In 1907, my grandmother lived in an old gold mining town where the town’s 18 children attended its one room school. When her family needed produce, she walked by herself to a farm.
The farm had a bedraggled rooster. When she was six-years-old, she was horrified
to witness the farmer kick the bird. Just like Jack and the Beanstock, my Grandmother forgot about the produce, paid the man for the rooster, and carried it home.
The rooster’s name is long forgotten, but not what he did. When the farmer came to visit her parents, the rooster recognized him and immediately herded all his “new” hens (sister-wives) into the hen house. He would not let the cackling bunch out until the cruel man
left.
The rooster loved my grandmother’s family. When she and her father took their nightly walks, the dog, the cat . . . and the rooster followed in a little parade.
Just like my grandmother taught her daughter, who taught her daughter (me), I taught my daughter, Ariel, to be kind to animals. Ariel is now teaching her children the same principles for their pets on their 11 chicken urban farm.
“Sweet
Cheeks had some tangled feathers,” said Ariel, “so I carried her into the kitchen (her first mistake) to trim some of them. Luckily, I don’t have to do it often because it’s a challenge.”
My grandson, Yossa, sat in his Easter Bunny gift, a little green chair, to watch his mother "doctor" the chicken. The boy is curious about everything that has to do with animals, so he had a front row seat right beside his mother. That was her second
mistake!
“I flipped Sweet Cheeks over,” said Ariel, “and focused on where to begin. All of a sudden everything exploded into fur and feathers!”
Probably because she was sleep deprived from the recent birth of her second child, Ariel forgot to check on the location of her three inside cats! (Major third mistake!)
That is when the barnyard musical, without the music, began!
Unseen, her
black and white cat, Cecil, had entered the room. As quick as a flash, Cecil was on top of them! He must have thought she had brought in a bird “gift” for him and he was beyond thrilled, so he jumped up to claim it!
Ariel screamed!
The unhurt bird screamed and flew off yelling, “Help!” “Help!” in Chickenese.
The loud squawking scared Cecil, so he ran in the opposite
direction.
Jumping up and scrambling behind his chair, Yossa’s eyes had gone from intensely focusing on the “fowl medical treatment” to saucer size!
Now Ariel had two new problems: her other two cats ran in to witness the commotion while Sweet Cheeks was doing her best to run on wood floors.
When Ariel screamed, her husband put the baby down and just like the cats, he rushed into chicken chaos
central!
He found Ariel running after Sweet Cheeks while trying to keep the returned Cecil at bay. She caught the bird before the other two cats could unfreeze their startled stance. The felines’ stunned and bewildered expressions asked, “What the heck is going on!” (Her husband was thinking the same thing!)
Their old deaf dog slept through it all.
“After things settled down,” said Ariel, “I couldn't stop laughing. Wish
you had seen it, because you missed one good show! Just another day at our house! Sweet Cheeks was unhurt and is back with her flock and our family has lived through another hilarious pet experience.”
Their family recently adopted some baby chicks. Nestled in their box in the car on the way home, little Yossa gently talked to them, soothing them. Then he helped his father put together their bedding, food/water and a warm light. The youngster was so thrilled
about the new additions that at bedtime he climbed out of bed three times, checking on them and wishing them a “Good Night”. He takes caring for his baby sister and chicks seriously. Oh, and he’s named the chicks after three of his favorite things!
They shall hence forth be known as, “Halloween, Chocolate and Minion”.
