Why do the chickens cross the road?

Lauren Mueller only wishes she knew the answer.

For more than three weeks, a brood of chickens has been spotted strutting along and even across  State Highway 20 near Coupeville, ruffling drivers’ feathers in the process.

And, it seems, each time there’s a fresh sighting, Mueller’s phone rings.

Louise Mueller, Lauren’s mother and neighbor along Madrona Way, has raised chickens for more than half a century, but the ones raising a ruckus along the highway not far from their property line do not belong to her.

She and her daughter believe the chickens are all roosters and were dumped near the highway shortly before Thanksgiving.

Both are concerned the chickens, which have been seen dodging traffic on the highway, pose a safety hazard to passing motorists and have notified Island County Animal Control, the sheriff’s department, the Department of Fish and Wildlife and just about anyone else they can think of to try to find a solution to get them out of harm’s way.

But so far, they say they’ve encountered little help and no solid advice on what to do.

“It’s really a danger to have them up there,” Louise Mueller said. “Someone could try to avoid a chicken and swerve in another lane and hit somebody else.”

Louise Mueller said she spoke with Carol Barnes, the county’s animal control officer, and found the matter to be a very low priority with no plan in place to catch the birds.

Barnes said she did visit the site and approached the chickens only to see them disperse in different directions. That only heightened her own concern about trying to catch them with the potential for chasing them into the highway and causing a traffic accident.

“Unfortunately, there are no services available for this type of situation,” Barnes said. “We do have (services) for large animals. But for this type of situation, we don’t have staffing or the capability or the equipment for that matter.

“Try catching five loose roosters. I can’t run that fast. It makes it a difficult situation. It’s not like we don’t care.”

Louise Mueller, who’s 85, said she asked for traffic-control assistance to aid in corralling the chickens but was rebuffed.

“She would have to call law enforcement to do that,” Barnes said.

Louise Mueller has tried to take matters into her own hands, scattering a trail of feed along an access road about a half mile long that cuts through the family’s properties on Madrona Way to the highway. The Muellers have had the land in their family since 1948 as Louise’s in-laws once owned the Captain Whidbey Inn.

After weeks of coaxing, Mueller succeeded in luring five chickens to her farm this week only to see them wander off again into the woods and back to the highway.

“I think they roost up there,” she said. “I think they only come down for breakfast.

“The chicken cafe is only a short distance away.”

As much as Louise Mueller and her daughter care about the birds’ welfare, they haven’t been able to catch them. Nor do they want them, if they do.

Once numbering eight, the chickens now appear to be down to five or six, and all are suspected to be roosters, which typically don’t get along well with one another in tight quarters.

The chickens appear to be Speckled Sussex, a popular decorative breed from England, according to Diane Tompkinson, who also raises chickens in Coupeville.

Ralph Downes, a Fish and Wildlife enforcement officer who lives on Whidbey Island, said he’s seen the chickens on the side of the highway less than a mile south from Libbey Road and theorizes along with the Muellers that they were purchased as chicks from a feed store and discarded after they grew up into unruly roosters.

“I’ve seen them a bunch of times,” he said. “They look like they might be roosters.”

“They’re so cute and fuzzy … and then they grow up,” Louise Mueller said.

Downes said he was surprised to see them appearing so healthy and lasting so long in the wild.

“Sooner or later, a raccoon or a coyote is going to get them,” he said.

That’s what the Muellers hope to prevent. They’ve set out traps to try to catch them but are looking for takers once they’re captured.

That is, if they can catch them. It’s only been this week that they’ve managed to lure them to their property.

“I don’t want the coyotes to kill them,” Lauren Mueller said.

Louise Mueller said that those interested in taking ownership of a chicken may reach her by calling 360-678-2111 or by emailing at louisemuelller@comcast.net

“We need to find a home for them,” she said.

That’s if any remain. One chicken didn’t make it across the road Tuesday.

“In Island County, there’s no code for loose chickens or roosters,” Barnes said.

“But at the same time, that doesn’t mean you don’t care.”