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Back when I was about 10 years old I used to have pet pigeons. When the family would go on trips to the mountains or the beach I would turn my pigeons loose once we reached our destination sometimes as much as 500 miles away and when we returned home the pigeons would be waiting in the same back yard my chickens live in today.

One day when I went to mow the lawn the old lawn mower that usually required 100 pulls of the starter cord, the mower cranked on the first pull. What was even more surprising was the blood, guts and feathers that came flying out from underneath. Luckily that wasn't the case for Gus and his hens but all three quickly found places to hide as soon as the mower roared to life. 

When I finished I took a break in my favorite lawn chair-- one I rescued from the garbage of a home on Cornwallis Drive in Greensboro's most exclusive upper crust neighborhood. This is the sort of lawn chair that if it could be bought today would probably cost $500.oo or more. The cost to repair it-- some salvaged lumber from an old shipping crate and she sits better than any lawn chair money can buy. It even rocks on its spring steel frame. One of these days I'll spend $5.oo on paint and a steel brush.

While seated there I saw Gus fly to the top of the fence next to the street. I'm used to seeing BB on fences and buildings but Gus rarely leaves the ground. To date none of the three have ever left the yard but I quickly called for Gus to get back on the ground. He didn't, at least not right away and when he did he started pacing back and forth and clucking as if he were nervous or upset. It was at that point I discovered BB was missing.

I quickly began my search all around the yard, outside the yard, in the street and everywhere else I could think to look and when I went back inside my yard Gus had also gone AWOL.

I've been collecting old glass and window panes for a couple of years now and I store them against the ivy covered fence behind my tool shed so they're out of site and protected from lawn mower rocks. I decided to look behind the stacks of glass.

After moving every one of the dozens of panes and sashes I've collected I found one very confused rooster and one patient little bantam hen trapped behind the glass. BB had gone inside with no problems but when Gus went in behind her he soon learned he was too big to turn around and going backwards was impossible as the ivy vines tangled in his feathers each time he shifted to reverse.

A few minutes later Elizabeth and BB laid two of the 5 eggs you see above. The bigger white egg is a grocery store Grade A Extra Large just for comparison. And just so you'll know, the bowl is placed on my kitchen floor covered in fake stone I made from salvaged materials about 6 years ago.