The Chicken in the Dining Room

Anyone who knows me knows that I really want a flock of chickens--well, "flock" may be an ambitious way of describing it. I want five chickens, all female, and I plan to name them after the Bennett sisters in Pride and Prejudice. But I'm not quite ready yet. I need to build a chicken coop first.

Yesterday, I was working around the house and trying to get my courses up and running on Moodle, since school begins in a week. I kept hearing a "cheep cheep." And, as frequent readers of this blog know, my cats are famous for bringing in birds in various stages of life, so I figured I had another live bird flying around. I checked the laundry room; I checked the kitchen, dining room and living room. Nothing. I was in and out of the kitchen and dining room, stowing away the Christmas tins and platters. I didn't hear anything for a while, so I hoped the bird had flown.

Later, I was working at my computer when I heard the "cheep cheep" again. I stood in the walkway between the kitchen and the dining room and heard it again to my left. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled around the dining room table. I found what I was looking for under a rocking chair in the corner.

A chicken--blondish, about 5 inches long--ran into the corner. As I reached to grab it, it took off into my study. I shut the study door and went to the garage to get a cat carrier. I figured that would be a good place to stow a chicken overnight and keep it safe from the cats. I got some bird seed (that's the closest I could come to chicken feed in a pinch), some water, and a kitchen towel, stowed all of that in the carrier, and then spent the better part of an hour trying to catch the chicken. I finally managed to herd it into the carrier where it spent the night.

That chicken was in my house all day, and the cats didn't lay a tooth on it. I can't figure that out, unless it just seemed to big for them to tackle. But if that was the case, how did it get here in the first place?

Darn! I should have taken a picture to show here. But, that's hindsight. I took it back across the ditch this morning. I should have kept it because it's owners didn't seem to care. They acted as though it was more of a nuisance that I brought it back.

So, lesson learned! I better get that chicken coop built in case my cats rustle any more chickens. As my mom says, "If it shows up again, it belongs to you."