By Sarah Chew (CityNews Vancouver)
Staff at a Vancouver seniors home discovered a chicken nesting on the home’s grounds, it even laid a couple of eggs.
The little Silkie chicken went missing on Sunday, and wound up on the grounds of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital on Tuesday. She was first spotted by a nurse working at the seniors home.
“I was in the dining room giving up medications like I usually do to some of the residents, and a couple of them sit right beside the window. And so we were chatting, and then I noticed something in the corner of my eye. And so I looked out the window there, and there was a chicken on the ground just kind of poking around eating some food,” said Devan Armour, a registered nurse at Louis Brier.
The chicken was kept away from the senior residents in case it carried any diseases, but staff have been keeping Peep well-fed, she even laid two eggs this week.
“She’s very friendly, and we’ve been feeding her oatmeal, dry oatmeal, and she’s so friendly that sometimes she can eat from my hand,” said Ben Magana, a maintenance worker at Louis Brier.
The home’s staff created a flyer advertising the lost chicken, whom they named Carmen. Eventually they tracked down the the chicken’s owner, who turned out to be a donor to the home’s foundation.
And about 15 minutes later, the owner, also known as her aunt, arrived at the home. Carmen’s name even turned out to be Peep!
“I’m like shaking. I’m so happy. This is really great. And you know what? I really now believe in social media more than anything else because we posted last night and here are the fliers that we were just about to put up and we’re going to get her back,” said Peep’s owner, Helena Kopelow.
Kopelow couldn’t contain her excitement upon seeing Peep again.
“Peep! Hi, Peep,” she said.
But Peep did not make it an easy reunion, the spry chicken got cold feet and didn’t want to leave her makeshift nest outside the seniors home. Eventually, with lots of rice and teamwork, the little hen was safely tucked into her crate to go home and join her feathery friends.
“We just missed her and we love her, and we’re very grateful that she was found. And that someone had checked on Facebook and that’s how she was found,” Kopelow added.
