Only in Ethiopia

            I found myself in the strangest situation yesterday. Let me set this up for you. There is a foreign family that lives on my street and whenever they go out of town they ask me to stop by their house to check up on their dog (Most Ethiopians are afraid of dogs so this is why I do it and also, I really like this dog so I enjoy doing it). These same friends of mine have a chicken coop in their compound with 3 chickens and 1 rooster. I have never had issues with any of these animals… well that is until yesterday.

            As soon as I entered the compound I could tell something was up. The dog wasn’t in its normal spot, but instead was by the corner of the house ready to pounce. As I looked around I saw that the rooster was no longer in the coop, but instead had found a way to get on top of it. Then, I realized there was only 1 chicken in the coop. After more inspection I found random feathers all around the compound. I looked at the dog and just imagined the worse. At this point I started looking around for pieces of the missing chickens I assumed had been massacred by the dog. I kept picturing chicken parts scattered around the house and began to panic a little. To my surprise and relief, I finally found the chickens behind the house. I’m sure they were beyond scared of the dog.

 At first I thought, well if the dog hasn’t slaughtered any of them yet, what are the chances that it will now? On second thought though, I’d look like a pretty bad dog sitter if I had knowingly left the chickens and the rooster out with the dog. My neighbors wouldn’t be back for a couple more days so who knew what could happen in that time frame and what the dog would do overnight?

            So I preceded to get both the chickens and the rooster who would not stop screaming back into the coop. I have never in my life dealt with chickens except when enjoying a good meal of course. I don’t do live chickens, but in that moment I knew I had to find a way to get a hold of them. I tried grabbing one but that scared me so I got hold of a nice long stick instead to lead them into the coop. I looked like such an idiot running around after some chickens with a stick in my hand trying to get it back in the cage. After several minutes the dog finally figured out what I was doing and helped me. Poor chickens! They were traumatized. They had no idea what was going. After getting the chickens in the coop it was time for the rooster. Boy was that a challenge. Remember, the rooster was on top of the coop. I had no idea how to get it down. I decided to scare it by hitting my stick against the tin roof. When I thought it would never get down it finally did, and then started running hysterically around the compound with both me and dog following it. At this point I had to stop and take in the moment. I couldn’t help but start laughing. I felt pretty dumb running after a really loud rooster, alongside a dog with a stick in my hand. It was all too comical. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the rooster got up into the coffee tree. How? I have no idea but it did so once again I had to think of a way to get it down. I tried grabbing it but that didn’t work. So then I just started shaking the tree to get it down. I do feel really bad for that rooster because at the bottom of the tree was the dog waiting for it.

            I’m happy to say that after a good 30 minutes, the dog and I succeeded in getting all the chickens and the rooster back inside their home. I don’t know if they’ll be laying any eggs anytime soon for having been traumatized, but I can say they are all safe and sound. Only in Ethiopia would I find myself running around after some chickens and a rooster.     

The dog running after the rooster

The rooster somehow got up into the coffee tree