This Vacation Was For the Birds! Literally!

by Naomi Bergner
(Cocoa, FL)

We had found the perfect spot to rest and rejuvenate, Cloud Nine Relaxation Home in Fairview North Carolina, just outside of Asheville. With two hundred acres on the property to explore and fabulous views of the Blue Ridge Parkway, we looked forward to a quite get-away in nature. Our host, Janet, was friendly and accommodating and proudly told us all about her farm.

One thing she did ask was that we save our scraps for the chickens that resided on the property. She even encouraged us to feed them. That sounded like big fun for a couple of city folks, so my honey and I carried our scraps down to the chicken house one day. We were having a great time watching them peck and scratch, until we noticed that we had left the gate open and a few of the birds had escaped. No big deal, we thought. We'll just put them back in.

Rounding up reluctant chickens is far harder than it looks. The birds did not want to go back into the coop. We chased and herded them for a good twenty minutes until we came to the conclusion that we would just have to pick them up and toss them in. And so we finally managed to coral all of the critters into their home, with no harm to them and only our pride damaged.

When Janet strolled by as we were catching our breath, we apologetically explained what had happened. She informed us that they came out all the time, it was no problem. No wonder the chickens had been so perturbed we when insisted they go back into their cage! We had a good laugh about this adventure, and I'm sure Janet enjoyed telling the story of the silly city folks to all her farmer friends.