I Found Two Chickens, Part Two!

If you click HERE or just scroll down to the previous post, you will know what all this is about.

Last I left you, I had two beautiful hens that had spent the night and were starting a low burrrrrr noise (which I caught on both films below) when I was brushing my teeth. After I gave them a drink of water, I gently lifted them out of the box one by one and put them back in the carrier in which I'd brought them upstairs. One didn't want to go -- and tried to stick it's foot against the door, which I can only assume meant that I was a fabulous hostess.

I am kidding, you know.

Other than that millisecond of hesitation, they went into without incident. Here they are:

I covered the carrier with my leopard blanket and went down in the service elevator, again praying I wouldn't be discovered. But if I had been -- can you picture that encounter? Though this being Texas.... maybe it wouldn't surprise anyone. It was about 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning, so that helped. The elevator was deserted. And seeing that we're moving out in about 10 days, I had little to lose.

Once I secured the cage in the passenger seat, I drove carefully for 15 minutes or so to The Wildlife Center. On the way, I took the blanket off and put the window down so they could enjoy the fresh air and morning sun (for anyone who doesn't know, it's roosters that cock-a-doodle-do at the first hint of morning).

When I got there, I was instructed to put them in one of the outdoor pens, which was my hope. Then I went to get them a nice big pan of water and another filled with chicken scratch. What's great about volunteering at this place is that it allowed me to take care of them all the way through. It wasn't a day I was coming in, but instead of just dropping them off I could get them settled before I left.

But there was a little surprise.... there just so happened to be a handsome white rooster next to them, and it was a riot when I put the girls in the adjacent pen. He immediately zeroed in on them, and for the first few minutes, they were both standing side by side, giving him an audience. He proceeded to bu-kaw and strut, and scrape the gravel back with his feet like James Brown. He paced back and forth working his neck as I melted into a puddle. I mean really, I'm a city girl. No matter how long I've been around wildlife now, it's all new to me. I thought this shit only happened in cartoons/comedy skits or was exaggerated, but apparently, it's art mirroring life.



Mistah Fiiine Feathas... Now I see where Jagger gets it.




By the way, I have since caught myself (always when alone mind you) making that low burrrrr burrrr sound out loud, including variations, to amuse myself. I may have done it unconsciously though, god knows how many times. Perhaps I did it in my car, and someone may have seen me and wondered if I was singing to the radio or talking to someone on one of those blue tooth earplug things that I abhor (but never say never). Thank goodness for a place that forces you to have the AC on in the car so the windows were up. That's my guarantee that no one could have actually heard that I was, in fact... clucking.