This reminds me of our second cat, Muffin, who lived with us in Devon nearly 40 years ago and often sat on Jeremy’s shoulder.  This evening Jeremy picked up the sandy coloured Bantam and put her on his shoulder to sit for a few seconds.

As for the discussion on keeping hens inside rather than free range, my friend pointed out the following distressing facts.

“Under the Animal Welfare Act of 2006 the minimum area required for each chicken kept indoors is the size of an A4 sheet of paper. I shall repeat that – an A4 sheet of paper. This is the ‘cage’ bird system.
The ‘cage bird’ system replaced the old ‘battery hen’ scheme and is supposed to be better for the welfare of the birds. In some ways it is an improvement; for example, ex cage birds can usually walk when they are rescued. Battery hens often could not stand. The downside of having a whole A4 sheet of space is that the bored birds around you have room to peck you mercilessly. Rescued cage hens are often in a bad way, lacking feathers and covered in pecking injuries. They grow incredibly long claws, despite the extra space, so this can still deform their feet.”

As she tells me, our birds are free to roam in a large covered poly tunnel with plenty of space, a table on which to birch or to sit underneath and  beds either side in which to scratch.  Not so a commercially “caged bird”.  So I stand corrected and as soon as Defra allows, the birds will be outside again and Jeremy can plant vegetables in the tunnel.