Monday, April 25, 2016

Man who rescued grilled chicken has now enjoyed first omelette made from her eggs

A man who recovered a clucking chicken from between the grille and the radiator on the front of his car a day after he accidentally ran it over has now enjoyed his first omelette made from the hen's eggs. On Sunday morning, Mark Kreling, 47, from Shelly Beach, Auckland, New Zealand, enjoyed a tomato omelette made from two fresh eggs laid by the adopted family pet over the last two days, the first eggs the chicken has laid since the incident five weeks ago. It was "very nice", he said, "not bad".



Mr Kreling was surprised to spot a handful of white feathers sticking out the front of the radiator grille of his car, and see the chicken he'd run over the day before staring back at him through the grille. "The chook had gone through the plastic and survived," he said. "It was trapped in the bonnet and was eyeballing me and clucking." Mr Kreling hit the bird when it ran in front of his car near Helensville. "I hit it straight on and I heard and felt the impact," he said. "I thought I had taken it out."





The next day as he was taking his rubbish bin out he heard the clucking from the car bonnet and saw the feathers. "I saw the little eyes looking at me and realised the chook was alive," he said. "It must have gone straight through the radiator grille when I hit it and the mesh closed behind it. It was like it was in a wee cage and it probably survived the night because of the heat from the radiator. I chucked some bread in and it ate it." Mr Kreling freed the bird by cutting through the grille with garden shears and took it to a vet where it was found to have a dislocated leg but was otherwise in good health.





Impressed with the hen's resilience, Mr Kreling named her Blessy because she was blessed to have survived. He then built her a hutch in his back garden. He was delighted when Blessy laid her first eggs since the accident. "She is a bit of a miracle hen and I feel duty bound to keep her," he said. "She is quite a character." He had yet to hear from any potential owners, but said if they did come forward he joked they could "pay me $511 for the damage to the grille", and the vet's bills, he said. "It's up to them", he added laughing. But if no-one comes forward, he will keep Blessy. However, the hen was "still hobbling ... like an old lady on a zimmer-frame, [but] she goes alright," he added.

There's a video here.

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