• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Art of Doing Stuff
menu icon
go to homepage
  • HOUSE
  • COOKING
  • GARDEN
  • HOW-TO
  • EXTRA
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • HOUSE
    • COOKING
    • GARDEN
    • HOW-TO
    • EXTRA
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » Keeping Chickens

    Your First Peek at the Coop

    July 4, 2011 by Karen 30 Comments

    Pin14
    Share
    Email
    14 Shares

    Ta Da!

    Now let me tell you a little something about that rubber chicken.  In telling the tale of the rubber chicken, you will learn an infinite amount about the family from which I come.

    The fella and I have photography class every Wednesday night.  We get home around 10, he scurries off to bed and I make the rounds making sure the chickens are locked up in their temporary pen, the tools are put away, there's cold Diet Coke in the fridge.  You know.  All the important stuff.

    Last Wednesday was no different.  We returned home from class and after the fella went to bed, I went out to tuck the girls in.  I am referring to the chickens.  Not my boobs.  They squawked at me and one of them made a foul poop.  Again - I am referring to the chickens.

    After locking the chickens up, by the light of the moon I made my way over the the coop I'm building.  Keep in mind, the light of the moon is, well ... not very bright.  One might even say it's eerie.  As I got directly in front of the coop I saw the chicken hanging from the frame of the coop doors.  At night.  In the dark.  Hanging there.

    I squawked.  And one of my boobs made a foul poop.  Suffice it to say the funny rubber chicken you're seeing right here is not so funny at 11:00 p.m. by the light of the moon, in a quiet residential neighbourhood.  It's quite ominous in fact.  Think horse head in a bed.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

    My first thought was Someone doesn't like me having these chickens. My second thought was That's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It's easy to immediately go for the threatening thought when it's dark out and you're alone and you need a Diet Coke.

    Then my senses kicked in and I realized it was a joke.  And the sort of joke one of my family members would pull.

    My family's what you'd call ... weird.  Touched in the head.  A bit off kilter.   Mostly on my mother's side.

    My maternal grandmother used to catch rats in her basement, put them in a shoe box, wrap it up pretty and then leave it on her front lawn.  She would sit in her front window watching, waiting for someone to come by, pick up the present and walk away with it.   At which point, she was scream with laughter.  See? Weird.  But weird with a sense of humour!

    So by method of weirdo deduction,  the big foam finger pointed right at my mother.

    The next morning I called my mother and asked her about it.  She laughed for a full 10 minutes and then said.  Chicken?  What chicken? Hmm.

    Luckily for me this particular genetic peculiarity doesn't skip a generation.

    I'm inviting my mother for dinner tomorrow night.  And as a special treat we're going to have  potatoes, salad, corn on the cob and Chicken?  What chicken?

    More Keeping Chickens

    • How to Fold a Napkin In the Most Elegant Way
    • How to Winterize a Chicken Coop
    • How to Care for & Keep Backyard Chickens.
    • What's a Broody Hen and How To Stop It.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      The maximum upload file size: 512 MB. You can upload: image, audio. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

    1. Sandy S

      February 17, 2024 at 12:43 pm

      I just read the chicken story, OMG, your family is so much like mine, we are a warped/twisted bunch as well so I can soooooo relate to both the chicken and the boxes of rats! Had we had rat problems she would have loved watching people pick up the packages and then laughed like your mom. I come by my weirdness honestly!

      Reply
    2. Tigersmom

      July 22, 2012 at 12:27 am

      Ok-I'm obviously trying to go back and read all the hilarity I've missed.

      I cannot believe no one else comented on one of your boobs making a foul poop!

      "My first thought was Someone doesn’t like me having these chickens. My second thought was That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen." This part illustrates exactly the way my brain works. Just because you scare the sh#* out of one of my boobs doesn't mean I can't truly and immediately appreciate the humor of it. : )

      Reply
      • Karen

        July 22, 2012 at 12:47 am

        I can't believe you're still making your way through all these posts! You must be almost done. Almost? ~ karen

        Reply
    3. Jenny

      April 30, 2012 at 11:53 pm

      Loved the rat and chicken stories! Here's a story from our house...
      When our daughter was little we started a tradition of buying her toy frogs...stuffed ones, plastic ones, even Christmas ornament ones. One day I went to the basement to retrieve some now-forgotten item, and noticed a cute little yellow-green frog sitting on the basement shelves. "Oh, look...how cute! I wonder where Allison got this frog...I haven't seen this one before", I think to myself. I reached out and picked it up.
      "OMG! It's REAL!". Quite a shock to feel its cold soft frogginess in my unsuspecting fingers!

      Reply
      • Karen

        May 01, 2012 at 12:01 am

        LOL! I *love* that. ~ karen

        Reply
    4. cyn

      February 16, 2012 at 6:00 pm

      I have had a rubber chicken hanging in my garden to show the birds that if I get them what will happen to them.. so far birds stear clear...

      Reply
      • Karen

        February 16, 2012 at 6:09 pm

        Hah! ~ karen

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Primary Sidebar

    SHOP ON AMAZON

    Use it 👆 to support my work. LEARN MORE

    My name is Karen Bertelsen and I was a television host. In Canada. Which means in terms of notoriety and wealth, I was somewhere on par with the manager of a Sunset Tan in Wisconsin.

    I quit television to start a blog with the goal that I could make my living through blogging and never have to host a television show again. And it’s worked out. I’m making a living blogging. If you’re curious, this is how I do that.

    So I’m doing this in reverse basically. I’m the only blogger who is trying to NOT get a TV show.

    More about me 👋

    Seasonal Articles

    • Today's Puzzle: 72% Chance of Greasefire
    • Today's Puzzle: Literature, SPF 30, & Processed Cheese
    • This Fruit Fly Trap Catches 25X More Than Your Bowl of Vinegar Does
    • Apple Watch Band Stuck? How to Remove It.
    • Cleaning Copper with Ketchup: A No-Rub Experiment
    • Garbage Apples, Jam Trauma, and the Beige Poppy Crisis

    Popular Articles

    • This Is Where I Try To Buy Your Love
    • Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip
    • A Year Full of Pots: Win Sarah Raven's New Book
    • The Difference Between People Who Eat Mayo & People Who Eat Miracle Whip
    • Your FIRST look at my new kitchen in Canadian Living Magazine.
    • How to Print an Image on Wood.

    Footer

    as seen in

    About

    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Social

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    14 shares