What I See with Peter Fiorenza: Mate’s tale of Barry the missing rooster after chicken coop targeted by fox

At the moment, I understand there is a shortage of eggs. Why? Well, there has been a recent significant bird flu outbreak, and this has resulted in the culling of many laying hens across Australia. Which makes me think about the friends I know who have their own chooks. Some columns back, I wrote about mates Mark and Deb who were embarking on their own little backyard set up. I wrote about the Taj Mahal chicken coop and the specifics of each hen and their personalities. Quite amusing, to say the least. I’ll update you on our Bluff Point friends down the track, but this time around I want to write about another friend, Neil. Neil lives on somewhat of a hobby farm south of town. Apparently, he has a menagerie of animals from dogs to chooks and even a few kangaroos. It seems like he has two jobs — looking after his animals, being a high school teacher and, of course, supporting his family on top of that. The other day, I met Neil on the way into work. As usual, he greeted me with a smile. “Running a bit late to work today, Pete, a bit of a disaster at home, “ he said with a puzzled look on his face. “That’s no good, what happened?” “Well, I lost a lot of my chooks last night, attacked and killed by a fox. And to top it all off, Barry has gone missing.” He enlightened me to the fact that Barry was his rooster. The chooks were dead, but there was no sign of Barry anywhere. To be quite honest, my heart sank for Neil. “I’m always telling him to shut up and stop harassing the girls — he’s a bit of a bully, but now he’s gone, the place seems pretty quiet and empty,” he said. I haven’t touched base with Neil for a couple of days, so I’m not sure if there has been any closure in relation to Barry. Maybe the prize rooster was kidnapped? It just seems pretty strange that he is the only one missing from the coop. What the hell has happened to Barry? Did I mention that my mate Neil also looks after stray joeys and injured kangaroos too? People like Neil are great for our community. I do hope he finds Barry safe and well. Peter Fiorenza hosts Sports Shed Saturday (9am to noon) and Fiorenza on Sunday (10am to noon) on Radio MAMA.