It is time to answer that question that some of you will be asking yourselves if you have wandered up to this More More More, page.
It is very simple, those feathered creatures have been my best friends since I was very little. When growing up on a farm, other people are always very very busy, and the only ones who are free to play were those amicable, loving chickens. And the dog (but he scared the chickens, so…). And the cows (but they are a bit big and scary) . The rabbits, they didn’t care, so were not chosen. We did not have geese there, but I will put the photo of my favourite ganders first.
Now, I do not have my own chickens nor geese in Knapton, but they keep close to my heart!
Mais, or “sweetcorn” was my favourite gander when I lived in Penybont, where the chocolate started. Un-named ended up being called Napoleon and living with nice geese, near Llanidloes, I had an invite to visit him but never went(it is a long way, and I didn’t want to intrude) ; 3toes, had a weird foot with 1 extra toe .
I miss my ganders, Mais was particularly nice to me but really disliked my partner at the time, and always went for him! Maybe he was a bodyguard in another life! (is it what bodyguards get reborn as?)
She was not one of mine but one of my father’s hens, it was a joy to hold her but it was night and she was a bit groggy, and not so pleased to being handled!
One of my favourite cockerels, Dokka, from when l was younger. There were 3 brothers, but all 3 well tempered: they did not fight nor get aggressive. Well tempered, just like the chocolate.
These are Gertrude (from Acton Scott Farm) and Yuuki (meaning “Courage” in Japanese, as he was a very timid boy) He was my first cockerel as an adult and was a Japanese Long tail Totenko bird, he was bought from one of the East London farm, near the Isle of Dogs. He had been kept in a cage there since he was young, and for at least 10 days after that, he did not go beyond the square metre of space he had in the barn: he didn’t seem to comprehend why the other hens came to him and then wandered off , because to him, there was a cage! He grew a long tail, with time, of 3 foot long, and was such a gorgeous temper, but unfortunately he died young of a strange weakness. I saw him swallow a whole live mouse, once, which he caught.
Gertrude lived to a good old age till the fox got her. She had the MOST beautiful singing voice and was so calming… They are missed. Such characters.
These are young ones coming from fertilised factory eggs that a nearby farmer kindly gave me in Penybont. They grew to be beautiful chickens. Those two kept climbing on my shoulder at bed time because they were being bullied, as chickens always do, by the older others. My friend Veronique from Artavon in Clifford, still has one of those white cockerels, who is called Curtains! (he was brought in a curtain box). He is gorgeous and not too troublesome, apparently.
So now, you know what you didn’t really want to know, why my More More page logo has a goose and chicken on it…