Sometimes, in the absence of a rooster, a chicken will take on the role of the rooster. She becomes bigger, chestier, thicker feathers, aggressive and of course! lays no eggs. My beautiful white bantam is looking that way. So I give her therapy every day. The other three chickens think I'm the rooster so to convince the white one, I give her a pat every day, pushing her towards the ground. I'll leave it up to the reader to figure out how this will convince her I'm a rooster.

In the meantime, we had another trip to Mr Coopers to get my very own special chicken food made up.

• 4kg lupins
• 4kg layer pellets
• 3kg sunflower
• 2kg wheat
• 1kg shell grit
• 120g skimmed milk powder (supplied by me)

 
Which gives

• 16% protein
• 2900 MCal/kg
• 2.5% Calcium
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