When I first adopted my 5 chickens (living ones, not the frozen variety), Tink took great delight in stalking them. She would hide under bushes, twitching her tale, make a mad dash through the group of chickens, causing them to run and cluck, then hide underneath another bush to plan the next attack. You could tell from the expression on her face that Tink was feeling very clever about what she had done. I even think she thanked me for providing me with a new toy.... 5 new toys!

It took a couple of months before the chickens worked out that Tink was not, by any means, a threat. On the contrary she, and the other cats for that matter, would go to great lengths to avoid a charging, angry chicken. And, despite the fact that it was only Tink that caused them great annoyance, they now hate all the cats.

Unfortunately the chickens have now become as obnoxious as Tink once was. Where once the cats snoozed in their nesting box, the cats now check to see if the chickens aren't close by before taking a roll in the dirt. Silly, the weediest of my chickens and who is at the bottom of the pecking order amongst the other birds, is the chief cat attacker. Today alone I quickly whisked 2 cats off the ground to save them from the snapping beak of Silly. Might I add that the chickens are all hens, not raving mad roosters, heaven forbid what would happen then!

Civil war is about to break out in my backyard, and I'd hate to say it, but the clumsy, unsophisticated chickens are no match for the cats, despite their agility and obvious advanced intelligence. I imagine that when I get back home this afternoon the cats will be doing a great of grooming to hide their wounded pride at having lost to these mere **BIRDS**. The chickens, on the other hand, will be strutting their stuff, gobbling up slugs and snails and pecking tentatively at the clumps of cat fur strewn around the yard trying to determine if these odd looking... whatever they may be, are in fact worth eating.

Copyright © Dewi Williams
October 24, 2000