So my son's girlfriend has a menagerie of animals in her backyard....2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 goats, a pot belly pig, and several chickens for a start. I went over to the house the other morning to help them feed this brood before they left on vacation.
As we walked into the backyard, my son discovered that a chicken had mysteriously escaped the pen and was frantically trying to get back in. She was ramming her head in the holes of the chain link fence that made up the pen. My son tried to get her to go back in the little opening in the pen gate but she was confused and kept running past it! The more he chased her the more she ran, until she was completely on the backside of the pen. I tried to head her off from the other side but the more we ran, the more she ran, and the more the dogs thought we were playing a wonderful new game! My big brave son was afraid to catch her for fear that she'd peck him...oh brother! So here we were chasing this chicken, with dogs running and jumping along with us, and cats wondering what was going on and why weren't we just petting their heads! It was hysterical!
Finally her dog "Bear" got it cornered between the barn wall and the fence so I could run up behind her and grab her. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't happy about that! But I threw her over the top of the pen and she ran under the coop - trembling and shaking from her ordeal, I'm sure!
It was quite an adventure, but this city-girl-Speckled-Hen wrangled her first chicken and she is mighty proud of it!
Here's hoping you find your own adventure this week!
~Mary
