Chicken facts: Chickens have more bones in their necks than giraffes. Alektorophobia is the name given to fear of chickens.
A couple of weeks ago, a Prairie neighbor, Kathy, said she was passing the Shell Station on the new road while talking on her cell phone when she noticed a banty hen, a real one, standing under the big sign that says “Chix-Fried Chicken.”
By the way, several of the neighbors still refer to Plymouth Access Road as the “new road,” even though the road’s been there about 20 to 25 years. Before the new road, folks had to go east on Old West Point Road until it “T’d” into Old 82, then head west to Highway 45, then north to the new Highway 82 bypass and on into Columbus.
So, the day Kathy saw the banty hen she told her friend she had to hang up because the Shell Station was no place for a chicken to hang out. Knowing that the hen would be difficult to catch, she called Brandy, her other neighbor, who happens to be a certified rescuer, and asked her to be ready when she swung by to get her so they could go save the banty hen. With all those truckers and folks going in and out of the Shell Station getting their fried chicken and jojo potatoes, somebody was bound to run over the poor hen.
Brandy was ready and waiting with a net to go save the chicken. When the two got back to the Shell Station the banty hen had wandered over by the gas pumps and was pecking on a corn dog. That’s when Kathy noticed two older fellows leaning up against a pickup truck, watching the chicken. Seeing the two women headed toward the chicken, one hollered out, “You two ain’t gonna be able to catch that chicken.”
Well, those two certainly didn’t know Kathy or Brandy because, quick as lightning, Brandy had bagged the banty hen in the net and had it slung over her shoulder, in the car, and was headed to the house.
Kathy’s had lots of chicken-raising experience so she calmed the chicken and gave it proper chicken food and water, then clipped its wing.
Noticing my shock at the mention of clipping the bird’s wing, Kathy said that’s what you do to keep the banty from flying off and getting itself in more trouble.
The bantam chicken, or banty chicken, is not actually a true breed but more describes its size. They are small chickens, about one-third to one-fifth the size of a regular chicken. Their eggs are smaller too. They aren’t usually raised for their eggs but more often for show. Suppliers sell banty chickens for about $4.69 each.
It’d be interesting to know who lost a banty hen at the Shell Station, even though this little chicken now has a good safe home — but you know what they say about chickens, “Finders keepers, losers weepers.”
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