Turkey in the Straw... Sorry Sean
Cloudy, 73/44, Fair to Fair. The 3-1/2 inches of rain we had last week is starting to pay dividends as the fescue and rye I planted a couple of weeks back is starting to grow. I also planted orchard grass, but I haven't seen that come up yet. Fixed the barn roof and nailed it back down after the strong winds put a board through it. Looks like some other loose spots up there, so I have to get up there again and do some more anchoring.
Some of you might have heard this story before. I think I have mentioned it here in passing, but things have slowed down now both on the farm, and in my mind, so I thought I’d give you one from years past.
Life used to be simple here, we had 3 goats over on about two acres of our 10 acre farm, and on the other side we had our chicken house. In the chicken house we kept 3 hens and a rooster. The hens provided eggs daily, and the rooster did what roosters do, which is crow some, jump on the ladies, then crow some more (kinda like one of those leisure suited 1970’s swinger type guys).
Looking into the pen one day, I noticed a raw spot on one of the hens back and thought I’d better start keeping an eye on it. Chickens get flesh eating when given the chance and the last thing I needed was a bunch of chicken eating chickens. Sure enough, the next day, the raw spot had opened up. I opened up the pen and grabbed her, while she was going after some vegetable scraps (better her than me). Well as I pulled her out, ol’ lover boy didn’t want one of his harem gone, so he came flying out after me.
I managed to grab him around his neck before he got to me and I’m holding a hen under my arm like a football, and an angry rooster by the neck. I’m trying to explain to her how I’m trying to help her, and trying not to dog cuss the rooster to loud in case the neighbors were out and see the situation I’m in. Well, I gently laid the hen back in the pen and threw the rooster as far to the other side of the cage as I could. This was obviously going to take more than just me, and that is where the story begins.
Enter into the picture one “way to cool” teenager who just happened to be sitting on the couch watching TV and laughing at me covered with chicken feathers when I walked into the house looking for some help. After some coaxing and a little threatening, Sean decided to come out and give me a hand.
The plan was for me to lure the chickens over with some more veggie’s, then grab the unsuspecting chicken and clean her wound and grease her up with bag balm (there are only two things we use for tractor maintenance, or animal fixing and that’s axle grease or bag balm…. Both are interchangeable…). Meanwhile when the old rooster came at me, my son was going to slam the chicken pen door behind.
It almost worked. I grabbed the chicken and got out of there, and then I heard a loud SQWAAAAKKK!! I turned around, and Sean had closed the door with the rooster half in, and half out. Sean says, “What do I do??”
“Get him back in the pen”
“Oh”
Then what took place was a wrasslin match that even Hulk Hogan would have been proud of. The roo ended up working his way out when Sean grabbed him by the wing. Eventually, they were both on the ground, all you could hear was squawking and crowing, and the rooster was making noise too. When the cloud of dust cleared, my son had opened the pen door and threw the rooster back in.
Looking towards the pen, you wouldn’t have known there was a fight. He was king of his castle again. Just strutting around his head bobbing, Looking and talking with an “I’m bad!! Don’t mess with me type attitude.” The funny thing though is that the rooster was doing the exact same thing……….
Some of you might have heard this story before. I think I have mentioned it here in passing, but things have slowed down now both on the farm, and in my mind, so I thought I’d give you one from years past.
Life used to be simple here, we had 3 goats over on about two acres of our 10 acre farm, and on the other side we had our chicken house. In the chicken house we kept 3 hens and a rooster. The hens provided eggs daily, and the rooster did what roosters do, which is crow some, jump on the ladies, then crow some more (kinda like one of those leisure suited 1970’s swinger type guys).
Looking into the pen one day, I noticed a raw spot on one of the hens back and thought I’d better start keeping an eye on it. Chickens get flesh eating when given the chance and the last thing I needed was a bunch of chicken eating chickens. Sure enough, the next day, the raw spot had opened up. I opened up the pen and grabbed her, while she was going after some vegetable scraps (better her than me). Well as I pulled her out, ol’ lover boy didn’t want one of his harem gone, so he came flying out after me.
I managed to grab him around his neck before he got to me and I’m holding a hen under my arm like a football, and an angry rooster by the neck. I’m trying to explain to her how I’m trying to help her, and trying not to dog cuss the rooster to loud in case the neighbors were out and see the situation I’m in. Well, I gently laid the hen back in the pen and threw the rooster as far to the other side of the cage as I could. This was obviously going to take more than just me, and that is where the story begins.
Enter into the picture one “way to cool” teenager who just happened to be sitting on the couch watching TV and laughing at me covered with chicken feathers when I walked into the house looking for some help. After some coaxing and a little threatening, Sean decided to come out and give me a hand.
The plan was for me to lure the chickens over with some more veggie’s, then grab the unsuspecting chicken and clean her wound and grease her up with bag balm (there are only two things we use for tractor maintenance, or animal fixing and that’s axle grease or bag balm…. Both are interchangeable…). Meanwhile when the old rooster came at me, my son was going to slam the chicken pen door behind.
It almost worked. I grabbed the chicken and got out of there, and then I heard a loud SQWAAAAKKK!! I turned around, and Sean had closed the door with the rooster half in, and half out. Sean says, “What do I do??”
“Get him back in the pen”
“Oh”
Then what took place was a wrasslin match that even Hulk Hogan would have been proud of. The roo ended up working his way out when Sean grabbed him by the wing. Eventually, they were both on the ground, all you could hear was squawking and crowing, and the rooster was making noise too. When the cloud of dust cleared, my son had opened the pen door and threw the rooster back in.
Looking towards the pen, you wouldn’t have known there was a fight. He was king of his castle again. Just strutting around his head bobbing, Looking and talking with an “I’m bad!! Don’t mess with me type attitude.” The funny thing though is that the rooster was doing the exact same thing……….
posted by Brad Bachelor at 4:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home