How Did A Chicken Get In My Backyard?

Yesterday morning wasn’t good at all. My (special needs) daughter had one of her episodes. For some reason she took it upon herself to wake everyone in the household up. Stand in the hallway and scream at the top of her lungs. (She has an uncontrollable anger issue we are working on.) After she was on her Ipad instead of getting ready for school or taking her daily medications. I am sure she woke the neighbors.

After the kids left for school, I started playing a Facebook game Royal Story in order too de-stress. As my whole body was aching, worse than normal. I needed to take a nap. Something I don’t do.

I don’t want this article to be all negative, pity party or self-help kind of thing. So, I am going to tell you of a moment in time when I have seen and notice my daughter happy and smiling. None of it will include chores. Lol.

The black spot is the chicken.

After the teens came home from school, we noticed a small chicken out in our fenced in backyard. We knew it was the neighbors. I called the dogs in the house. So, my daughter and I could catch and return it to the neighbors.

I instructed my daughter what to do in catching the chicken. As it was looking for a way out of the fenced in backyard. She would get close. Scream. Back away. Muttering,”I’m scared it is going to hurt.”

I told her that it would hurt getting pecked, but not as bad as she thinks. As my siblings and I use to chase chickens when we were little. As we wanted to hold their babies. Several of the hens would peck our knees to make us put their babies down. I reminded my daughter we were around three, five, and six years old at the time. If we could pick up chickens at those ages. She can do it at her age now.

The story must have helped. She screamed for twenty minutes. Before she was close enough to the chicken. She caught it. Her teen brother helped her take it back to the neighbors. As she held the chicken, he knocked on the door.

When the teens came back, my daughter informed me the chicken was old and blind. It had been missing for a while from their yard.

We all started laughing. As we realize that chicken had been living under our shed unnoticed. Hiding from the dogs. We assumed it was a neighborhood cat or groundhog annoying the dogs. As we knew something was there. We weren't able to catch a glimpse. Until my daughter caught the chicken in the backyard.

I didn’t tell my daughter, yet later the neighbor  killed the chicken. As he stated it was old and blind. It was a good for nothing chicken.

When my daughter has her bad days (or mornings). I try to remain positive by picturing her chasing that chicken around the yard. She was smiling. She was happy.

Challenge : Write about something bad turned positive.

Photos taken by and © belong to Sandy KS aka rusty2rusty.