IT SOUNDS like a cock and bull story – but this is the g-hen-uine truth.

Lucia Singer was running on the Ridgeway near her home in Wantage when she found a flock of 11 cockerels, seemingly abandoned in the wild.

She could have just run away, but she wasn’t chicken and instead decided someone needed to help the fearful fowl.

And it so happens that Ms Singer, 43, a lab technician at the Culham European School, is a volunteer for the British Hen Welfare Trust.

She said: “I think several people might have walked past, but I was the only one who said ‘I have to do something about it’.”

Back at home she phoned some friends, and that night she went back up on to the Ridgeway to catch two of the birds she had found a home for.

In the following days, several of the birds were eaten, but the flock stayed in the same spot, roosting in the bushes until Ms Singer decided the game was up.

So, with four of the cockerels missing, presumed fox food, she took the remaining five home to live with her, husband David Roberts, their rabbits and four hens, which they are keeping very separate from the cockerels just in case.

If anyone can help rehome the cockerels, call 01235 771601.