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.

Mets' chicken goes from 'Jeter' to 'Seinfeld'

Mets reliever Tim Byrdak has changed the name of his clubhouse chicken from "Little Derek Jeter" to "Little Jerry Seinfeld."  The $8 hen— Byrdak had a friend pick up in Chinatown— was renamed in honor of the Mets-loving comedian.

The bird was smuggled into the Mets clubhouse after closer Frank Francisco called the Yankees "chickens" on Thursday.

"I told him [Francisco] the Yankees sent it over for him.  He had a look of concern," said Byrdak.

The name Jeter didn't last long — and the team decided to rename the feathered mascot.

"We're going to call him Little Jerry Seinfeld," said team prankster Byrdak— in a nod to the episode of "Seinfeld" which Kramer buys a what he thinks is an egg-laying hen but turns out to be a cockfighting rooster.

Seinfeld weighed in on his bird-brained namesake last night  and told The New York Post," As much as I enjoy the Byrdak humor, he should be aware Little Jerry Seinfeld is no chicken."

Byrdak said he had a buddy buy the bird  from a poultry market in Chinatown and believes it helped the Mets win the first game of the Subway Series Friday night.

Last night, Little Jerry Seinfeld laid a big, fat egg and the Mets lost 4-3.  

The chicken's 15-minutes of fame might be coming to an end, but Byrdak won't let Little Jerry end up in a KFC bucket.

"Does anyone live on a farm that could take a chicken off my hands?" Byrdak tweeted last night.

For now, the feathered friend was in a cage in "a restricted area" of the clubhouse.

Mets reliever Tim Byrdak brings live chicken into clubhouse

Did Mets reliever Tim Byrdak prank his followers on Twitter or did the pitcher with the aviary-sounding last name actually buy a live chicken and bring it into the team's clubhouse?

Video evidence proves the latter but it still hard to tell.

After last night's 6-4 victory over the Yankees, Byrdak— the team jester— posted this message to 7,552 followers on his iPhone: "ok people I bought a chicken from China Town and now he is our mascot.....don't want to see him get whacked......please help!"

Well, that is a live chicken and it does appear to be the Mets clubhouse carpet so you can take it at face value.

After Frank Francisco called the Yankees "chickens" before the game and players did the Chicken Dance and played chicken-themed songs in his honor,  I guess the Mets' joker— who once dressed as Hulk Hogan— just might be crazy enough to bring a live farm animal into the locker room.

And the Chicken legend grows.