Facebook posts and tweets hit news feeds around the Valley over the weekend claiming King House Buffet in downtown Fargo was no longer open because live chickens were found in the restaurants basement.

However, despite those numerous claims, the 'open' sign is still lit up and customers continue in and out the doors.

So, what's with the rumors?

We talked with Fargo Cass Public Health today and they say on May 8th, they were tipped-off about live pigeons living in the basement of King House Buffet.

When health inspectors arrived, they did in fact find live pigeons downstairs held in a cage. It's unclear just how many birds were found.

Health officials say the pigeons were kept privately and separately from the restaurant's food operations, and explained to buffet staff why the birds had to be separated from the building entirely. Officials say that task was completed cooperatively.

The health department says the buffet was not closed down that day due to the birds found. However, during that day's investigation, there were several items observed by inspectors that needed to be corrected.

Health officials say the restaurant chose to temporarily close on May 9th during lunch time to fix those issues, and those corrections were verified and given the green light by inspectors that same day.

We also talked with King House Buffet's owners today. They didn't want to go on camera, but say since Friday they've taken over 15 calls from pranksters. They say the prank callers ask if they can buy dog or rat meat from the buffet's basement, while others ask how many live chickens they can get on sale.

They didn't know why the calls were happening, until we showed them some of the social media posts.

One reads, "King House BUffet got shut down for having live chickens in the basement? What you people call 'unsanitary' I call 'fresh'"

The buffet has kept a tally of the four phone numbers behind the calls and say they've told Fargo Police about them as well.

We tried calling those four alleged prankster numbers, however, no one returned our calls.