Monday, June 12, 2017

No room for chickens

Cindy has a friend who lives in one of those 55 plus trailer parks, one of those parks where you are required to be over 55 years old, plus where there are no kids allowed, you can't park on the street, and the mobile homes sit really close together. If you have a large car, you have to be really good to squeeze into your driveway, I did see a lot of golf carts there.

Cindy got a call from Marley a few days ago, she was bawling, I mean crying so hard I could hear her and I wasn't even on the phone, she was blubbering and trying to tell Cindy what the problem was, "What do you mean they're going to kick you out?" Now I am only hearing Cindy's side of the conversation.

"What did you do?" No, yes, right, "no I don't think they will kick you out", "What!, how many do you have?" "Ok, Jimmy and I will be there tomorrow to pick them up" "no I don't want them, but my cousin will, they will be taken care of" Ok see you tomorrow, love you.

Cindy hangs up the phone and looks at me, she says "I hope that's alright with you."

From what I've  just heard I am supposed to know what's going on,  I find out that I have just volunteered to drive over to Marley's place and pick up eight chickens, then take these chickens up the mountain to Cindy's cousin because, "Marley has to get rid of them and we don't need any more chickens."

If you recall we just added to our flock last week, you remember Who is number one don't you?

Marley had evidently gone to Tractor Supply and saw the baby chicks several months ago. She then went home and pulled out her rental agreement and didn't find anywhere where it said she couldn't have a chicken, so she goes back to buy one chicken, the salesperson told her she had to buy six, so Marley buys six, and since she bought six she gets two free.

And now since she is getting eight chicks, she decided that she can go into the egg business, and now she should get accessories, which the salesperson gladly helped her with....

Cindy tells her Dad, "we won't be gone long, we are only picking up the chickens and taking them to Nancy's" this sounds like a simple task......Right?

I had thought to load a pet carrier into the truck just in case Marley didn't have anything to carry them in, and I'm glad I did because she didn't. Marley has a nice setup, a backyard coop and pen, that has plenty of room for eight chickens, the chickens are about half grown and wild as can be, it's up to me to catch them now.
No room for catching running chickens
It takes me about half an hour to round them up. I am inside the pen which is only about waist high, Cindy has closed the top to "keep the chickens inside" I'm on my hands and knees holding two chickens by the legs, my straw hat has somehow landed over inside the coop part, and now has several chickens doing the "Mexican Hat Dance" around it. Cindy and Marley are standing in the back yard visiting, leaving me trapped inside the pen.

Feathers are flying, chickens are squawking, I now have one each of the two chickens legs in one hand, and with the other I'm trying to open the lid which Cindy has locked from the outside. I could just stand up and lift the pen off of me, but thought the chance of me catching the chickens running wild through the trailer park would be slim to none, so I had to resort to yelling for Cindy.

"Hey CINDY!" I can hear Cindy talking ".....and then Marley you know what I woulda....What!, Oh sorry I forgot you were in there" with Cindy's help the chickens were finally all placed into the carrier and I was ready to deliver the chickens to Nancy, this is when Marley said, "The pen goes with them."

I'm looking this pen over knowing that I would have to completely disassemble it to haul it away,  "I didn't bring any tools with me" "that's OK, we can just pick it up and sit it in back of the truck" Cindy tells me, I tell her that the pen part is about 4' x 8', and the coop part is about the same size, plus the coop is about 4' tall, and there is a camper shell on the truck, the pen will have to be taken apart.

I borrow some tools from Marley and separate the coop from the pen, the nesting box area separates from the roosting area, and Cindy is convinced these three pieces will slide right into the truck, I am positive they won't, but now we are carrying the nesting box area to the truck.

"It's too tall" I said, Cindy replies "no it's not, we can lay it down", I assure her "it's too wide", "it'll fit I know it will" she tells me, "even if it does fit, we still have the rest of it to load" I remind her, "we can make two trips" she suggests, and through my teeth I say "Oh no we can't, because I'm taking it apart."

Now I find myself standing in the street removing the roof from this chicken coop because it wouldn't fit. With the roof removed it barely slid into the truck. Cindy looks at me and says, "You probably should take the rest of it apart" I'm not sure why I didn't think of that.

I completely disassembled the rest of it and stack all the panels into the truck, the back is completely full, and we now have no room for the chickens.

