It started out with the overflow. That same overflow of clothes, trophies, athletic equipment. All the things brought home when the kids are growing up. Those things left shoved in their closet, under their bed, or in their chest of drawers.
And then the grandkids come along and there is the overflow of more toys, clothes, and sports equipment. But now we have begun to collect our son’s overflow of farm animals. My husband did draw the line at the goats, but the rabbits and chickens have jumped on board.
Problem is my husband is an animal lover and did not grow up out on farmland like I did. It is a very normal thing for chickens to be put in a small coop and rabbits to be put in a small cage to hang out. They don't require a lot of space or much of anything to occupy their time. But this concept seemed to drive my husband crazy.
It first started with added water buckets to zip tie on the wire of the cage. My son just shook his head. Then a small picnic table appeared with cracked corn poured on top. Mind you the cracked corn is still sitting there. They prefer left over corn on the cob thrown right onto the ground they have dug up.
A few days later a large box was dropped off at the house, and my husband spent three weekends putting together a chicken pen three times the size of what we started out with because he felt the four chickens were too cramped. We could park our car in this thing. Next came a larger coop that has three stories and four nesting spots. These are four lucky chickens! I didn't really think it could get much better for them until this last box was dropped off at the door.
My husband said it was a ladder for the chickens. And it is a ladder along with roosting bars and two swings. It is a chicken swing set. And I actually am beginning to feel guilty for having the Walt Disney World of Chicken Land for only four aging chickens. We might need to get some more overflow chickens from our son to go with the overflow grandchildren toys, and swing set, and sports equipment.
My son's mother-in-law grew up on a farm not far from where I grew up. She told me her father had a strict rule with the children. There was a designated spot for the farm "pets" and the other animals were kept in a different spot to be fed and watered and "not named." This was to prevent tears when it came time to make the animals into a meal. My six-year-old grandson came up on his father doing just that the other day and went to tell his older brothers that "Daddy is just out there killing everything!"
Well no worries Daniel Clay. You can always whisk them up and sneak them to the chicken kingdom at Papa Clay's house. They can have a picnic and play on the swing set just like you do. While Cici feeds watermelon and cucumbers to the soon to be rabbit couple to start their own little family. Papa Clay says the new rabbit cage has been ordered. This one might come with a trampoline.
