SEVERAL months ago we rehomed a number of pathetic looking, bald chickens.

They were actually quite healthy birds, but the process of changing their lifestyle from living in semi darkness in a huge, industrial egg laying unit, to free ranging in a field, turned their lives, and appearance, upside down. So much so that on our return from New Zealand, I took a time to register that the glossy, plump, confident hens clustered round my feet were the same timorous creatures we had rescued from a chicken nugget fate.

Now they are my gardening companions. Yesterday as I weeded and turned over clods of soil to reveal the occasional wiggling worm rapidly disappearing back into the soil, my feathered friends instantly grabbed hold of any still visible segment, and rapidly hauled it back out of the earth for a juicy snack.

Totally fearless of human company these hens home in on anyone walking across the yard, to the point of being a danger to pedestrians. I have already tripped over a number of them and being if not kicked, but gently nudged by a boot to ‘clear out the road’, still does not persuade them to stop mugging me.

Their fearless demeanour seems quite at odds with how I thought an intensively reared, barn housed chicken would behave. But apparently they become so accustomed to people walking in amongst them to collect eggs when they are in the unit, that they have no fear of humans.

Unlike our birds who naturally clear out of your way when you approach a flock of four or five of them, these birds race across the yard or field to seek out your company. In fact, they have also recognised the pleasures of the ad lib bowl of dog biscuits in the porch, and show no hesitation in following you indoors to peck out a snack or two.

But a couple of new birds in the area might instill a little respect in our flocks’ newcomers. The peregrines are back. Nesting in a pylon close to the road that splits our village in two, the peregrines have returned back to the same scrappy old mess of sticks and grass that rooks used several years ago until the falcons evicted them.

This pair are quite the celebratory couple of our area. High above the road they are safe from disturbance, unless the electricity board wants to pay them a visit. And as they are so easily viewable from the lane below, there is almost a tail back of cars parked up keeping an eye.

We have only known one chick to be reared successfully each year although apparently the hen bird can lay up to four eggs. But it seems to be by six weeks we start to see the young bird(s), and a few weeks later still that they have all gone and the chickens can start to relax again.