58th Day-- the death of Cluck the Chicken

I am born and raised city, but transplanted to country when I married a good ol' country boy.  Man did I ever learn A LOT.

I love having knowledge from both sides of living--city vs. country life is an on going battle, but really both are amazing and both are terrible!

I have tons of stories of myself learning to be a country girl, but this one was a new one for me.

My husband loves chickens.  He was called "Hot Wings" in high school by a friends mom cause he use to win Chicken Trophies for his chickens at the State Fair through 4H. I didn't even know what 4H was until I was in college!

so naturally he has wanted chickens the whole time we have been married and we have had them on and off---right now it is ON again.

He spent a good long while building a dog proof chicken coop.  We moved the 8 chickens and 2 roosters we had (still really young, but not chicks) into the coop and they were happy!  A friend called up and asked if we wanted his 6 chickens and 1 rooster that his daughter was suppose to take care of, but didn't--did we want them?

Sure--the more the merrier!  Did you know that if you bring new chickens in with established chickens one gang of the chickens will beat up the other chickens, but if you put the new chickens in at night the chickens aren't smart enough to figure out that there are new chickens and they don't bug each other and live peacefully.

On Labor Day they brought over their chickens and we put them in a smaller cage until night came.  Well night came and went and I forgot to put them in the coop.  Next morning one is dead!

this is NOT the chicken that died.

Later that afternoon my daughter checked them again and dang! Another one dead!

We made SURE that we put them in the coop that night, except the rooster.  

We moved the rooster cage close to the big cage so the other roosters can kind of get to know it.  

Fast forward two days and I am changing little man's diaper and I hear Squirt yelling my mom in a frantic voice.  I thought something happened to Firecracker so I jump up and run to her.

'A dog is in Clucks cage and he is dead!"

"The dog or the rooster?"

"The rooster is dead, but the dog is still in the cage."

She is on the verge of tears.  I look over at the cage and sure enough a dog that has been roaming town  is in the cage with the rooster. 

I am frustrated so I call the non-emergency number for the cop.  Squirt runs back up to me and is now crying.  

"Mom, Cluck is still alive, I can see it breathing!"

Oh man!  I sure hope the cop they have come out knows how to kill a chicken, cause I have no clue!

While waiting for the Officer I call my Sister-in-law and ask what I should do.  She suggests getting the dog out of the coop and keep it tied up on a rope until the cop gets there.  OK--good idea.  

Dog is super nice so I just put a leash on its collar (Yes, collar, but no tags)

Cop comes out and isn't very helpful. Doesn't know how to kill a chicken.  When I ask him, he says no and then he asks my 9 year old Squirt if she is in charge of butchering the chickens.

HELLO! She is 9!  So the poor rooster has to suffer a little longer.

 He says he will be back and will try to track down whose dog it is.

Mean while I call my other friend who has many chickens and she and her family happen to be coming through town (She lives outside of town) and her son will shoot it for me.  Oh good!  I hate to think of that poor rooster suffering. 

They pull up and he goes over to shoot it and the Officer pulls up a few seconds before the gun goes off.   The cop says something like "I would prefer if you didn't kill it that way."

I just look at him and say "I don't know what else to do.  How else do you kill it?"  The cop makes a stabbing motion like I should kill it with a knife!  I just look at him like "Are you crazy!?"

So anyway--The Cop can't find the owner and about 2 hours later I let the dog go, only to have the cop call me 20 minutes after letting the dog go and asking me if I could keep it chained up for a little while longer---sorry!

My super helpful friend (the same ones who shot it) came and picked it up -- he will dispose of it himself.  THANK GOODNESS!

So happy for awesome friends who help!