Mets' chicken 'Little Jerry Seinfeld' sent down to farm

The New York Mets have retired "Little Jerry Seinfeld"— the chicken whose 15 minutes of fame has come to pass— and will send him from the big leagues down to the farm.

The clucking good luck charm will not end up as someone's feather duster or Josh Beckett's mid-game locker room snack after the bird was handed over at Citi Field to an upstate New York animal sanctuary by Mets pitcher Tim Byrdak— who bought the fowl as a prank on Friday night.

Little Jerry found himself a new home," said Byrdak before the bird was handed over to the Farm Sanctuary of Watkins Glen.  "He avoids the fryer and the oven and everything else you can cook a chicken with."

After the Mets mascot pooped on Byrdak, the lefthander joked, "Just think, you could have ended up on someone's dinner table."

Byrdak had a friend buy the $8 bird from a Chinatown market as a good luck charm after Mets closer Frank Francisco called the New York Yankees "chickens" before this weekend's Subway Series.  Little Jerry's usefulness lasted only one game before the Mets dropped the the final two games to their crosstown rivals.

It's probably a good thing LJ got taken away by the animal lovers so soon. Francisco said he was upset to see Little Jerry go.

"I was planning on making chicken-noodle soup," he said.

He could use it too— a lot of it.  The big closer injured his left oblique and was placed on the the 15-day disabled list.

Somewhere, somehow karma is involved in all this.