Lily

I just thought I'd take the opportunity to introduce you to one of my favourite pets. I'm a big animal lover and over the next few months I'll introduce you to my great (and some sadly late) pets. Lily was great but now sadly fits into the late category - she died on 3rd November 1999, aged seven and a half (which apparently is the average life for chooks).

I may be biased but I reckon Lily is one of the most beautiful and unusual looking hens I've ever seen. I've looked at bantam books and tried to classify her and can't, so if anyone knows what kind of breed she is, let me know. I think she may be a mixture with her white crest, brown neck, white body, black tail and feathery feet. When I was growing up she was a great friend.

I first got Lily and Cuckoo on the 9th February 1992. They were both scrawny, unattractive pullets but they soon started to cluck, fattened up and began to lay (albeit spasmodically). Sadly Cuckoo was only two and a half when she met her fate at the hands of a dog which jumped our fence. I think she suffered a heart attack before the dog got to her. The hens had a fenced in yard and they were let out of their cage every morning so they were susceptible to predators but they enjoyed being free range. I was so sad when Cuckoo died. Lily managed to escape by hiding in the garden next door. That was the first of her many lives.

Lily and Cuckoo in their cage. 1992

Over the next couple of years, Lily continued to cheat death. She took an immense dislike to Cuckoo's replacement - a black Pekin hen called Speckles and made it clear that she did not want other hens for company. She loved people, was tame enough to pat and my nan, who loves chooks, used to pick her up and tuck her under her arm. When Speckles mysteriously disappeared in June 1996, leaving behind only a pile of black feathers, Lily again was unharmed. This time we decided to let her live alone as a spinster hen :).

Among the clover. 1996.

I have my neighbour across the road to thank for saving Lily's life again in 1996. A cat from across the road cornered her in our yard but luckily our neighbour saw what has happening and chased the cat away with a kettle of water. Lily was so petrified, we picked her up and shut her in her cage for a while. When a hawk started flying around our street, Lily again was shut in her cage.

To her, being free range meant being able to go wherever she liked. Despite having her wing clipped, she continued to fly lopsided and enjoyed many dust baths in our neighbours' rose garden. When we got our cats, Ellie and Marmalade, I was initially afraid they would kill her. But I needent have worried. They were absolutely terrified of Lily although she just wanted to be friends. She took a particular like to Ellie and followed her everywhere. When we moved to our new house, Lily started thinking she was also a cat and was annoyed that did not enjoy the same privileges such as coming into the house. She hung around the patio, leaving her calling cards and quills everywhere and sat outside on the mat. My dad was most annoyed when he had to step over her to get into the house.

Lily and Ellie in 1998. Isn't this just the cutest pic ever?

Lily's diet and sitting posture also became more cat-like. She started sunbaking on the driveway. She came through the cat-door, chased the cats away from their meal and started enjoying some cat biscuits and roo meat. Her favourite food was grapes but her diet consisted of all kinds of scraps which included chips, hard-boiled eggs and ....wait for it....CHICKEN! Yes, she even started eating her own kind. She continued to lay once in a blue moon and made such a racket when she laid an egg. But she knew she wasn't going to get her head chopped off.

Lily didn't completely forget she was a hen. When we looked after another hen for a few days, she didn't give it a moment's peace, despite the fact it was twice her size. She made it quite clear it was not welcome in her house. Then when a handsome young rooster made his way into our yard, she was smitten. But by that stage I think she was a bit too old ;).

Lily died suddenly in her cage on the 3rd November 1999 after appearing to be not quite herself for the couple of days prior. Maybe she had some kind of bird disease but I'll never know. My brainy old bird was greatly missed. I'll never have another hen like her!