Basil's clucky in love in Bamburgh

And while the former battery hen has not turned broody herself, two feathered friends, Blanche and Jennifer, have stepped in to incubate the eggs, at their Northumberland home.

The pair have been moved away from the rest of the brood to concentrate on incubating them. It is expected the eggs could hatch within a fortnight.

Innercity Basil's celebrity status is such, if the chicks turn out to be cocks there is already a waiting list of fowl fans waiting to scoop them up as pets.

Claire said: "It's very exciting. Basil had been very busy getting to know the hens, then I noticed they were ready to settle down. Fingers crossed we'll hear the 'tweet, tweet' of tiny chicks soon.

"They could well be little Basils, which would just be brilliant. It's always nice to have chicks about, but it would be such a happy ending to the story.

"The eggs have got surrogate mums at the moment because Bonnet didn't take to them, but she's still running around with Basil."

Basil first hit the headlines last October, when his plight was revealed by The Journal's sister paper The Chronicle.

The campaign to save the popular but noisy bird from eviction sparked national interest with hundreds of people joining a "Save Basil" group on the social networking site Facebook.

Now with family, friends, and as much space to crow as he could wish for, Basil is said to be strutting with a new found contentment.

Claire said: "He's very good at looking after all the hens. He's quite conscientious really.

"You can tell he was raised in the city, because he's definitely streetwise and very alert. There's not a lot gets past him. I think he'll be a good father."