I have to say Meg is an unusual chicken. I’ve had chickens for some years, and never had one quite like her. I told her when she came that inquisitive hens do not usually live long, and this almost proved true. Since the fox attack, Meg has spent a lot of time on a donkeys’ back and the donkey’s continue to ring the barn, a vigilant security detail for the Hen Of Entitlement.

It has been six days since the fox assault on the hens, and I do believe one of the oldest stories in the world has taken a new turn. Usually in the fox and the farmer story, the fox strikes and then returns again and again, and is either killed or succeeds more than once. Contrary to urban fantasies, the farmer never has the money or time to build a fox-proof enclosure, and takes his losses. It is the fate of chickens to be food for a wide range of living things, including me. That is how the story often ends.

This story is different. The fox went after three hens and got his teeth into one of them, and all survived, mostly because of Simon’s cavalry charge through the pasture. Lulu, Fanny and Simon are taking their guard duties seriously and I believe the fox, one of the smartest of creatures, has gauged the odds of getting through these donkeys and give up on it, at least for now. No sign of him all week. I love stories, and I love writing my own. I think Simon and the donkeys have turned the story around.