Rebecca Kightlinger, Novelist
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A new little family

1. Chicken Joy

11/18/2018

6 Comments

 

One cold, drizzly day in March 2007, my husband spirited a tiny hatchling away from a place where it had been taken to be fed alive to hawks. Nearly dead from hypothermia, the sick little chick responded to warmth and a lot of spoiling, and grew up as part of our family.

​Despite Ollie's humble beginnings, his vet always called him "a real gentleman". Our youngest cat, Annie, would have called him her best friend. I just called him a love. 

Ollie lived in our house, played in his garden, and went to sleep every night in his own room, cooing as he settled in on a tree branch after a snack and a long drink of water.

He clucked to music on his Fischer-Price laptop, chortled as he played "push the feather around" with the cats, and chattered as he pecked all our shoes until he had a collection of the ones we could no longer use.

When he passed away six months ago, the clucking, chuckling, chortling, and chatter went silent. 

We have a big family: three dogs and three cats, all with voices and opinions. You'd think I would have my hands full and enough noise!

But it's those chicken sounds: a chick's peeping, the tap-tap-tap of a chicken running down the hallway behind me on my way to the living room, and the chortle of a contented chicken just given a meal worm ~ the sounds of chicken joy ~ that I miss and that I'm ready to bring into in our home again.
     
Sometime this winter, I'll be driving out to to Dog River Bantams, a breeder of Cochin Bantam chickens in Vermont, to bring home two lovely pullets, female chicks who will share our home and grow up in our lives.
    
You're invited to follow along as I get their home ready, bring them in, and fill our house with the sounds of chicken joy.
6 Comments
Matthew A Johnson
11/18/2018 10:26:29 pm

Amazing Story I will be following this.

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Rebecca
11/21/2018 12:46:54 pm

Glad to have you following along! Do you keep chickens, Matthew?

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Jacqui
11/19/2018 02:05:52 am

A beautiful description of a lovely, sweet boy. It will be a joy to follow this journey. In that solitary moment of being saved all those years ago, Ollie’s life went from having a duration of a few terrifying hours left to having 11 long happy years left! That is really something.

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Rebecca
11/21/2018 12:50:25 pm

In that moment, our lives changed too in ways we never could have imagined. All for the best!

I'm glad to have you following along, Jacqui! You're invited to post pictures of your girls and some suggestions for my new adventures in bringing up our little hens!

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Susan from Camboro Veterinary
11/21/2018 09:41:55 am

What a privilege for all of us at Camboro to have been a small part of Ollie's life! The slide show nearly moved me to tears -- your guy in a Superman cape!! :)

I'm so excited to meet "the Girls" and to watch them grow up in such a household of Love! Very lucky ladies, for sure!

Reply
Rebecca
11/21/2018 12:53:50 pm

All of you at Camboro helped me give Ollie bird a good life. Dr. Orosco, Dr, Balas, and everyone there took such good care of him.
I can't wait to meet the girls myself! I'll bring them up to Camboro some not-so-snowy day and show them off!

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    Eleven years ago, Ollie came into our lives as a hatchling. Six months ago, he left us after a lifetime of sweetness, joy, and charming antics. It's time to fill the house with chortling, clucking, and chirping again.

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                ~ Murga, Seer of Bury Down

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  • Historical Fiction Reviews
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  • Literary Awards and Recognition