Not my chicken

I have enough to contend with my own chickens, and although I have adopted Lucky who we found in the reservoir, I was shocked to discover next doors chickens are moving in. As I was leaving Casa Chaos the other day, in a rush as usual I could hear chirping. The distinctive chirp of chicks, which brings that sinking feeling of oh no I really haven't got time for this.

So, off I wandered with hubby pulling the face of get in the car, move away from the chickens..no too late, I'm in the orchard staring at Two chicks. Now the problem is two chicks and 60+ chickens the question is who the hell is the mother.  well we can rule out the batteries, so I grabbed a chick and decided to use it as bait.

I wandered off with the chick waiting for a mum to wander over to claim her chick, and to my surprise a very vicious mother flew at me in a masterful "give my chick back or die" type maneuver. I dropped the chick as any sane person would do and then realised that the chicken wasn't even mine! By this time the children had joined me with lots of "oooooo chicks" followed with "that's not our chicken"

OK, so we had established that we had acquired a chicken and her babies, which amused me as to why she had broken into Casa Chaos, when my chickens spend all their time attempting to break out of the POW. Maybe the benefits, housing, and living conditions were better than next door, but I have no idea how she got her and the chicks in.

The next problem was that not being our chicken she hadn't been briefed on the rules, and was not aware that she had to go in the maternity wing. Every time someone went near her she would come at you claws showing in an incredibly protective manner, which is good. I was now so late as normal, I decided to walk away and leave her.

The mum and chicks are still running around the orchard, I'm not sure if she is only using us for food, and will return home when they are grown up, or whether she has moved in on a permanent basis. Maybe I should sent the guy next door a bill for food and lodgings for his chicken!