Home to Roost

Something big happened yesterday for our family. A real first. Precedent setting.

I’ll let my wonderful friend tell you how it went down:

Finally my Grateful friend came and got her chickens out of my yard. Well, technically, she sent over her entire family while she stayed home and ate Dryers ice cream. But the important people came. They had their new gloves and they were ready for some good old-fashioned chicken chasing.

“What do we do?” they wondered. Their dad announced to them, “Just go after ‘em! Get us some of those chickens.”

But he couldn’t fool me. I knew he was just trying to be the loudest so no one would notice that he had no intention of actually chasing the chickens himself. His Grateful wife calls him “Sweetie” but I call him Mr. Smarty Pants. ‘Cuz that cage that he’s pretending to hold closed lest all of the chickens escape…..it has a latch.
Several of the kids started the chase. They ran around and those chickens put up a good fight. Those kids worked hard to get their chickens.

Except this one. She had other things in mind.
This girl, she gave it her best. But she just couldn’t quite catch one.But here’s what really got me…right in my country girl heart….this next kid could catch chickens. I mean she went after it and those pesky chickens had no chance with her. I’d really like to keep this kid. Maybe her mom would be willing to trade for say….a goat.No? OK, then. Be selfish.

I am not kidding you when I tell you she was a natural. Any chicken that would get past the rest of the chicken chasers dared not come near her or their fate was sealed.

Once she had mercy on her little sister who was trying so hard to catch one. So she gave her one to carry to the truck.

Little sister was so proud. She carried that chicken as if she had caught it herself.

This guy was pretty good too. He caught one….and let me tell him (in case he reads this) that I was impressed.

The chickens are all in the back of the truck and ready to go to their new home. This gang was wiped out from the heat, the chickens and the excitement of it all.
And thus ends my poultry raising enterprise. We are now CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. (My friend has been raising our chicks since April for us because she had the equipment and the know how and she had ordered more chicks for her family AND because she offered [I'm just sayin'!]. Ours have been ready for a few weeks to come home, but we didn’t finish the coop until yesterday! I can’t thank her enough!)

When the fam showed up back home with the chickens, you might have thought they were delivering gold. Or boxes of chapter books the kids have never read. Or a year’s supply of ice cream. They were so excited.

All the chickens are settling into their new home and we’ve started a new adventure as a family! My sister calls us the Country Cousins and her family the City Cousins. My friend says real country people don’t name their chickens. Well, I guess that makes us somewhere in between.

A benefit I never thought of occurred immediately: My children’s prayer life grew overnight! Boy howdy are they praying for the safety of those chickens, by name of course. I admit, I’m praying too. I don’t want to be an ‘almost country folk’ flunkie right out of the gate.

Anyway, we’re so grateful they’re home to roost.