Chicken Intellect
We got into the truck this morning.
Waited for the glow plug light to turn off.
Cranked over the engine………….and we were on our way.
We were going to the Vets. Today was the day for Ben (our Irish Wolfhound puppy) to have his stitches out…………………but that’s another story…………………he’s fine………………but that’s another story.
Ben was whining away in the back seat (because that’s just what he does). My older daughter and I were ignoring him (because that’s just what we do).
All is going just fine. We were tootling down the road……………and then “for some reason” I remembered I hadn’t looked under the tool box in the bed of the truck. You know, to make sure that a chicken isn’t there laying an egg.
Oops…
I mean, isn’t that what everybody does before they drive out their driveway?
My daughter has to check her truck whenever she gets ready to pull out.
CHICKENS!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!
Where is their common sense?
So, I pull over to check to see if we have an extra passenger that we didn’t bargain for.
And………….yes, there was a hen under the tool chest.
She had made a nice little nest of leaves and twigs and rocks(?)………….(rocks!) But that’s not “that” odd, they also lay eggs in the miscellaneous nuts & bolts & washer pail that’s in the garage.
CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!!!
Before Henny Penny can be grabbed, she jumps out and runs into the woods (not a good survival option)………………..
Decisions………….Decisions…………….
Ben has an appointment. The hen has exhibited some very poor decision-making options on her own…………….laying eggs in the back of a truck…..on rocks…..fluttering & running into the woods…..
So I decide to drive to Ben’s appointment.
And after we return after Ben’s stitches have been evaluated and plucked out, I walk on down our road with a bucket of laying mash pellets.
NONE of my neighbors are surprised at Patrice and me walking down the road with a feed bucket. One even pulls over and offers a ride. I explain to him as well as two others what happened and the description of the hen………………(like there really would be a number of chickens in a line-up to identify?)
I’ve left the “crumb trail” for her to hopefully find her way home. The roosters’ loud crowings should help her to possibly locate our property……………
It’s up to her now…
I did get to meet “the” neighbor down the road who probably built shadow-box fencing around our previously, wandering turkeys (prior to my daughter & I building our turkey coop)………………I gave him the hen’s description…………………
He’ll no doubt add her to his already-pilfered-poultry-flock. (See “Turkey Time”—-published/posted November 22, 2017.)
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Here’s a little history…………………..
We have been known to (successfully) chase barred rock hens around mall parking lots, after leaving their clandestine nests under the already-mentioned truck tool boxes.
I have found one wind-blown hen in the bed of my truck in a Walmart parking lot————–AFTER a long Interstate drive at “a little above” the speed limit.
That had a happy ending too. She did spend the abbreviated time I spent shopping—–perched on the back of my drivers seat—–in the cab of my truck—–watching surprised Walmart shoppers—–watching her.
I do think the hen will either successfully make her way home or find a new home with the now-alerted, poultry-pilfering neighbor.
Silly bird.
(I really wish I were making up these stories……………sigh.)