3 Poultry Stories

It's good to be home! I had a lovely time at my daughter's in Snohomish....my granddaughter Rita can now say "gamm"....close enough! I taught her Pat-a-Cake and how to march with her drum....very important concepts that can only be taught effectively by a grandmother...

The last 3 times I've visited Roshane there has been a poultry story to report. During the first visit a couple of months ago, I saw a duck nestled between the dogs as I stepped out onto the back porch. I had never seen a duck there before. As far as I knew they owned 2 horses, 2 dogs, 2 pigs, and several hens and a rooster but no duck. I asked Roshane what that was all about. She sighed and told me that it had recently flown into the yard and has never left. The duck spends its days following the Lab and the Boxer around. Odd...

The second poultry incident occurred while we were preparing for dinner on my next visit. Jeremy was cooking crab in a pot out in the yard & Rita was running around in the summer sun. Suddenly we heard her yell and Jeremy realized that the rooster was attacking her. Thinking she had somehow fallen on the rooster he didn't think too much of it. Rita was fine. After bringing the cooked crab inside we heard a scream - Rita was being repeatedly pecked by the rooster (he is no longer allowed to roam the yard. I've heard they can be downright nasty.) Rita is almost two and he had never bothered her before this attack! Very Odd...

And this time I came face to face with a hen. I arrived in the early evening and made several trips to the car to bring in my "stuff". The second time out the front door I stopped and saw what you see in the picture. There was a chicken perched on the porch. I called to my daughter to come and look and she said, "Oh, she lives there." Huh? I looked forward to her explanation so here goes...

Several weeks ago this particular chicken had a harrowing encounter with their dogs. They like to "play" with the chickens which escape their henhouse and it never ends well. But this hen survived. However, when she returned to the hen house the other hens wanted nothing to do with her and started pecking at her so she took up residence on the front porch. She passes her afternoons and evenings on the porch railing. And yep, she's spending the rest of her time with the dogs and the duck. They have seemingly accepted her as one of their own! Very, very Odd!