Ok so now I've set the tone, you'll understand what we went through getting the chicken coop moved and in place. Now, I don't like to name names but lets just say Ross, (I mean my Dad) kind of took on a head boss roll in re-locating the cage from one side of the property to the other. He was definitely "pivot guy" and I'm pretty sure mum told him to 'shut up shut up shut uuuupppp' a few times. It was very heavy and very large and needed all 4 of us to lift. It was also very awkward to move. Mum and I were up the back and the boys were up the front, and we, as per our instructions from 'pivot guy' would count to three and lift and walk...we only could walk about 2 meters at a time before we had to put the cage down. Then as if something we were doing wasn't working, mum came up with another idea. Pivot guy didn't like this- even saying things like "it's just not physics"! So mum walks off to further develop her idea, Kristian walks off because Mr practical thought we couldn't do anything with just three of us, so that left me, with rubber gloves on no less (because I couldn't find my gardening gloves) and pivot guy.
In the time that it took mum to come up with an alternate plan, and convince pivot guy it would work, I concluded that we could have walked it over there by now anyway. It's kind of hard to explain what happened next, without pictures but it kind of felt like we were in a monty pythons skit. Mums simple idea was to hook up the big trailer, reverse the trailer as close as possible to the 3x3 meter cage, then lift it kind of half on, because it was never going to fit on the trailer (this was the 'not physics' part that pivot guy was referring to). Since Kristian had returned to the chaos we were poised and ready once again to move this thing. So after pivot guy had to hook up the trailer and carefully manoeuvre it in reverse to get it where we needed it to be we were ready to once again, 123 lift. We tilted it up on its end, then reversed the trailer back slowly into position then carefully let the cage down so its front end rested on the trailer. Mum then hopped in the drivers seat, I was standing on the trailer ready to balance the cage and the boys lifted the back end and walked along as mum started to drive slowly forward. Yes this made much more sense than our original plan, not that any of that mattered anymore as I was just happy to be actually getting something done. We tilted the cage back up, mum drove off and we lowered it over the smaller coop. Hooray! Success!
Fast forward a week and mum and I found some chickens that we liked and would you believe it, acquiring the chickens was just as funny as moving the cage! When we arrived at the mans house to get them I should have known things were going to be weird. The creepy long and overgrown driveway and the chicken man who we will call Gonzo gave it away! Now don't get me wrong, he was lovely. Really lovely..to his chickens I mean. Ok so he was nice to us too, but man did he love those hens! He had at least 200 chickens; some free range and others in cages around the back of the property. Sure, we'll follow you Gonzo - around to the back of your property, all the while I'm thinking I'm pretty sure mum would have warned me about a scenario like this growing up!!! At one point when we were waiting for him, I turned to mum and said "if he comes back out with an axe, run for the car and lock the doors"! Anyway I chose the chickens I liked and even though we thought we were almost outta there, we were soooooo wrong! Every chicken he caught he would cuddle, stroke and whisper sweet nothings in their ear (do chickens have ears??). Mum overheard him tell one chicken how much he was going to miss her in the morning!! Really?? Then he gave each one a pedicure - every claw, and a beak trim and a worming tablet, oh and a spray on the backside (whatever that was for!?). We packed them in their boxes and we were finally out of that place and could actually lough out loud (I think there were tears) at how bizarre our last hour and a half was. As Mum said, that will be a forever hilarious memory that only we can share:) Ah, long story, cut only a little bit short, I got home that afternoon and put 6 happy hens in their new cage much to the girls delight.
Have a look at this youtube video for some more of our happy chicken moments.
https://youtu.be/hb6aF95E0zI
Eliza xx
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| This was the night we let them out, just before the big storm rolled in. |
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