So I went to the till, money in hand and told the lovely lady that I was there to collect my eggs. Cash handed over, my first job was done. I had a few days before they needed to be heated, which would be plenty of time to find a thermometer, after all they are ten a penny. Anyway, pulling out of the parking space, some neighbour hating, mystical force cast some sort of spell over the driver, who turned to me and said "Shall we see if they have a cockerel?" Ohhh, the neighbours are going to like this, I thought to myself, but agreed in principle.
Off we trotted back to the till and asked if they had any cockerels, this was obviously a much more difficult question than we had thought, as the wonderful lady who had been so helpful before did not have a clue, it was as if we had spoken a completely alien language. Off she popped to find out what this strange person at the front of her garden centre was talking about --- she had gone to get the 'BIG GUNS'.
Well, the chap that came out was not as confused as the woman had been. He said that they had a few cockerels and that we had confused them, because no-one ever wanted one – wonder why???
Anyhoo, he took us straight to a beautiful, but seemingly bored Poland cockerel. This poor boy was pacing up and down and round and round his cage which really was on the small side. “Had to separate him from the others ‘cos he was getting a bit frisky.” We nodded in the hope it was a knowing nod. “Normally I sell cockerels for a fiver, but he's twenty - 'cos he's so rare” Well I was willing to pay it and take him home and introduce him to the girls, but alas this was not to be…
“I really wanted a proper cockerel, something like that one there” my normally quiet driver piped up while pointing to a Legbar cock bird at the far end of the field. He did not have any of those, but he did have a Russian Orloff that we could have for a fiver. This bird was not quite as pretty as the Poland had been, but he was still a rather good looking chap. The driver seemed pleased. Then they started talking about cockerels and someone mentioned Rhode Island Red (If I am honest I had switched off at this point). Well, this lead to driver getting very, very excited and saying yup, he would have one of them.
I switched back on again when we got to the Rhode enclosure, they were so small and still tweeting like chicks. I saw a bird and fell in love with it. While the two men discussed the finer points of sexing young birds, I picked him out. He was the biggest by a small amount and the darkest and he had the biggest eyes. I promptly pointed him out to the men, who were still debating the best method of distinguishing a cockerel from a pullet and they agreed he was a good choice. So when he finally allowed himself to be caught, Sarge was boxed up, paid for and secured in the back of the car.
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| Our Sarge a few days after his arrival |
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