We’re not sure whether to attribute the transformation to patient hand feeding, a course of antibiotics or even a generous dose of poultry tonic but the old Dave is back.

She spent the weekend strutting round the kitchen telling the disgruntled cat who’s boss.

It just goes to show how easy it is to write off a bird too quickly. It’s easy to assume the worse but some loving care can make quite miraculous transformations.

It’s certainly the best Christmas present we could have wished for.

During birdy breakfast I noticed something was not right. Normally first to the feed, Dave was lagging behind and seemed to be very uncoordinated. Upon further inspection, it became clear she is very unwell.

A call to the vet suggested removing her from the coup and a dose of antibiotics, which I have loyally administered. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like she has long to go.

It’s easy to attempt to self diagnose in these situations. I have almost an entire library of books on poultry health but I’m not a vet therefore it’s all just speculation. May poultry problems can only be diagnosed postmortem so whilst the vet may not be able to give you an answer, it’s always best to get the birds checked.

Today I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for Dave, a much loved beautiful hen.