VIDEO: Chicken's eggstraordinary milestone after recovery from savage fox attack

Rosie, of Highlands Close, High Salvington, will celebrate her milestone tenth birthday on April 10 – three years after the horrendous ordeal left her at death’s door.

Thanks to owner Jean Hull and skilled vet Tanya Parsons, Rosie pulled through and has lived a long and healthy life.

“She is a strong fighter,” Jean said.

“You do get one or two chickens that live longer but as far as we know Rosie is the only one that has survived such a horrendous fox attack and has reached ten.”

Reported in the Herald in 2015, Rosie was thought to be one of the first chickens in the UK to undergo physiotherapy, which Tanya administered after performing a painstaking operation to piece her back together.

Jean, who spent the first night of Rosie’s recovery soothing her wounds with antiseptic to stave off infection, also took her to a pet blessing ceremony at All Saints Church, in Findon Valley,

in a desperate attempt to help her. The tender loving care worked – with Rosie now suffering no ill effects apart from struggling to fully turn her head because of tight scar tissue.

Jean, who has four other chooks, does not know why Rosie has lived such a long life but she said: “She has good quality food and she has plain yoghurt once a week.”

Rosie, a favourite of Jean’s late husband Maurice, is currently housed in the conservatory while Jean’s garden is renovated but will soon be able to enjoy her ‘boredom buster’ – a structure for the hen to climb on – in celebration of her birthday.

Alabama chicken Matilda, who died aged 16, held the Guinness world record for being the oldest on record – but there are other documented eggsamples of older birds.