I split some more firewood in the morning, and was interrupted by a commotion in the hen pen. The single chick which we had separated (with its mother) from the rest of the flock had somehow managed to escape through the dividing fence, and was again being attacked by the others, including George. I rescued it, and we put it into one of the rabbit cages. It has no feathers left on its neck, and a large chunk of skin is missing. Hopefully it survives; if so we’ll keep it in the rabbit cage until it’s large enough to defend itself from the others. The other four chicks have doubled in size and seem to have been accepted by the rest of the flock; mind you, their mother is a nasty piece of work – and fairly high up in the pecking order, so that may have had something to do with it. If we decide to repeat this process in future, we’ll only allow one broody hen at a time.
Oh – and the Livebox light was still green. Friend V telephoned LSS. Halfway through the conversation, the phone went dead as the Livebox light went red. I expect the technicians tomorrow will look at the green light and say “You see! Everything’s fine. You’ve called us out without a good reason, so that’s chargeable.” “Kerching,” says the Orange cash register.