Day 306.

Licorice and Betty. Acrylic on canvas by F L Campbell.

Bush eggs: none. Nest box eggs: one – it was me! I did it! Feed hopper: three-quarters full.

I was in the nest box having a bit of trouble pushing out this latest egg and Betty – of all the batty chickens – came into my mind. A White Leghorn she was and she made the ducks look smart and thoughtful. She wasn’t coping living with us because she was an only chicken at the place she originally came from, so The Female Person moved her into the pond area with a rooster named Licorice to keep him company. She didn’t cope with that arrangement either so she came back to live with us. But it was never really living that Betty did, more just existing on the edge of society. Whenever you spoke to her she would jump with shock and look terrified. After a while we stopped talking to her, her terror and our discomfort wasn’t worth it.

Jack always liked to tick Betty off his list though, but it was such a battle every single time. One day Jack, who is a kind calm soul normally, just lost the plot and beat her up. It was shocking. I couldn’t speak to Jack for days; it was so out of character for him. Anyway Betty was a mess, bleeding and limping and even more nervous than ever. And then she was Sent Away.

See – I have no idea why I was thinking about her whilst laying my egg. I guess at my age you get reflective on life’s events, trying to work out the reasons behind some of them to see if you can pass on any wisdom to the next generation.