David's Digest

A married couple called Mills from South Wales are reported to have spent £2000 on vets bills to treat a Rhode Island Red hen that has ended up with one leg. Apparently the hen got its leg caught in some wire netting, failed to respond to treatment so had to have the leg amputated and was then diagnosed with depression. Its owners have foregone holidays and been living frugally ever since to pay for it all.

"Its lovely to see the smile back on her beak," said Mrs Mills, "and she is now laying eggs again."

I too am an animal lover although I have never been that close to a chicken. Indeed my first thought on hearing the story was that those eggs were rather expensive once the vets bills were accounted for. My second thought was that the vet in question must have done pretty well out of the deal.

I then remembered an incident in our farmyard many years ago when I was a boy. A chicken dealer named Mr Reed was in the habit of calling regularly to collect cull hens from the deep litter unit and taking them away in crates on his car trailer. One day when he was there my father pointed to a hen walking slowly and stiffly around the yard and was clearly unwell. "You're an expert on poultry, Mr Reed," my father said, "what do you reckon is wrong with that hen?"

Mr Reed walked slowly round the hen. She had a wry neck, a pale comb, one wing hanging down and could hardly move and said, "Well, Robert, as near as I can say she's deep in thought". And with that he picked her up, wrung her neck and stuffed her into a crate on his trailer.

Would I be accused of being callous if I admitted I would have done the same with the one in South Wales?