I hear them screaming when I’m about to fall asleep, and I have to let it sink in that this is reality and I haven’t arrived in Dreamland yet. I still listen carefully, and then I think: “By the time I get my clothes on and find my shoes, it’s already too late.” (I don’t run into the wet grass in my kimono and slippers in the middle of winter – I’m already awake that much.)

A hungry fox came along and left a lot of dead bodies behind

That’s the way of the fox. Kill everything and eat only one. Nothing remains of the large rooster other than a bunch of feathers – clearly recognizable, because the small rooster (of mercury-like feather) was gold-colored, and these are green-metallic feathers. That was probably a good chew.

Further on lies a headless corpse, which, like the others, tried to fled into the dark. Chickens have very bad sight at night, and in natural conditions they prefer to spend the night on a branch in a tree. They’re much safer there than on the ground. Their legs are made for this: as soon as the claw is around the branch, the system blocks, and they have to deliberately unlock it again. Exactly the opposite than in humans. So chickens walk around with their fists clenched, so to speak, all day long.

We have to make an effort to hold on, they have to make an effort to let go

A little further away is Withoutatail, a strange tailless chicken that was very broody. She has hatched the golden cockerel and the last bald-neck chicken as well. The last two sought protection together for the Big Rooster, and although they may have been father and daughter, or brother and sister, I’ve seen them become “romantic” at times.

Family relationships are not always clear with chickens; they don’t care. Incest is absolutely not an issue. They don’t care about people’s mores. They’re said to be the distant descendants of dinosaurs, and when you look at a T-rex, it seems to me that it didn’t care whether he do his daughter or sister. These are norms and values that people hold, animals have nothing to do with them.

Just like the fox – apparently he or she doesn’t care about to be a mass murderer

I tell the neighbor that there are no more eggs coming because we have a meadow full of victims. “Oh, but that wasn’t that sad little dog that just arrived, was it?” she asks, but no, that pathetic dog may be a hungry bastard, but it seems to me one who hasn’t been at the frontline when distributing intelligence.

It’s a kind of dachshund, much too low a model, and it also has something on its left front leg.

Those lamentables without an owner have usually been locked up all their lives. There’s no chance they’ll come up with the idea of murdering an entire chicken community, and he probably intuitively understands that the Big Rooster would have shown him every corner of the chicken coop if he was going to try.

I stand dejected in a meadow full of corpses. What to do? In the freezer? A nice funeral?

We once threw a chicken that spontaneously died of old age into the fossa (septic tank), but I think that is very brutal actually. Not really a sign of respect and appreciation. And that is not right, because our entire little village greatly appreciated the chicken contributions every day. We’re going to miss it, four five-star, organically sourced eggs a day.

Is there a silver lining to be found here? Well…no one will miss the cackling.

I carefully load them into the wheelbarrow. It’s quite a trudge up the hill, how many kilos of chicken will that be! I have decided that I will just put them on the hill in the bushes, so that the wild animals will at least have some use for them. I’m not going to eat my girlfriends, that’s really one step too far for me.

At least the foxes, mongooses, badgers (do badgers actually eat chicken?) also enjoy a feast.

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A big step, especially with two small children.

We are busy to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa which has been turned into several holiday houses, rooms and a campsite.

You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.

Since 2018 we call ourselves the first B&B&B in the world – Bed & Breakfast & Bathrobes. You can buy a home-made unique bathrobe/housecoat with us.

Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation

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