There is a Rooster in my Bathtub

Those of you who have followed the blog for a good long time - like back forever ago when it was nice and sunshiny out - know that we love our chickens around here.

A lot.

So when we got home from school one Friday afternoon and noticed that S1's dear beloved rooster, Broadhead, was not himself, there was no question what we would do.

We brought him in the house.

And put him where all sick chickens go....

In the bathtub.

He apparently was tired of winter (aren't we all), had given up on ever seeing green grass and eating bugs again (I have about too - the green grass part, not the eating bugs part).

To be honest, I really did not think he was going to make it. I tried to prepare S1 for this.

S1 shut himself away in the bathroom (have I mentioned we only have ONE bathroom?) and held his little loved rooster and spoke words of encouragement to him.

That little rooster took his words to heart, soaked in the warmth of his body, and seemed to get stronger.

It helped that S1 brought him a bowl of the most delicious kitchen scraps and fresh water.

Oh the picture? Yes, you did see that, didn't you? Well, the boys thought that perhaps if Broadhead could see the sunshine, he might think it WAS the sunshine and it would speed his recovery. Which apparently worked, because Broadhead is still struttin'.

Of course, there was no way we could toss the finally warm rooster out into the cold, I knew that S1's heart would break if we did. And honestly, I wasn't totally sure if he would make it still. As I told my husband, Broadhead just wasn't acting very chickeney.

And my husband, used to my unusual love of chickies, never batted an eye that I knew if a chicken was sick or that it was, indeed, living in the tub and spending the night in the house.

S1's brothers, however, were THRILLED that Broadhead was living in the tub because the longer he stayed in the house, the longer they could go without a bath.

That night we put Broadhead on the enclosed porch of our house that is cold - granted - but a relative heat wave compared to the outside. We agreed he would stay in the house overnight, the weekend at the very most.

That was, as I said before, two weeks ago.

Broadhead is still living in the kennel on the porch. There was the blizzard, of course, and the cold temps that we have right now, so here he stays. (although Hubs has been watching the 15 day forecast, Broadhead may be out in the coop for a Valentine's Day gift). The funny thing is, he has gotten rather fond of us now.

When we all pile in the door, he crows a greeting of hello. When we flick on the lights in the morning, he crows a merry good morning to us. When we make too much noise (like all the time around here) he crows to let us know he can hear us.

And while it is totally silly, I really like having Broadhead rooster in the house. He makes me happy....

While making us total hillbillies.

I mean, what other family has a ROOSTER living in their HOUSE????

Um, us.

Here is a youtube for you, it's Broadhead saying hello. He crowed right in the beginning but after that he stayed mum so once you hear him crow, all else you'll hear is me pleading with him but nothing ever happens. Sorry, I didn't know how to shorten it.

If you all want to swing by sometime between now and Valentine's Day, we'll bring Broadhead out for you to meet. He's skyped a few times with a few of our friends, he' really fond of conversation I think.