Saturday, June 19, 2010

Crowing...um...

...hen?

Izzy is no longer with us. Don't worry--we didn't eat her. (Although why I have a problem with that when we regularly eat chicken, I can't explain.) This morning, after the third straight day of jumping out of bed to shut her up--in her coop, in the dark--the KH and I decided to take her back where she came from, which is a feed store in a rural area near us that also sells small farm animals and chickens.

We loaded her into the car and the KH drove her to the feed store. He walked in with Izzy tucked under his arm, and the proprietor took one look and said, "No room for roosters." At which, Izzy let loose with a full volume "cock-a-doodle-DOOOOO!" that immediately stopped all activity in the store. The proprietor's eyes flew open and he said, "Oh. I see. Put him in the yard."

It turns out, our little Izzy hen is a freakin' rooster! A beautiful, healthy rooster, according to the feed store, where he crowed the entire time the KH was there--much to the amusement of the staff, who are astonished we managed to keep him this long. It really explains a lot. Especially Izzy's sudden interest in Mimi. I think the young cock is starting to notice girls (sorry, couldn't resist).

So we're back to two chickens, and I must say, I'm really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!

7 comments:

sophanne said...

Can we expect presents from the neighbors? It's the least they can do.

Melissa Morgan-Oakes said...

Welcome to my life. They start at 3 or 4am when the paper is delivered. The headlights wake them up. I can hear them, dead of winter, all windows closed. You have to be rural to have roosters. Suburbs are not the place for them. Well. In my perfect world, of course...but that's not where we actually live.

Chicken sexing is an inexact science, although sexers are well paid and it is not easy work. It's not foolproof. The proof is in the grown-up crowing at daybreak or a bit before pudding.

aafke7 said...

... and here a symphony of a dozen make the sun know her time to rise!
(We have no neighbors...)
You made me laugh! Thanks!

caknitter said...

LOLOL!

Unknown said...

Bwaaaa haa haaaa haaaaa! Ya know, when I looked at Izzy's picture in a previous post I thought "sure is looking roosterish" but I don't see hens or roosters on an ongoing basis so I didn't say anything...

Enjoy the hens, hope you get eggs soon!

sheep#100 said...

Too funny. Sorry about the lost sleep. Agreeing with Sophanne - the nextdoor neighbors owe you homebaked cookies and brownies for tossing the hen, er, rooster.

Samantha said...

Oh gosh. That's funny!