An ode to a chicken

I was over at Poor Richard's Almanac, swapping stories about chickens, when it occurred to me that perhaps a 150 word comment was better suited to be a blog post...so here it is!

I have only had one extra special pet chicken but her name is giving me the slip right now. It's not that I don't know it, it's just not coming to the surface. I do know her story, though. She was born a factory chicken in East Texas. After a few months of bizarre growing, she was packed into a truck with many of her sisters and on her way to (gulp) her demise. Suddenly, the truck hit a bump and she went flying (probably the only time, ever) from the truck! When I found her, she was contentedly eating bugs in the median of the highway. Now, in defense of what you're about to read that I did, let me just say that many chickens died by falling off these trucks. It wasn't unusual for me to see several white, feathery blobs on the side of the road each day. That said, to say that I made a spectacle of myself while catching that chicken is quite likely a gross understatement. I chased that chicken around the median until she was resting safely in my arms. Then, I carefully stowed her in the back of my trusty station wagon and drove her to her new home.

Finally, I have remembered that chicken's name! It was Druscilla--for no real reason other than that's how names happen around here.

Once our heroine was safely ensconced in my backyard, we began to notice an abnormal growth on her head. My memory is fuzzy as to whether the growth was above or below her beak, but there it was--about the size of a large lemonhead. Our veterinarian (yes, we took her!) removed it and told us Druscilla probably was only a few months old (big shock to us since she was an enormous chicken!) and was otherwise in perfect health. We had so much fun with that giant chicken. Feeding her pizza and other unlikely foods was a much enjoyed past-time. Druscilla was with us for about another year. I received the call while away at college that the big fun chicken had passed away one night in her sleep--quite likely from a heart attack, according to the autopsy report. I'm kidding! about the autopsy. The veterinarian did say it was probably a heart attack, though. My mother found her in her usual resting spot. Peacefully still asleep.