An executive decision was made to raise the back seats and place the chickens inside the cab of the truck, just as I'm ready to make my escape, Marley said "the rest of their stuff goes too......."

Three feeding pans, six watering bottles, three fifty pound bags of feed (two opened), twelve packages yes I said twelve packages of twelve, thirty count egg storage flats and now the cab area is full, we now have no room for the chickens.

I find room on top of the feed sacks and hope the carrier won't puncture the bags. As we drive away a tearful Marley watches her egg business idea disappear, and as we drive away Cindy and I look at each other with tears in our eyes because eight chickens in the cab of your truck adds an odor that shouldn't be there.

Have you ever volunteered to do something that turned out to be a bigger project than you first thought?

46 comments:

  1. Oh my, poor chickens, and that is some great task, well done. Greetings!

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    1. Good morning, the chickens are much happier now that the task is over.

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    2. And so are you, I assume!!

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    3. You assume correctly Fran :)

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  2. Raising chickens in back yards has become really popular around here and just as quickly as they appear, laws are hauled out of somewhere to banish them out of neighborhoods. I don't understand why anyone living in a trailer park could not see that one coming, rule or no rule. That said, your little adventure probably was more fun to write about than to live through. It's a great story. You are one of the good guys....

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    1. Thank you Jean, I appreciate you my friend.

      I wish she had talked with Cindy before investing in this setup, it wasn't a bad thing just too close to the neighbors.

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  3. Oh, my, what a rig-a-mah-roll! Think I'd rather move as long as the chickens had to.

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    1. It may have been just as easy to move her, but we would have had to move the chickens anyways ha ha

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  4. The things we get roped into. That sounds like a few hundred dollars worth of 'chicken stuff'. She could have sold it. Well anyway, it's over now and all you have to do is buy a few hundred dollars worth of air fresheners for the truck. Yikes.

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    1. Her costs is what upsets me more than anything else, that pen by itself wasn't cheap.

      I am happy to report the smell improved just as quickly as the carrier was removed, I ran it through the car wash just to make sure. Hopefully this morning it won't have that "New Car Chicken" smell.

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  5. Wow, Jimmy's great chicken adventure! Congratulations for completing the task.

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    1. Hi Abby, life can definitely be an adventure, especially when chasing chickens, I am glad that task is behind us, thank you my friend.

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  6. You two are very nice people. You really are. What a three ring circus. I hope your vehicles airs out soon.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. Hi Sandee, thank you so much, the truck smells better today, thank goodness.

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  7. I agree with Sandee! I don't know many folks who would be willing to do all that!

    I've volunteered to help people move, and then I show up and they are still packing.

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    1. Hello Bijoux, I have shown up to help my Daughter move once, went all the way to Texas expecting to help load up, but just like your experience she hadn't even started packing.....I guess helping someone move depends on the definition at the time ha ha.

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  8. You are a better man than I!

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    1. Hey Joe, we do what we gotta do, if you had been in my position, I have a feeling Mrs. C would have convinced you to do it just like Cindy convinced me.

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  9. You are almost too nice. Yikes what a battle. Had to chuckle a bit at you being ignored and locked in the coop.
    Here I was thinking it would just be a bunch of baby chickens that would fit in a cat carrier. Anyway, it made for a cool post.

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    1. Thank you Patti, I really wasn't expecting half grown chickens either, I was kind of between a rock and a hard place when I realized the pen was locked ha ha I'm glad you got a chuckle out of it because Cindy and Marley did too.

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  10. Ok, Im just sitting here laughing my head off. Sorry. Im just picturing all of this taking place wishing you had a video of the whole thing. I carried a chicken on my lap once in the car. It was well behaved but was wearing boxing gloves. really!!! If I can remember, I think it was being saved from Chicken fighters. I was just a young teen then. haha.
    Lisa

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    1. Hey Lisa, I'm thinking if your chicken was wearing boxing gloves it must have been a prize fighter, seriously it does sound like chicken fighting was involved, that is a bad sport for the chickens.

      I'm glad you enjoyed the post, it's good to see you.

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  11. I've never owned chickens and you've convinced me that I shouldn't.

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    1. Hello Stephen, they are good to have if you have got plenty of room, I wouldn't want one of those back yard pens.

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  12. You are sooo funny!! And I hope Marley appreciates what really good friends you guys are to her.

