We all know the old joke that asks \u201cwhy did the chicken cross the road\u201d but in Ocean Grove, people want to know why the chicken went surfing.<\/p>\n
Well, it is a fun summer holiday activity, even for hens.<\/p>\n
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If everybody had a notion: Elaine Janes and her surfing hen, Mrs Chook.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Justin McManus<\/cite><\/p>\n And local chicken fancier Elaine Janes believes it\u2019s unfair to confine her pet chooks to a backyard pen.<\/p>\n They need to get out into the world, she reckons, and why not go surfing? And Mrs Chook, a Plymouth Rock breed hen, has been surfing at Ocean Grove main beach, sparking double-takes and some welcome laughs.<\/p>\n Ms Janes, 76, said when she retired as a motor trade saleswoman, she vowed to challenge herself and try new things, and she applies this to her chooks as well.<\/p>\n She\u2019s taken a chicken skateboarding, canoeing on the Barwon River and riding on Geelong\u2019s Giant Sky Wheel.<\/p>\n Ms Janes often takes Mrs Chook swimming in shallow waves at Ocean Grove beach and loves to sit with up to 10 chickens on a bench at Point Lonsdale, where people photograph and talk to them.<\/p>\n The birds are well known at the Groove Cafe in Ocean Grove, where they sip babyccinos.<\/p>\n Ms Janes says going out is good for the birds\u2019 mental health. \u201cIt would be very boring, being a chook stuck in a yard.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaw-drops and wide smiles are the common reactions from humans including surfer Lauren Taylor, 20, at the beach on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a bit startled. I did not expect to come down here at 8 o\u2019clock in the morning and see a chicken surfing,\u201d Ms Taylor said, and declared the hen \u201can absolutely great surfer\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully I can be as good as the chicken one day.\u201d<\/p>\n Seeing Mrs Chook swimming, Scott Vildovas, 46, said the chicken seemed to enjoy it, but it was a \u201cpretty mad\u201d sight.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess ducks and seagulls swim, but you\u2019re used to seeing [hens] on farms laying eggs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Is that a chook? Beachgoers quiz Elaine Janes, left, as her hen Mrs Chook dries off.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Justin McManus<\/cite><\/p>\n Ms Janes said only Mrs Chook has the desire, and sleek feathers, to swim. \u201cFrom the look on her face, she loves it,\u201d Ms Janes said. \u201cShe\u2019s relaxed and contented.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I get her out of the water, I wrap her in a towel, like a baby, and she sits beside me while I put my socks and shoes on.\u201d<\/p>\n The surfing started on December 11, aided by an instructor from Surf Sessions surfing school.<\/p>\n Ms Janes repeated the feat with the help of bemused passerby Ms Taylor on Thursday.<\/p>\n Now for coffee: Elaine Janes, left, with chooks at Groove Cafe, Ocean Grove.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Justin McManus<\/cite><\/p>\n Ms Janes said Mrs Chook \u201ctook to it like a duck to water\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cShe fears nothing because I think she knows she\u2019s safe, it\u2019s safe with me. If you put her there, that\u2019s what she\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n She said chooks like being given a task, however \u201cif they don\u2019t like something, they\u2019re not going to do it\u201d.<\/p>\n Ms Janes, who goes to ballet class and volunteers at the Potato Shed theatre and writes stories for the Humans In Geelong website, said she has no family, so the chooks she owns are like children, and they go where she goes.<\/p>\n Elaine Janes\u2019 hen Flapper riding a skateboard.<\/span>Credit:<\/span>Elaine Janes<\/cite><\/p>\n Using eye contact, hand gestures and even touching her nose to their beaks, Ms Janes has trained them to \u201cstay\u201d if she pops into a shop, and to tolerate being patted.<\/p>\n She said they may play up at home, but in public, \u201cthey can be so well behaved and perfect angels\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI love my chooks,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd you can tell, they\u2019re waiting to go out, thinking like \u2018what are we doing next\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s says being called locally \u201cthe chook whisperer\u201d makes her laugh and she loves that people come up to her to chat. \u201cIt does make people smile. It makes them feel happy, and I feel happy too, and so do the chooks.\u201d<\/p>\n The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights.<\/i><\/b> Sign up here<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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