Chicken Adventure

Our neighbors have chickens.

I didn't know this until two days ago and I'm wondering if, at some point, there will be a rooster. This might lead to cardiac arrest in my oldest son.

Anyway.

The Rock Star came bounding into the house the other day screaming something about how, "our neighbors behind us have ducks and their heads look like this (he then made a hysterical face) and you have to come see them." My mom and I (she's visiting) headed outside and discovered a newly built chicken coop and, well, not ducks but chickens.

A few chickens pecked around in the bottom of the coop but one lone white one ran frantically around the outside perimeter of the cage. She'd somehow gotten out. A gap in the wiring appeared to be the culprit. Garrett and I went over to the neighbors and knocked on the door. They weren't home. We went back to our house. The chicken was flapping around, flying up to the roof of the coop, hopping up into the bushes. I was afraid she'd manage to make it over the short fence that separates our yards and by this time the golden retriever was showing a great deal of interest. It wouldn't be long before the the cat followed suit. I didn't particularly want either of my beasts getting a hold of her. She was kind of cute...
I did what any sensible neighbor would do. I trespassed into their yard--the yard of people I've met once in my life--and attempted to catch the poultry. She alluded me for awhile, crawling into the bush, running away from me, always being one step ahead. The fact that I'd never held a chicken in my life and didn't know if she would freak and peck my eyes out certainly added to the duration of time that I spent in their yard.(All I can say is that, apparently, my son comes by his tongue-out-while-he's-concentrating habit naturally.)

Eventually I had my mom hoist Garrett over the fence. He came at her from one end so that she couldn't keep circling the coop and I cornered her. Finally, I reached out and grabbed her. Then I smiled a crazed grin at my mom before walking around the other side of the coop.

Garrett opened the door. I shoved her in. Then I added a nail to the gaping side of the coop. I promptly hopped the fence and wrote a note to my neighbor explaining that I'd trespassed and then I jumped back over and taped it to the door of the coop.

I got a message later from my neighbor. He identified himself as my chicken neighbor, thanked me for my trouble (it was no trouble at all--just another adventure for The Rock Star) and said he hoped I liked fresh eggs. He also added that he considers trespassing to be neighborly.

I've never been much of a city girl. Truth is, I've never been much of a country girl either, what with my somewhat irrational fear of horses. But apparently I can handle chickens.