Your author and his adoring chickens take a turn around the estate on Thanksgiving morning.

I had a great Thanksgiving, not just because of the huge meal and fun desserts. No my favorite part (sorry to house guests and wife who prepared the big meal) was in the early morning when I went out to check on my chickens.

It was such a beautiful morning, I did not have to run right back inside to escape the cold. Instead I ran back inside and got my Bible. I went outside to my little farmyard and let my chickens out of the coop to forage around the yard before I fed them breakfast proper.

Don’t I paint a romantic picture — young farmer clad in a sweater walking to and fro in his yard reading aloud from Psalms? And all the while his chickens peck at the ground contentedly around his feet. Inside the house, the farmer’s wife bakes bread for the holiday meal later that day.

I only wish the chickens pecked contentedly at my feet because they loved me and wanted to spend time with me. The truth is they only care about me as the provider of chicken food. They stay close hoping I might magically produce the white food bucket and rain chicken food down on their heads. Mindless beasts! (But still sort of fun.)

Oh yeah, the meal was pretty amazing too. Thanks, Nikole.

Recently, I walked out of the house with our parakeet, Mr. Misty Freeze, on my shoulder. Inside the house, the bird had been on my shoulder for much of the day and I had forgotten she was there. When the little kids experienced some kind of chicken feeding emergency in the back yard, I walked right out of the house to help them. I bent over the feeder and felt something hop across my back. I looked at Ruthie and asked, “Is there a bird on my back?” Ruthies eyes grew huge and she looked close to panic as she said, “It’s Misty!” I said, “It’s okay. She can’t fly.”

Lies! What I really meant was, “I hope she does not try to fly, catch some freak of nature gust and sail a hundred feet up in the air and glide half a mile away.”

I straightened up and the bird climbed back onto my shoulder. I walked calmly back into the house all the way distracting the bird by telling her how pretty she was. She never showed any sign of taking flight.

I am very glad we clip her wings.

I came to the farm to get chickens, but the kids wanted to waste time riding horses. Seriously? You would pick a horse ride over catching chickens?

Everyone gets a turn on the horse. Here, experienced rodeo star, Helen, gives a ride to an aspiring buckaroo.

While I waited for everyone to have the complete farm experience, I took my new farmer boots for a tour of the pasture.

Finally, it is time to acquire the chickens. Below you will see how my peeps do it:

After the stress of catching chickens, it is nice to relax with a small, furry rodent... I mean dog.

Now it’s time to go home to our own little farm and show the chickens their new place.

Once the chickens were installed, the coop became a very popular attraction for the kids.

Escape!

If you look closely at the photo above you can almost discern the absence of chicken wire on the top of the chicken run. “Chickens cannot fly that high” I told all who questioned my coop design. A few hours after the hens arrived, we were out there herding two escapees back into the coop. Then we were donning headlights to staple chicken wire over the top of the chicken run in the moonlight.

Micro-managing

I am such a doting father. The first night I had to pick up the hens and put them in the hen house. Then I reached through the chicken door and lifted two of them onto the roost poles. The other ladies then figured it out and flew onto the roost poles themselves.

Even a few days later, the chickens are a fun attraction. I have to keep reminding the kids that they have to wear shoes if they are going in the coop.

The second night I had to lift most of the ladies into the hen house, but they were able to get up on the roosts by themselves. The third night, they were able to do the whole maneuver with no help from Ed. (Kind of makes a farmer feel unneeded.)

And finally after days of waiting, the chickens start doing what they came for.

Update

I realized, after posting this, that I did not have any photos of the new residents. Below are two photos showing the ladies of the coop:

We got three buff orpingtons and two silver laced wyandottes. The buff in the foreground is named Bertha.

This is Edward's silver laced wyandotte. We are pretty sure she is the first to lay an egg, and Edward is pretty sure she is the smartest chicken ever.

There you have it. The chickens have arrived and are learning the ropes around Harlingen Square. After a week, the ladies have only produced enough eggs for a four-egg omelet. But we will keep them.

Just killin' time, feeding herbs to my chicken...