Matilda the Fryer

My first hen was named Matilda. I never intended to get a hen...it just happened.

One Saturday I went to the feed store to buy grain for my ducks. It was late in the day and there was a line of people waiting to check out. I was at the back of the store, in line, and in a cage was 3 hens...2 red ones and one white one.

I had never noticed adult hens in the feed store before and so I had to ask how they came to have them. When I inquired, the man that ownes the store opend the cage door and the white one jumped out and on to my shoulder. That one, he said, will be ready for the frying pan in about 2 weeks.

I was horrified that someone would buy this sweet, friendly hen to eat. As she balanced on my shoulder she made soft clucking noises as if to say ...hello, who are you?
The man explained to me that a little boy had gotten all three chickens for Easter and because they had gotten big, his dad said they had to go. He had brought them to the feed store a short time before and traded them for a kitten.

Needless to say, I left the feed store that day with a white hen. I was very nervous as to what my husband would say because I am notorious for bring home an assortment of creatures in need of help or a safe place to rest before going on to a forever home.

Well...my husband was less than pleased and very worried about what the neighbor would think if they saw a chicken in the yard. He made me promise I would keep it out of sight and so the white hen went to live in the garage.

My little boy would go visit with her after he got home form school and she was always so happy to see us she would run to greet us in almost a waltzing like way. The first time she did that all I could think of was the song, Waltzing Matilda and that's how she got her name.

It wasn't long befroe her charming ways won the heart of even my husband and it became clear that Matilda, the fryer, had found her forever home.

All the neighbors loved her too.

That was a great story, thanks for sharing it with us! I want to get some chickens some time!