A GERMAN VILLAGE NEAR DETMOLD: Hans Dieter Neuber, 82, is a lucky man. Every day he receives a visit from Sigrid, a beautiful hen in a hi-viz jacket. They have a relationship and an informal agreement. You might call it a contract. She wonders across the road having fluttered over a stone wall and up a hill to meet with Hans Dieter where she lays him an egg and in return he provides her with food. Unsurprisingly he says, “It’s a good deal. She delivers her egg, walks up to me, gets her feed and then she disappears and it all gets repeated the next day.”
Sigrid’s owner didn’t know it was happening until told by Mr Neuber, at which point, in the interests of her chicken’s safety, she put on a hi-viz vest before her morning walk to her neighbour. She keeps a turkey and two peacocks as well. It’s been going on for the past two and a half months and the chicken and human are on first name terms. He says that she allows him to stroke her.
It’s his morning breakfast treat and it’s a first-class arrangement. I don’t see the contract being broken any time soon. Incidentally, you can get hi-viz jackets for chickens quite easily online. I didn’t know about this but it helps to keep them safe. Chickens can be pets. They’re quite intelligent and should be treated with respect just as Mr Neuber does.
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