Saturday, June 11, 2011

All Cooped Up In The City

Once upon a time there lived a Chick who grew up in the country. After falling in love, she married herself a handsome Prince who carried her off to the big city...and then to another city... not quite as big. The Chick was indeed a city girl who loved red shoes and all was good!

One fine day, The Chick and her Prince met a Fabulous Family who had a charming chicken coop filled with dazzling fowl. This mesmerized the Chick and her Prince so much that they decided to raise chickens themselves. In exchange, they convinced the Fabulous Family to keep bees.

Plans were soon hatched and The Prince contracted with The Teenager to be an apprentice coop builder. Because power tools were involved, The Teenager happily accepted!

Attention to detail was exhibited throughout the project. A bell was installed so Olivia and Henry may announce the discovery of freshly hatched eggs with a ringing throughout the land.

 Dangling water and food pails were filled and ready for use.

Hanging in a big city hardware store, The Fabulous Mom of The Fabulous Family discovered this giant perfect snowflake.

 A shopkeepers bill jingles softy as the red door is opened and closed.

A painted heart for the original "red one" because she is always on the minds of The Chick and The Prince. And because she would absolutely love this crazy, and whacked out idea of raising chicks in the city.

The Prince designed 4 nesting boxes where the hens will lay their eggs. The door swings open from the outside, so fresh eggs can be collected quickly and efficiently!

Approximately 100 trips to the local Home Depot were traveled during the construction process. The Prince refused to keep track of the cost of the coop...let's just say it put a dent in the royal coffers.

The Chick and The Prince have determined that raising hens requires lots of food and supplies. A secure cupboard was constructed to store it all!

The Prince made a proclamation that the only rooster allowed will be the one perched high on the roof of the coop.

Finally... after many rain delays...the Prince called for the moving in of the chickens.

General Tsao took command of the move and became the first hen to try out a nesting box.

The girls were giddy as they cackled about...discussing "cheep" decorating plans and exploring all the space their new coop contains.

Penguin was the first brave one to navigate the royal chicken ramp using those chicken feet and razor sharp toenails.

 A birds eye view of the chickens settling into their new palace.

The Chick got such a kick out of this photo...look at all those chicken footprints in the sand!

During the move, a spy was discovered on the grounds of the royal coop... lurking on the perimeter.

And another spy...this one was not so much lurking but staring.

As the sun sinks low in the sky that evening a giant sigh of relief came from The Prince. The chickens were nestled safe and happy in the new coop, The Chick was happy for another day and there was peace throughout the kingdom.

THE END

The morale of this story is...You can take The Chick out of the country but you can't take the country out of The Chick!