The Beak - our little chook/chicken

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A ‘chook’ is an Australian word for ‘chicken’ or ‘hen’. We rescued a little chicken once. It had got separated from its family and was cold and wet from the long grass and quite weak. I dropped it into a sock and popped it on a hot water bottle. When I checked it, the poor little thing was panting and very warm indeed. I gave it some water off the end of a spoon and put it in a box. In September, 1984, I gave The Beak as we called it to my mother, as we were moving. ‘The Beak’ is an old term for a judge or anyone in authority. We didn’t know she’d turn out to be a hen. Lately, I’ve been going through my mother’s old diaries. There are several mentions of The Beak - laying an egg, then going broody (28 April 1985) and hatching out some little chickens. Then she and the chickens were shifted to a covered yard (July 12). The Beak laying again (August 24), again sitting on some eggs (September 23), laying again (November 19) Then in 1986, September 19, Mum let The Beak into the garden and two days later she passed away. So for a chook, her life was quite well documented. I like to think she didn’t have a bad life. I actually wrote about her here in 2018 but I hadn't read the diaries at that stage. She was a little white bantam and I don’t have a photo of her. This is my friend’s hen.