"Quick! Catch that Chicken!"

Most people buy or raise their chickens. At least that's what I've always assumed. I myself have never bought or hatched a live chicken. Instead, I catch them or adopt them from schools. It's not the most predictable or flexible route toward chicken farming, but so far it's worked for me.

I remember well the call from a friend, "I saw some chickens out on the greenbelt. They're going to be dead if somebody doesn't catch them." So my sister and I packed the kids and a large dog crate in the minivan and went chicken hunting.  Those chickens made up my original flock of three--quickly named by the kids Ellie, Zebie, and Heather. But that's not the only chicken hunting we've done. Oh, no.

One Sunday, we went to brunch at Cafe Brazil on Greenville Ave. in Dallas. Think busy, urban, overcrowed--in other words, not pastoral.  Nevertheless, as we're walking in, we spot a small red hen pecking between parked cars behind the restaurant. The chicken is faster than we are and wants nothing to do with us. It gets into a dumpster enclosure out of our reach, and we go in for brunch, letting the chicken fly out of our minds.

After a lovely, decadent brunch, we left Cafe Brazil and found the little red chicken still pecking around between the parked cars and the dumpster. We are certainly no faster after our yummy breakfast than we were before it, but perhaps the children was getting thirsty and tired, because after climbing around cars and behind bushes, we finally managed to trap the frantic little hen.  (Andrew immediately named her Foxy to prevent any possibility that she would be eaten.)

Believe it or not, that little red chicken--who we later learned was named Middleton--found her way back home to her friend chicken Pippa. Middleton had been a runaway before, but East Dallas' backyard chicken lovers helped reconnect little Middleton with her family.

We've helped stray dogs get back to their families before, but I don't think a rescue was ever more exciting (and certainly not more funny) than the great chicken chase on Greenville Ave. that Saturday morning.

Happy New Year, Middleton.