Strategies crafty chicken-thieves use

It is not only because chickens can feed off and destroy all your flowering beans that we construct a nice, wire-mesh fence to limit their movements. No. Sometimes, actually many times, it is to protect them from chicken thieves, both human and animal.

When I lived in Nakuru’s KFA Mackay Estate, a young boy — name withheld —once stole 2 chicks from the neighbouring Shauri Yako Estate. He actually picked the chicks when no one was watching and put them in his pockets. When he reached home, he placed them by their doorstep and when his mum asked where the chicks were from, the crafty thief explained that he was only walking home when the chicks started following him. Despite his best efforts to ‘scare them back’, the stubborn chicks just kept up with him. See, your chickens can be stolen from you.