Our Game Bird License covered all Game Birds so besides raising several types of quail we also tried raising Chucker partridge. They were beautiful grey and black birds with red legs. Larger than the quail, they were more expensive to feed and hard to keep. When they failed to breed for us we decided to keep them to show at the county fair and named them Romeo and Juliet.
One day I was carrying a large feeder into the pen and Juliet got out. Chuckers prefer running to flying when hunted and only fly in short low bursts. True to form she took off running across the street with the entire family in hot pursuit. We must have been a sight running around the block with a large fish net. Finally Juliet took off, clearing a small tree and landing on the roof of a house one block over. We all just stood there looking up at the roof. We didn’t know the owners of the house and they didn’t seem to be home so we debated the penalty for climbing on someone’s roof without their permission.
My husband suddenly said he had an idea and disappeared down the street towards home. When he came back he was carrying a double sided cage with Romeo in it. He set it down on the front lawn with the empty side open and told everyone to be quiet. Just then the homeowners drove up to see my entire family holding vigil in their front yard. Needless to say it was a little awkward to explain but they seemed more amused than upset when they saw Juliet on their roof. We all stood silently and waited. Unbelievably Romeo started to call and Juliet answered. She launched herself from the roof straight toward the cage. She walked right in happy to be near Romeo again and we quickly shut the door behind her. I will never forget that devoted pair and I don’t think our neighbors will either.
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