A Nature-y Night: Revenge of the Roosters

On my way to school this morning, I saw a chicken huddled in my flower bed in my front patio.

And I thought, oohhhh no, not on my watch.  There will be no pesky chicken-folk in MY yard! And I proceeded to chase it and shout and clap and behave as a maniac.  It wouldn't leave.

And then I thought, oh NO, there is a SICK chicken in my yard!  So I poked at it with an aloe leaf I broke off.  And I scared it away enough that I saw the baby chick it was protecting.

And then I thought, OH NOOOOO!  We are breeding baby roosters to keep me up at night in my very yard!!!!  But I had to leave for school, Owen was out of patience, waiting in the street with the kids for me to get in the car.

So this afternoon when I got home from school I investigated further and found a NEST of eggs, some hatched, with a few dead-looking chicks.  A little while later, the mother came back with a chick.  Well, you may imagine . . . I was not pleased.  I told Owen that before he ate the yummy supper I was preparing that I needed him and the boys to get all fowl out of the yard.

I wish I had thought to video the chase.

While I'm at the kitchen window finishing dinner, I see Micah and Jesse, shouting and screaming, run past the window as they charge the squawking chicken across our patio.

The neighbors come outside to watch at this point.

Then there is a reverse and I see them turn and run, screaming, FROM the chicken.  It was very amusing.  Eventually they got all live fowl (the mom with two chicks) from our yard and into the abandoned lot next door.  Micah had to carry one of them over.

I'm sure we could have just bludgeoned them all to death, and guaranteed that there are no future roosters, but I'm telling you (if you're like me anyway), that unless you are used to killing that is just all talk.  You think you're tough, but you just grab that bat and then wimp out.  And use it to shoo them instead.  And although my kids offered to kill them for me, thinking of protecting my sleep, I told them I didn't want them killing helpless little chicks.  Too disturbing.

Of course, things will look different in a few weeks when those little chicks become crowing roosters.

But here's the crazy part:  an hour or two later we hear a loud ruckus next door and the NEIGHBORS are chasing roosters around their yard.  They are plagued by the former renter's roosters, my enemy roosters, who don't understand the change in residence and think they still live there.

They told me their dog is going nuts barking at the roosters all night (I can attest to that, I heard it), and it is driving them crazy.  They were very confused at why so many chickens came in their yard each night and were a little disturbed to learn that there had been a serious fowl-raising enterprise over there even a few months ago.

So I'm not sure if it was any great consolation, but I assured them that now that everyone is on the same team, we will triumph!  Working together, surely a bunch of green city folk can catch a few pesky roosters--with a sheet, maybe?  The plan is still in progress.

On a side-note, I seriously trimmed the hedges.  Clearly I am offering too much protection in my yard.  Let's keep visibility high!