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    1. Hi Inger, Marley is a good Lady, we don't mind helping her out, I think she appreciates it too.

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  13. Wow, this has me laughing a bit guiltily because it must have been crazy trying to corral those chickens, and then to get all of that into your truck. You must have the patience of a saint. And I agree with Inger, you are the best kind of friends to Marley, a couple of angels. We have both volunteered to help our family and friends, but have never had to deal with chickens, thankful to say. I once thought it would be great to keep chickens, I love them but don't think it will ever happen. I'll just be enjoying stories like yours, which was extremely entertaining. Thank you Jimmy :)

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    1. Hey Denise, I am glad you enjoyed our little adventure, I believe this is the first time we got roped into corralling chickens ha ha, that was the easy part, like you pointed out the trick was loading everything, seems like every time I thought I was finished I had more to do, oh well that's the way it goes, and I'd do it again.

      It's good to see you Denise.

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  14. That's why I don't volunteer unless I know for sure. That's one of the reasons why I'm a little terrified (or maybe just paranoid) of new jobs at first. I'm pretty sure I can do it and like it but the fear of the unknown

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    1. Hey Adam, it always seems to me a volunteer job entails more than you realize. A new job is nerve wracking anyway, you never really know what you are up against until you start, and most times like you said the job is one you can do and actually like, you just have to get past those first few days.

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  15. Heh, heh! So the chickens had to move because they were under 50? You are a good helper. You'll have a plus in the karma column.

    We had two teenage boys to catch our chickens, and they used a fishing net.

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    1. Hey Val, I didn't think of that, with the chickens not being old enough had to be the problem. A fishing net could have come in handy for the chickens, even though I didn't do so good with the bunny ha ha.

      Thank you Val I appreciate you and having a plus in the karma column is always a plus.

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  16. Volunteer? No. But other people have volunteered me when I wasn't around to say no. Thankfully, never for anything that became too big to handle.

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    1. Hello River, isn't it funny how you can get volunteered for things when you aren't even around? Like when you own a truck, some people assume you bought it to haul things for them.

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  17. Oh my, Jimmy, my tummy aches with laughing. Reading this got funnier as I read, when I say funnier I mean laugh out loud, very loud. I had to break half way through to fetch a handkerchief. I always wanted some chickens, I'm glad I read this first!!!!!

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    1. Good morning Valerie, I am happy that I could give you a laugh this morning, I always look forward to your visits.

      If you reconsider on becoming a chicken farmer please let me know, Cindy and I can give you some pointers ha ha.

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    2. Gerroff, don't put ideas in my head lol

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    3. You know that's what I'm here for Valerie ha ha.

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  18. The public community lake behind our firehouse was full of swans and geese and, did you know that swans and geese poop like cows?? Yeah. We didn't either when my husband and I volunteered to move them to my sister's two huge lakes. Did you know swans are mean? We did, but not THAT mean.

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    1. Hey Dana, I knew geese could get pretty aggressive but didn't think much about swans, but I suppose there isn't that big a difference, especially if you're trying to relocate them.

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  19. I don't mind helping out a friend, but if someone asks me something I really don't want to do, I'll just keep saying, "I would if I could, but I don't want to."

    Most people don't realize that the cost of producing an egg is almost higher than you can sell it for...

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    1. Very true on the cost of an egg, I know usually we spend more for feed than what we get back from them but the taste of the fresh eggs is well worth it in my opinion.

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  20. Have you ever volunteered to do something that turned out to be a bigger project than you first thought?

    Not really, but my wife did volunteer me to help coach my son's soccer team back when he was in the fifth grade. I understood the game of soccer but didn't know squat about how to get a bunch of boys ready to play. Long story short, I did my best to help the two real coaches but only ended up getting in the way and making an ass of myself.

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    1. Oh lordy this brings back memories for me, I also did my turn as a soccer coach after being volunteered when the regular coach didn't show up.

      Hey man getting in the way and making an ass of yourself in my opinion says a lot about you in a good way, at least you were there for your son and his team, I'm sure there were others who wouldn't have stepped up.

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  21. That was quite an experience for you. I'm sorry but I might have chuckled a few times while reading it. Very well told Jimmy.

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    1. Hey Pat, I'm glad you chuckled, heck I chuckled a time or two myself while in the middle of the experience.

      Thank you Sir, I appreciate you.

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