His name was Ginger...

Just call me the mother of all living. To preface this story I will say, I have a BIG heart for animals. It's just who I am. Always have been and always will be an animal freak!

One day DH, DD and I were walking to get a rental car and on the way we passed a place that sold live chickens for consumption. I was horrified! An animal activist of sorts and at the time a vegetarian I felt just sick inside. Where was I? I felt like I was in a third world country, not in NY city. You could actually see them all tightly packed in their cages, and I swear I even watched a man walk out with chicken feet sticking out of a bag.

My DH urged that we move on so we did. It took a bit to get our car and DD was bored, so I told DH I would meet him on the corner. I didn't want to pass this place again, for fear I would NEVER recover. As I started to cross to the other side of the street I look up and see about 100 feet in front of me a chicken running towards me yelling "HELP ME, HELP ME"! Without hesitation I sprang into action. I pushed my daughter in her stroller over to the side and corralled this chicken to a nearby porch of a house. I did what any good wife is supposed to do, I called my DH and told him what happened, and he knowing me so well and confirming yet again why I married him in the first place said, "grab her we will take her home". That is all I needed to hear and I continued on with what I had started.

I threw my daughters blanket over the chicken and ran to the corner, my DH drove up and we all jumped in! It was quite a rush. Now, I am going to stop here and squash any notion that I stole this chicken. That was the reaction of some when telling this story. I did not steal the chicken. I had no intention of eating it. I didn't take it from the establishment. For all I know, it was just a random chicken on the street. In need of my help. I like to view it as I rescued the chicken.

Anyways, we got home and luckily where we lived the basement was unfinished, so my DH and I made a home for her down there. We named her Ginger from the movie Chicken Run. I had no idea what to feed her or how to tend to her, I have never had chickens before. So I just guessed she would like corn and oats and made her a yummy dinner which she ate right up. She was so cute and soooo sweet. She followed us around the basement and would sit on my lap. She was like a dog. I could tell she was so thankful to have been rescued.

On nice days we put her in the back yard which she loved. She became part of the family. About 8 months passed, she had grown up nice and big. So big in fact that I was beginning to get suspicious. She ate a ton and was doing strange things with her food and kicking it around her pen. She also took on a bit of a different appearance. One morning it became clear why the changes. She woke us up with a COCK A DOODLE DO!!

Ginger was a rooster.

So funny! I took, I mean rescued one of their roosters! It was over the next couple months that I realized it was time to find a home for Ginger. (I couldn't change his name, we had been calling him/her that for months.) I began calling different rescues and shelters and people laughed at my story and felt bad, but no one was willing or able to help me. I learned that they are hard to have on a farm. Evidently you can't have more than one. They fight. And they are loud. Which we had discovered when he cock a doodle dood all day and night!

I finally found a lady that said "bring him out". To me this lady was a saint. She had about 200 rescued animals at her house. The smell was out of this world, but wow, she was so awesome for doing all that she did for animals. She had a handful of chickens and a couple other roosters, but she thought it would work. We spent a few hours out there with her and all her animals. Time came for us to say our tearful goodbyes.

When we got home, I missed him. I still day dream that we can get him in another year and take him to California with us. I am certain he is happy and in a very good place. I got to be his foster mother for 10 months. The best part of this story I had to save for the end is the lady with the big heart... lives in the Hamptons. Yep, from the streets of Queens to the luxury of the Hamptons!! Enjoy the good life Ginger. You are now living better than most of us ever will!