An Uncle, A Rooster, And A Dog

[cfdf]

OK, so this is how the story goes.....I found this great deal on Craigs list. 8 Hens/1 rooster & coop $40. After paying the woman for it, on my way home, still in my truck, I got to thinking...WHAT WAS I THINKING? I don't need anymore chickens. So, I was telling my Mom about it and she mentioned that my Uncle has been wanting some chickens. So, I call my uncle and he said he wanted the chickens. The rest of that day my uncle works on a chicken run to put them in. It was primitive with just chicken wire, no top etc, but he thought it would work until he could do better. The next day I meet my uncle at the lady's house to help him get the chickens and the coop. And as luck has it, my youngest son was in the area so I called him to help load the coop....boy was that hard to load. Anyway, we put the chickens in milk crates, put old cabinet doors over the top to keep them in and loaded them into my SUV. My uncle had the coop on his trailor....off we go. We get to his house...I see his fence...hmm...I don't know about this...but ok....here goes... We put the chickens in the fence. Immediateley his dogs start to show interest in the chickens. He ties them up to keep them away and we start..try...to unload the coop. After trying many different things to get the coop unloaded....mind you I'm only about 5' tall and 53 yrs old..my uncle is late 60's...my son is 20...it's a zillion degrees outside....we finally got it unloaded and put into place. We look over to the run and we see a chicken climb up the fence and jump over it. Good Grief! SO, I chase the chicken around and catch it, throw it back in the run and out it comes again. I had to catch her 3 times. Anyway, It was hot, I was tired and I had my little girl with me (she's almost 7...we adopted her 2 years ago....that's a whole other story though) so we headed to the house. All I could think about was those poor chickens, in the heat, with dogs looking at them and wondering how the heck they got there and what happened to their old home. I called Mom and told her about it and she said she would check with my uncle in the morning to see how it went. WELLLLL, apparently one of the dogs grabbed his rooster by the neck and carried it under his neighbors house. How the dog got it I'm not sure. MY aunt told my mom that it was dead. My uncle said he was so mad at that dog he was going to shoot it. He got his gun out and shot all around the dog but never hit it. I'm not sure if that was on purpose or if he is just a bad shot. lol But wait, that's not the end of the story! When my aunt and uncle came home from church today, guess who was standing on top of the chicken coop trying to get in? You guessed it! That old rooster (not really old he's just a youngster) was standing up there trying to figure out how in the world he was going to get back in. My uncle wasn't sure how he was either...but...the roo finally figured out if he jumped off the top of the coop, over the fence, he could get back to his flock. And he did. Tonight he is sitting (hopefully) safely in his coop. And I sent my uncle a link to BYC so that he could figure out what he needs to do to keep his new flock safe. And I am hoping they will live happily and safely ever after. And as far as the dog goes....who cares? Right? Maybe he will find some place else to live.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Cute story, but you should have ended at "And I am hoping they will live happily and safely ever after." The dogs were there first and it's their home, so I'd think Uncle would care about them and if not, he needs to find THEM a good home. Real hilarious him shooting at a dog that's had no training about chickens.

 

[Agnella]

I completely agree with Wolfman. That was actually a pretty sad story.

 

[cfdf]

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone who loves dogs. I love dogs. I have 3. My uncle actually loves dogs too. He has had one of his dogs for 18 years. It goes every where with him. I'm sure he missed shooting the dog on purpose. I guess it's best I just keep my mouth shut and just read the posts....not post them myself. Lesson learned.

 

[Agnella]

NoNoNO!!!! Cfdf you should definitely post!

I'm sorry if I sounded harsh....the shooting at dogs just made me sad.

I'm glad that you and your uncle are trying to give those chickens a good home.

Good luck to you!!

Hope to see you around....I'm new here too!

 

[gryeyes]

Well, getting to the meat of the story, I loved the bit about the "dead" rooster under the house triumphing over the dog and situation and figuring out how to get back to his flock!!!

Chickens can be incredibly resourceful. And determined!

 

[Stonerowfarm]

I love the survivor roo - good for him. Poor thing probably couldn't figure out what the heck had just happened to him. Taken from his happy home, driven around, grabbed by a dog and stashed under a porch. No wonder he hide, I probably would have too.

As far as the dog however, all I can see is a poor dog, scared witless with gunshots all around him, not knowing which way to turn. That must have scared him to hell and back, but unfortunately it did not teach him anything. Maybe you could educate your uncle a little bit that taking his frustration out on the dog isn't going to bring back a chicken/rooster but that he needs to make sure that all his animals are safe. It sounds like this might be his first foray into chickens and we all know the learning curve is huge.

Hope everyone continues to settle in and give that great survivor roo an extra handful of greens. He deserves it.

 

[honeydoll]

cfdf - That was a funny story. Sorry you feel like you offended anyone. I see your sense of humor. Anyway, hope all goes well. Not all of BYCers will preach to you if they don't like your post. So Don't worry about that.

Most just won't comment. By the way,

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry you felt offended. Hope you hang out and give us another try.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Quote:
Ditto!

 

[westernmainecoop]

Tell your Uncle hes not the only one who gets frustrated like that. I had a dog who killed a couple of my chickens on day. When I got home from work he was going from one part of the yard to another hiding from me. I couldn't figure out why until I found the dead birds. So I tried to call him in to put him in his training kennel, he would have nothing to do with me or going into house. After 10-15 minutes of trying to coax him in, I tried to catch him. Yeah right, after a full days work that didn't last long before I'd had enough of running around about a 2 -3 acre area. I went back to the house got a gun. It's amazing how when something goes wrong and gets your adrenaline pumping you want to fix it so it won't happen again(which I did in the almost happy ending). I went back out and found him, sighted him up and even with his defiant look I couldnt kill him in haste. Looking back on it I have to laugh, I bet my face was beet red with a bit of steam coming out of my ears mad, along with my moral and ethical sub-concious creating a slight twitch of my face and head ticking all sporadic. I pulled about a foot to the left and let one rip thinking maybe he'll run back to the house scared. He didn't even flinch. ohhh I thought I was mad before. Sadly after that taste of live chicken he attacked my neighbors coop and got a couple of their birds. He had to go but we found a young teen in town for him to live with.