The Ukrainian Village Revisited -The Ghost Hens

Today’s post is a revisit, I’m working tomorrow so haven’t the energy or inclination to say something new

I miss the animals on the field sometimes and remembered this post of nearly fifteen years ago as Bun and Weaver galloped in and out of the living room window at dusk, in order to try and catch one of the chattering sparrows late nesting in the honeysuckle  

The Ghost Hens 2010

This afternoon I caught a young woman dropping a container of cooked pasta over the field gate.I didn't recognise her, as she is new to the village.she's divorced, lonely and perhaps somewhat depressed I thought
The hens love spaghetti she told me rather guiltily....I warned her that Irene the sheep loves pasta too!
I love that people " adopt " the animals on the field from time to time...they all do rather secretively , as if what they are doing is wrong which is rather sweet......i think
The bachelors seems to have endeared themselves to many of the locals, which is a common thing for tiny birds to do. They bring the underdog support nature of people.
It's a British Thing, I always think
I was reminded of my old broiler birds The Ghost Hens because of it all
Now, for those that don't know, the Ghost Hens were five genetically fucked up broiler hens that arrived at the Ukrainian Village as brainwashed , psychologically damaged little pullets. Designed to eat themselves fat in a matter of weeks, these sad little hens had been brought up in a massive barn of a building under artificial lights with thousands of other little fuck ups .
They had never seen the sun, never ate a blade of grass and had never had the room to scratch their own arse without getting battered by another goggle eyed clone.

Faced with their very own warm hen house and a miniature run, these sad little characters continued to eat themselves fat in silent desperation, but they did eventually react to their brave new world, and calmly and very slowly they started to turn their faces into the sun to live a little.
Surrounded by animal drama and chaos, The Ghost Hens always looked unflappable but their inactivity was just a useful way of coping. They were too big and too comical to run around in silly chicken circles.
They just couldn't do it.

Anyhow,
I remember taking the below photo very well.
It was approaching dusk on a June evening and the rest of the field was in constant motion.
The other hens were mooching slowly homewards to roost, the geese were bickering over a patch of grass like they do and the hysterical runner ducks were being , well, just bloody hysterical.

In groups of two the guinea fowl chatted noisily on the field wall, before flying up into their Ash tree and even from the gate I could hear one of the pigs snoring in their hay beds, as the ewes pulled their heads up as one to listen..

Only the gentle Ghost hens remained still. Sitting sweetly and serenely in the fading evening sun with their eyes interested but unmoving and their beaks slightly open……they sat until their white plumage tinged pink..........in the warm evening light, only then did they heave up their heavy bottoms and painfully waddled to bed like old ladies do after a busy day pottering.