June 26, 2018
Houdini Hot Wings
“Mom, he’s out again!”
The most idiotic of all chickens is this Buff Orpington cockerel who hates the safety of his pen. I mean, what is it with this bird?
He has food, water, playmates, and protection from things that would pick their teeth with his toenails! Like the hawk flying overhead, licking his chops (no, hawks can’t lick their chops, but still). Okay, so the big Plymouth Barred Rock rooster can manage – he’s five times bigger than the hawks. But little Houdini (no, his real name is “buffalo” like the hot wings) thinks his half-a-pound scrawniness is a match for the 1-pound hawk. He struts around the yard squawking, “I’m free, come get me!”
Seriously!
The girls race outside, skipping with glee. They love chasing the escapee teenage chickens. Future-hot-wings squawks in horror. Yes, bird, you should have stayed in your protected yard with all your friends!
“Come on, we don’t want the hawks to eat you!” Yells Jillian.
“No, you’re our dinner in a few weeks!” Kimberly reminds him.
(If this is supposed to reassure him, it’s not helping.)
Jaquline finally grabs him, “his feathers are pretty, maybe someone will buy him to raise before we eat him.”
“Why?” Kimberly asks.
“Because then we don’t have to chase him all day anymore.” Jaquline replies, dumping said bird back in the pen with the others, “if we wait for him to get fat, he will start getting on my nerves.”
10 more weeks of chasing this escapee? I certainly hope not. Maybe the hawk gets him tomorrow – or someone chooses him as a 4H rooster. Whatever happens to Houdini Hot Wings, he’ll forever be a character in the Long Tail books!
Thanks for reading!
Type at you later…
~Nancy Tart