March 7, 2009

Pullet Surprise

A post from yesterday inspired me to record a few found stories I've collected that get passed around to farmers. This one, whose authorship is now a mystery, came into my box via the Certified Organic Association of British Columbia's (COABC)Listserve. If anyone knows the source of this, let me know and I'll attribute it (to I expect) the clever farmer.


John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets', and ten roosters to fertilize the egg. He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced. This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters.
Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.

John's favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! When he went to investigate he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could run for cover. To John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges. The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

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