top of page
Search
Writer's pictureClare Langan

An 'Egg-stra' special blog


Today's blog is about an 'egg-stra' special hen called Gomez. Gomez really touched my heart this week...In fact it has been a week of hens speaking to my heart...


It started last Sunday when a friend shared that her hen called Bianca had passed.


Bianca was a feisty hen who, about six months ago miraculously survived an attack by a bird of prey only to 'fall foul' to an un-leashed dog after having had a delicious last supper (well breakfast actually) of corn.


Bianca was an absolute beauty and is missed by her flock, both feathered and human.


The next hen to enter my life this week is the real star of todays blog; 'Gomez'.


'Gomez' was rescued from a battery farm. Arriving with an over clipped beak, and as you can see, literally in tatters. She was loved back to life in the Welsh Mountains by my friend Gill. The transformation moved me to tears.


Battery chickens have their beaks clipped in order to protect hens from hurting each other, (by pecking), in the packed environment of a battery farm.


Nerdy Fact: You know the phrase 'pecking order', well this comes from the Norwegian zoologist and comparative psychologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe who coined the phrase to perfectly describe how a hierarchy develops within a flock. Chickens are highly intelligent and according to the British Hen Welfare Trust can recognise each other within a flock of up to 90!


With love, space, care, attention and fresh Welsh mountain air, Gomez came back to life and enjoyed her twilight years being the hen she was always destined to be.


How like Gomez we are. We thrive and are transformed in the right environment; an environment where we can be completely ourselves, with good nutrition, kindness, space and love...then we can be our 'best selves' and hold our heads up high (or even at a coquettish slant!)


In poem 254, Emily Dickinson wrote...


"Hope"is the thing with feathers-

That perches in the soul...


How much 'hope' Gomez and Bianca have given me this week, along with the birds who have been my alarm call and have enable me to watch the eternal symbol of hope; the sunrise each morning. These amAZing creatures have taught me so much as have the friends who own them and have been kindness personified to me.


RIP Gomez and Bianca. I loved sketching you both and spending time appreciating your beauty. You are now flying high over the rainbow...





I hope you have a great week.


If you would like to find out more about hens, please check out the British Hen Welfare Trust



57 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page