He thought the hens were impressive creatures

He thought the hens were impressive creatures, large and buff-coloured, with unfeathered shanks and red combs, wattles, and earlobes. They made no objection when he robbed their nests of four of five white eggs every morning. 'They think you're a big bloody rooster,' Barber said

'Why don't we buy them a chanticler?'

Barber, who liked sleeping late on cold winter mornings and therefore hate crowning, merely grunted.

Rob had brown hairs on his face, not exactly a beard. Barber said only Danes shaved but he knew it wasn't true, for his father has kept his face hairless. In Barber's surgical kit was a razor and the fat man nodded grumpily when Rob asked to use it. He nicked his face, but shaving made him feel older.

The first time Barber ordered him to kill a chicken made him feel very young. Each bird stared at him out of little black beads that told him they might have grown to be friends. Finally he forced his strong fingers to clench around the nearest warm neck and, shuddering, closed his eyes. A strong convulsive twist and it was done. But the bird punished him in death, for it didn't easily relinquish its feathers, Plucking took hours, and the grizzled corpse was viewed with disdain when he handed it to Barber.

Next time a chicken was called for, Barber showed him genuine magic. He held the hen's beak open and slid a thin knife through the roof of the mouth and into the brain, The hen relaxed at once into death, releasing the feathers; they came away in great clumps at the slightest pull.

From the book “The physician” by Noah Gordon.