No, sorry, nope, no. Nobody wins. What’s in the box? Why, a rooster, of course! What else would you keep in a toilet box in your laundry room? Sheesh!

Thereby hangs a tale.

The rooster’s name is Absalom, and he’s a beautiful Buff Brahma bantam bubbling with bluster and bursting with bouyant bravado. So much so that when our new rooster (also named Absalom because we like the name) arrived, Absalom I chased him round and round the poultry yard even though he’s about three times as big. Jess had to separate them until she could capture Absalom I and put him in the toilet box in which the full-sized Absalom had arrived.

Why the swaparoo? We don’t want a bantam rooster because we don’t want a bantam flock. We want the big ‘uns. Jess found somebody on Freecycle that wanted a bantam rooster, so she captured Absalom yesterday and put him in the box. Then, because it was so cold outside last night, we put the box in the laundry room. Jess and I thought it was so funny we had to take a picture.

The deposed Absalom started crowing this morning at 5:26. I do believe we had the only crowing toilet box in the county. The kids opened the laundry door to investigate and reported that he makes an odd “mewing” noise, very soft, after each crow. After breakfast (breakfast burritos for us and cracked corn for him) he loaded up with the kids and me and rode into town to meet his new owner, who took him home.

The new Absalom awoke to his harem (and two step-chicks, Tubaloth and Fang) this morning, down in the coop. Jess says he’s very gentle. Long live the king.