Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Great Disappointment

CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK!!!

I am calling this post The Great Disappointment simply because The Great Depression was already taken. As everyone knows, I hand selected Cadburry 2.0 from the feed store to "replace" my first little beloved Cadburry.

The original Cadburry was the smallest of the five Light Brahmas we had in Flock 1. Cadburry had survived the two weasel attacks and was a quick chick. Dan and I were both witness to seeing her the morning after the last tragedy, however, later that night as we went to lock the chickens in the coop, she was never to be seen again. I have a feeling she ran away, perhaps to California or Texas.

Fast forward to this past February as I am selecting my replacements in the form of Flock 2. One box at the feed mill housed the classical yellow chicks. I said that I was going to get only one of those so I knew who the new Cadburry would always be. Master Feed Mill had the box labeled "White Plymouth Rocks" from which I plucked the chirping Cadburry 2.0 from. Now, after looking at my Mt. Healthy Hatcheries brochure (yes, I keep all these things) I see Cadburry may be a Babcock White Leghorn (who the cartoon Foghorn was supposed to be). Would the REAL Foghorn please stand up?

Anyway, Cadburry 2.0 grew up fast, much quicker than the rest and she towered over everyone else, even those of Flock 1. I noticed right away how Cadburry wasn't scared to get in on the action when it came to running up after treats, whereas the others in Flock 2 didn't get it quite yet. A person entering Kennel Bar with a clear bag usually means a treat of bread crumbs! I was so proud of her! Plus she was such a beautiful bird!

Don't worry...I know I'm writing in past tense...Cadburry is not dead!

I don't know if Dan was taping into his psychokinesis weeks ago or not, but he would make comments like, "I wonder if Cadburry isn't a rooster," and "I'm going to laugh when Cadburry ends up a rooster."

A few days ago I was letting the chickens into Kennel Bar for the day, when somewhere deep in the coop I heard a pathetic crow. One that didn't come from Chicken Hawk. I swallowed my fear and told myself that maybe R.W. really was a rooster after all. Then, as I was cleaning Jimmy Percheron's stall, I heard the eerie crow again. I looked over to the roosting chickens, and sure enough from my precious Cadburry's throat came the crow!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Cadburry is a MAN!!!!! WHY!? All I wanted was a white puffy bird to replace my little quirky chick from before! Now I have another free-loader rooster on my hands! It's not fair! If I've said it once, I'll say again, chickens will make you question your sanity. Like why in heck am I doing all this, only to be disappointed down the road!?

I don't think we can call him Cadburry. Dan came up with a good name...Cad-Buddy. I'm still sore over this discovery. This on top bad crops and the price of Frito's going up. What is the world coming to? (I was going to talk about the future of food, but the Cadburry story is depressing enough!)


                                                                                                                  ...cluck... cluck... cluck...









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