Backyard Visitor

Yesterday after dinner the kids and I went outside to do some work in the yard. Well, I did a lot of work and they helped in between rounds of laser tag. We did get a lot done - about five or six wheelbarrows full of twigs and brush and branches cleared up from around the yard and from our brush pile at the back of the yard.

While I was out there I could hear what I was sure was a chicken, but couldn't see it or tell where exactly the sound was coming from. Matthew was running through our neighbour's yard and spotted the chicken - it was running close by her house. He chased it (of course) and it jumped into the window well at the side of our house. This was very exciting to the kids and Nicholas called for me to come see it.

I had gardening gloves on, thankfully, so I was able to scoop it up and hold on to it. Now what? I was thinking. What on earth do I do with a chicken?! Adrian was in the front yard so I asked him to call his Dad for suggestions. G has always wanted chickens, having grown up on a farm, not that he and K would take this one - because of their travel schedule having chickens would never work out. However, I was sure he must know someone who could use a spare chicken. His first suggestion was to keep it in a crate in our basement for now! I'm sure Panda would have loved sharing her home with a chicken! Another option would be to just let it go again in the yard. Hmmm, not what I wanted to do. It's quite likely the thing would be frightened to death with kids chasing it, and I'm quite sure mine would be involved in the chasing.

A neighbour and friend of our boys came by then and I remembered that his uncle lives on a farm about five minutes outside of town. I asked J to go ask his Mom to give his uncle a call and ask if he'd take the chicken. His uncle agreed so we put it in a bag and J, Andrew and J's Mom went off to the farm.

I'm guessing the chicken is an escapee from the Fur and Feathers show that was held at the agricultural grounds near our house on Sunday. This is where the old community centre and arena were located and it is also the location of the track we frequent. For one Sunday each spring and fall the track is lined, both sides, with vendors selling small livestock (pigs, chickens, geese, ducks and occasionally llamas or donkeys), rabbits, dogs, cats, hamsters, finches, canaries, budgies, and other small birds. It is not unusual after the show to see wandering chickens who managed to escape while at the show.

Excitement aside, Matthew and Nicholas were wonderful helpers in the yard after Andrew left with J to take the chicken to its new home. They worked hard and took turns taking the wheelbarrow the front yard to dump its contents. The county collects yard waste and turns it into mulch or compost then uses it throughout the community. We can also take it to a collection site if we want to, but after taking a trailer-load of brush in G's truck got stuck in a soupy section of our backyard so we didn't want a repeat of that incident and decided to just move the rest of the brush to the curb.