A woman who grew up in the countryside treats ornamental hens to beauty treatments

The life of Monika Bačanskaitė, who spent her childhood in Vaskai, is like an ever-changing journey, where losses and challenges have closed some doors and opened others. After dropping out of school in Lithuania, she made a home in England, has a son and enjoys raising ornamental chickens, which have become a dream come true.

Hens – like queens

M. Bačanskaitė, who has been living in Great Britain for ten years, has not forgotten her native Pasvalese dialect. The young woman communicates in the dialect with her relatives who also live in England: her mother, aunt, brother.

Monika, 27, who has roots abroad, is a rare visitor to her homeland. That's why we spoke to the former Pasvalier online.

On a warm September morning, Monika Bačanskaitė was smiling in her garden, which is adorned not with flowers or fruit trees, but with a small handmade chicken coop. It is home to her feathered pets – ornamental hens. Not just any birds, but real ladies, with names, feeding from plates, bathing and loving the way others pamper their dogs or cats. They roam the yard and follow their owner around like the most loyal of pets.

„I have always wanted to have something unique, a world of my own, that would delight me every day. I call the chicken coop I made myself the kingdom of feathers, where it always smells and where the queens live. I call my chickens girls. Each of them has a different character. The pufflings are very eager to make love, the robins – more whimsical, but when they are not going to be carried away. I am convinced that every animal deserves to live with dignity. Chickens have become a little miracle for me," said Monika, who considers chickens not only a hobby, but also a dream come true, speaking fondly of the feathered creatures.

It took an hour to buy the chickens

At the moment, the woman's henhouse is home to four adult hens and six recently hatched chicks.

Since there is no rooster in the henhouse, the woman bought the eggs for hatching online. She put two feathered pets on them. Each hen had 6 eggs to hatch. However, only one of the fledglings became the mother of three chicks, while the other's eggs were not destined to hatch.

The owner, feeling sorry for her grieving pet, got in her car and drove an hour each way to buy three little fluffies.

M. Bačanskaitė's pampered hens also lay eggs, which are used by their owners for food. She meticulously weighs each egg she lays. The largest egg found weighed 48 grams. On average, the eggs of ornamental hens weigh 40 grams, twice as much as those of normal hens.

The henhouse was built by herself

She has made no secret of the fact that she cleans the henhouse herself every morning.

„It's not a nasty job, I clean the chicken kingdom every morning. I have special wipes to make sure there is no bad smell, and I spray the room with sprays. Once a month I do a general cleaning of the house. I put colourful wallpaper on the walls of the hutch and hang curtains. I also made the nests for them to sleep in and to lay their eggs in myself," she said.

Lithuania laughed and said that in England it is not common for women to shop in building supply stores. When men see a pretty, well-dressed, long-nailed girl shopping for planks or clogs, they turn away.

Beauty treatments for feathered ladies

M. Bačanskaitė not only spoils her pets with a beautifully furnished and comfortable home, but also feeds them from plates with the birds' names on them. On a hot summer's day, the feathered ones refresh themselves with frozen fruit or vegetables.

And if they defecate, they go to their owners' bathroom for a bath. The beauty treatment takes almost two hours.

„White digs tunnels around the enclosure, and it gets very dirty. I was very scared to bathe her the first time. I have been on the internet collecting information on how to wash them safely. Hens should not have their beaks wet, and the head should be washed very carefully. After bathing, I dry the feathers with a hair dryer. I use an eyelash brush to brush the hens' eyelashes“, – the woman said about the pets' beauty treatments.

Life changed by grandmother's death

The road to such peace is not an easy one. A few months before her final exams, the grandmother who raised Monika, her sister and brother died. Having lost their most precious person, the children had to go to live with their mother in England. There, Monika failed to finish school because instead of a desk job, she had to work in a warehouse. She started out cleaning the premises, then checking the quality of the goods and dreaming of becoming a stewardess. But life changed her plans: a lover she met, who later became the father of her son, led her down a different path.

„I was born in Pasvalys, then we lived in my grandfather's homestead in Bejėnai near Vaškės until my teenage years, and only later moved to Vaškės. As children, we had to go through the painful divorce of our parents. When the family broke up, my mother went to England to earn money. My grandmother took care of me, my sister Samantha, who was a year younger, and my brother Tomas, who was three years younger. We were all happy then, enjoying our carefree youth," she recalls nostalgically of her life with her grandmother.

Monika's grandmother's sudden death turned the family's life upside down. At the time, Monika was only 18 years old and her sister and brother were minors. Since one of the children could not live in her grandmother's house, there was no choice but to fly to an unknown country to stay with her mother.

„My mother couldn't support the three of us on her own, so without even thinking about it, I got a job in a warehouse where my mother and my aunt already worked. I was always curious, so I slowly climbed the career ladder. I dreamt of becoming a stewardess, I even auditioned, but love changed my plans. My heart mate, with whom I have a son, was my boss.

Son knows how vegetables grow

I have no doubt that many people will think that a Lithuanian girl from a small village has turned the head of a rich Englishman. However, my husband and I share the same values, with family being the most important thing in both our lives. Although I am so impulsive, I need to implement my ideas here and now, while my husband likes to think things through, to weigh every decision. That's why we get along so well, because our opposites complement each other," said the Lithuanian who has found a home abroad, speaking candidly about her life.

Monika, who lives in a new house with a spacious garden, wants to show her five-year-old son that vegetables and other products do not grow on the shelves of the supermarket, but in the soil. But they only grow with a lot of patience and hard work. That's why she not only keeps chickens, but also plants vegetables and herbs. "I want my child to grow up understanding that everything has a beginning: you have to sow, care for it, and then enjoy the harvest," she says.

M. Bačanskaitė is a little sad that her only son does not speak Lithuanian yet. She has only spoken English with her offspring since birth so that the whole family could communicate together. However, the boy, who has just started first grade, is curious and now wants to learn his mother's language on his own.

Today, Monika looks at her life calmly. She no longer dreams of flying in the clouds – her joy is perched in the backyard, flapping her colourful wings. „Sometimes I think that my chickens – are like little friends. They remind me that happiness lies in simplicity", – a Pasvalese woman who found happiness in England concluded her conversation.