Hefting

"Where are we? I don't recognise this."
"Funny, we must be on the other side of the farm..."
"But where are the others?"
"And why were we in that box for a while?"
"We've been kidnapped!"
"Help! We're lost!"


Here are my new hens just arrived and about to spend their first few days in a pen so as to get accustomed to their new location. By the time I let them out they should have forgotten their old home and this one will have started to feel familiar: they will be 'hefted' anew. It doesn't take long for chickens to make a fresh attachment but for sheep, as with human beings, the sense of belonging can be of crucial importance in keeping them secure and grounded. Trying to explain this notion I came across a compelling short film based around the flocks and people of the Cumbrian fells. It's really worth watching if you have a few minutes to spare and goes some way to explain the trauma experienced by refugees and exiles forced to leave their native terrain.

Alternatively you can listen to Tom Jones express similar sentiments in a well-known song of his.
I hope that by this time next week this farmyard will have started feeling like the green green grass of home to these two hens.