Playing Chicken

Rude Awakening

As residents of the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will attest, roosters don't only crow at dawn. According to some, one bird began its round-the-clock screeching after it mysteriously arrived in the area more than a year ago. Since then, civilians and animal control employees have unsuccessfully tried to nab it. The feathered fugitive eventually settled on the property of one unlucky man, Henry Gaston. Citing a local housing code ban on roosters, a judge ordered Gaston multiple times to capture the animal, granting con-tinuances when he failed. If he ever succeeds, Gaston is sure to become the squawk of the town.

Music Therapy

Ed Sheeran must be chuffed: His fan base has swelled by approximately a quarter-million birds-seriously. Hens at James Potter Yorkshire Free Range Eggs in Thirsk, England, have been listening to the British singer while laying eggs since early 2016. Co-owner Adrian Potter has played many types of music to relax the brood (classical, jazz and even Justin Bieber), and insists that Sheeran's is the most conducive to egg laying. The science is a little murky (Potter jokes that the correlation might have something to do with the auburn plumage Sheeran shares with his winged superfans), but the farmer maintains, "When Ed is playing, the hens start laying."

Bold Move

Why did the chicken try to cross the road? That's what the police wanted to know after concerned motorists called them in to rescue a daring hen trying to traverse a busy street in Dundee, Scotland, last October. A Facebook post seeking information about the animal's provenance drew punny responses, but it didn't lead the authorities to the fowl's owner. The bird was eventually handed off to the Scottish SPCA, proving that if venturing forth doesn't get you to the other side, it at least leads to shelter, grain and warm bedding.