Russell the Rooster
At dawn on Monday, June 24 I was rudely awakened by the distinctive sound of a rooster crowing - loudly. This guy was in a tree right outside our bedroom window.
Although we live in a rural subdivision, farm animals other than horses aren't allowed and in the 14+ years we've lived out here we've never seen or heard any chickens. We have no idea where he came from. We checked with the neighbors who were as surprised as we were at his sudden appearance. I suppose he must think he's home because he's still here 10 days later - although just barely.
The grandkids named him Russell and thought it fun to watch him do the chicken walk around the yard and crow - whenever the mood struck him. We put some water out for him and he hung out in the two heavily wooded 5 acre lots between us and our neighbors. Did I mention he liked to crow? Didn't matter if it was day or night, Russell isn't shy about speaking up - or to be more accurate, I should say "wasn't".
The neighbors (father and son) were working on a car project into the wee hours on Wednesday morning and said Russell crowed off and on all night long but stopped at about 3 am. They assumed he'd finally gone to sleep - until the sun came up and they saw all the feathers on the road between our houses.
They called Wednesday morning to tell me it looked like something (fox, owl, coyote, mountain lion, or Col Sanders) got Russell. But that wasn't the case...
Earlier that morning as the sun was just coming up, our two old labs went nuts. They live on our deck, with a fenced off grassy area on one side and gates at the top of the other steps from the back yard up to the deck. When I investigated what had them so upset, I found Russell on the top step, just outside the gate, 6 inches from two very excited dogs. He was calmly sitting there and paid no attention to them or me as I walked up to him.
I calmed the dogs down (food is a powerful distractor) and noticed Russell had hopped down from the steps and was slowly walking towards the garage. That's when I saw he was absent a significant number of feathers from his backside.
On closer examination it looks like whatever tried to make a meal out of him came within an inch or so of success. Other than losing a bunch of plumage, he suffered no other physical injury that I can see. But he is suffering from some serious PTSD. He walked into our open garage, hopped up on my work bench, and didn't move for 36 hours. No crowing, no nothing.
We put food and water on the garage floor in front of him, but he wasn't interested. After a day and a half, I slowly moved a bowl of water next to him on the workbench and he started drinking. I managed to coax him out of the garage but as soon as I turned my back he was inside again, roosting on the workbench.
I got him outside again this morning and he actually crowed a few times. He's getting more comfortable in the yard but I expect him to be back on his roost when the sun sets tonight. The chicken is now chicken.
Whaddya
do all day? Asked and answered.