Chicken Karma

Two chickens, two eggs!

I mentioned in passing that we now have chickens. Busy creatures, and mostly quiet now that we "took care of" the one rooster among them, the two birds keep to themselves, but always with a sharp eye out for new spaces to explore. This gives the lie to those who claim that even when provided outside space chickens prefer to remain in their coops--please, spend extra for properly pastured eggs! It can also lead to problems, and last week it did: while we were away camping, someone left the gate to the creek open and one of our two birds flew the coop, or, more likely, just walked out. The creek, a wildlife corridor, is frequented by a variety of hungry predators: a chicken wandering down there is not likely to last long. And so, having received the news by text, we mourned its passing.

But the creek is a funny place and often turns up surprises. I recall, a couple of years back, one such surprise: we discovered a little girl, four-year-old Lulu, wandering alone in the creek. A hot day, Lulu was wearing a pink puffy jacket and holding a whistle, which she was blowing as she went. We never found out why she had on a puffy jacket, but the whistle showed some foresight on the part of her parents, as did the tag with a phone number we discovered once we lured her out with some watermelon. Lulu, unaware she was lost, was soon returned to her grateful parents.

Lulu was in the creek that day because Lulu loves the creek, a fact her parents accommodated. And apparently Lulu still loves the creek, and is still often to be found there. So no surprise that it was Lulu who found our wandering chicken in the creek and brought her home, Lulu having, in the intervening years, learned to return home on her own. The find kicked off a good deal of local chatter as chicken owners up and down the creek were contacted, and, eventually, us among them. So we found Lulu, and Lulu found our chicken. Fairfax, again, provides, as a good village should.