At Chicken Corner it seems only correct to start out this new time of hope with some news about chickens -- good chickens, bad chickens, hard-luck chickens who inspire and instruct. ... In any case, this week's chicken came to my attention on an Echo-Elysian list serv under the subject line "Big Mean Rooster Needs a Home." This being Echo Park, it was not a joke. The rooster's name is Athena. He is named, presumably, after the mythic female warrior-protector of Athens. One thing we know for sure: Athena the Greek goddess couldn't have been any prettier than our boy who lives in Glendora. (See photo, above.)

According to Scott Rubell:

I have friends with a big violent rooster. They need to find a new home for him. His name is Athena. He's big. He will attack if you turn your back, but he's very friendly with his owners, sitting on their arm and eating out of hand. I have offered to take him, but they won't give him to me. [They're afraid he will cook the poor guy.] They really want someone who will appreciate him as a live chicken. So, anyone who doesn't get many visitors, or doesn't mind the liability, contact me and I'll put you in touch.

Naturally, Chicken Corner needed to know more. So an email went out to Scott, who has lived in Montecito Heights for nine years. Scott provided more information:

The couple who owns this chicken ... moved to this place where chickens roam (the farm I grew up on) and now they take care of the chickens like they were precious children. It's kind of endearing, except their unconditional love extends to this big mean rooster. I don't blame the rooster, of course. He's just doing whatever his nature tells him to do, but on the other hand, who can own a rooster like that? He's a liability. ... I have offered to take him, but they don't trust me [not to cook him], so I'm trying to help them place him to a "good home."

I asked why the rooster couldn't just live with the people who loved him, and Scott replied:

Because they are living in a unique situation where they cannot control or predict who comes on the property. It belongs to the Glendora Historical Society and tours can arrive at any time. It's a semi-public place. It would be sort of like having an attack animal roaming El Alisal. The last person to get freaked out by Athena was a movie location guy for the show "Heroes." You can see some pictures of scenes they shot there on this page.

See the stone walls. They were using the property as a scene set in Haiti and showed the episode a month ago. If you saw the show, you could hear Athena crowing in the background.

Anyway, I am one of the agents taking care of the place and I had to tell the tenants to either transplant Athena or keep him incarcerated 24 hours a day. The coop he occupies is rather large, but they still don't like to keep him in there, so wish for a good home.

The story gets more convoluted the more you ask.

I guessed that was my cue to stop asking or to really dig in and ask more. There's no telling where a good, convoluted rooster story like Athena's could lead.

Here's another Athena photo: