, every day at teatime, she gives us chopped grapes and banana. When we hear the word “grapes” we come running from all around the garden seeing who can be fastest to get most grapes.  My human knows that I will probably miss out in the scrum of bigger hens so she hides a few grapes and banana chunks behind a bush for me so I have a chance to have treats.

One of the games we all play is “get the cat food”. When the human leaves a door open by accident we dash in and can get thought 2 bowls of cat food in five seconds.  The cats don’t do anything but stand there stunned.  Because my Human thinks I need more protein to grow my feathers she secretly lets me in every day to have some cat food when the others aren’t looking. What I really like is that the big cats are scared of me. Nothing has ever been scared of me before. I really am a little Velociraptor.

I have a very good second life. I am a lucky chicken to have been saved by a Human.  My first life wasn’t good because I was bred for something called The Egg Industry. In the wild we would produce a couple of clutches of a few eggs very year, just like other birds, but we have been bred to produce over 300 eggs a year.  This isn’t good for our health. We were given the minimum boring food and some of us never even went out of our small cages to see the sun or scratch in the dirt, which is a chicken’s favourite occupation.  Now I have a lovely sage green coop full of fresh straw and I can come and go as I please.

What my Human doesn’t know is that the reason I am not growing my feathers after all these months is because I am busy growing something else inside and the thing I am growing isn’t an egg.  Still, I am making the most of every day and I am really glad that I wasn’t turned into cat food and had a chance to meet some kind Humans, Mary, Vanessa and Mike.  Most of all I am glad that I have dug up my own worms from the soil and have eaten grapes and bananas.

 Love, Comet           
     

Comet was put to sleep on Friday. She had a tumour that filled her abdomen. That is what happens to many of these rescue hens after constant egg laying. She is the 7^th hen I have lost to cancer or egg peritonitis in 18 months. I have twelve left. Hens in the egg industry have been turned into egg laying machines.  Their lives are cruel and short. Comet found her way into my heart and her loss is a tragedy, but she is only one of millions who suffer in the UK every year. I am glad that we gave her a chance of freedom and joy, even if that joy was short-lived.  Mary x