![\"IMG_4838\"](\"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_4838.jpg\")
<\/a>Waldo the Rooster<\/p><\/div>\n
Darkness is settling on the franch. \u00a0I click on the flashlight. \u00a0\u201cWhere is\u2026that\u2026chicken?\u201d \u00a0I\u2019m tired tonight. \u00a0My eldest daughter beside me doesn\u2019t mind that we\u2019re still searching since its way past her bedtime. \u00a0The missing chicken has been nameless for a few weeks. \u00a0It was once called Jayda after my daughter\u2019s sweet girl friend. \u00a0But, that was when we thought all the chicks in our latest batch were hens. \u00a0You see, we had mistakenly ordered a \u201cstraight run.” \u00a0For those of you who don\u2019t know a thing about chickens, that means \u201cjust as hatched\u201d and \u201cnot sexed.\u201d \u00a0Or, to put it another way, ordering a \u201cstraight run\u201d means you may be back at the grocery store buying farm fresh eggs when all your chicks turn out to be roosters. \u00a0Roosters don\u2019t lay eggs no matter how much you spent on your trendy chicken coop. \u00a0We began to suspect that we had a rooster when the chick grew a\u00a0big red comb and wattle. \u00a0When the crowing began three months later, we knew for certain. \u00a0We\u2019ve never had a rooster and we didn\u2019t want one \u2013 it was time to find him a new home. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to give him up though \u2013 the new batch of chicks were a birthday present to our youngest daughter and he\u2019s turned out to be really friendly. \u00a0He certainly does what roosters do. \u00a0He is very, very eager to start the day as early as possible. \u00a0But, I find the crowing peaceful \u2013 maybe I am\u00a0made to be a farmer after all. \u00a0The only thing that really frustrates me about him is that he can\u2019t find his way back to the coop at night. \u00a0I tell my kids that I don\u2019t think he\u2019s very bright. \u00a0My kids tell me he just needs a haircut. \u00a0He is a Polish Top Hat chicken with a very full bouffant of feathers on his head. \u00a0So, I must admit that he may keep getting lost simply because he can\u2019t see through all those feathers. \u00a0But, come on, am I really supposed to give a chicken a haircut? \u00a0And, to make matters worse, ever since the rooster arrived, some of our older hens have chosen not to return to the coop for the night. \u00a0Maybe they\u2019re all love-struck hoping for a late night rendezvous. \u00a0So every night lately we play a game of seek-n-find with our rooster and some hens. \u00a0Some nights they\u2019re all over the franch. \u00a0We\u2019ll find\u00a0hens\u00a0wandering the pasture in the dark. \u00a0There\u2019s one hen that loves to hide in the overgrown asparagus bush. \u00a0Sometimes we find them all\u00a0roosting in our peach tree. \u00a0Tonight, we finally locate the rooster and a few hens trying to sleepover with the ducks. \u00a0I tell my daughter on the way back from hand-carrying them to the coop that these searches remind me of the \u201cWhere\u2019s Waldo?\u201d books by Martin Handford that I liked growing up. \u00a0We agree that Waldo is the perfect new name for our wacky rooster! \u00a0I ignore my daughter when she mentions we should\u00a0order one of those Waldo books from Amazon \u2013 I\u2019ve had enough of looking for Waldo.<\/p>\n