Chick in Versailles

What’s the best housewarming gift for a girl with a mini-farm? One of my dearest friends knows it’s chickens. Of course.  What a surprise it was when she entered our “Come as We Are” housewarming soiree, handed me a gift bag and said “Open it now.” My first thought was that it was too light to be a bottle of wine, but I shortly got over my initial disappointment.

When I lifted the tissue and found four baby chicks, I was stunned. If you have ever felt love at first sight, then you know what kind of stunned I mean. I had raised a chick when I young, but the only words I could find were “What do I do with them?” Fortunately, my friend came prepared with temporary shelter, wood shavings, a feeder, food, and a small watering trough. She got me and the chicks sorted out with her usual warm efficiency.

It was the perfect gift. Calicocoa, Griffin and Richard Parker agree. I’m pretty sure Griffin would like to chase them. Calicocoa would like to feel them with her mouth. Richard Parker stares at them with wide, ambitious eyes; she is truly incapable of hiding her inner predator.

Unaware of the admiration they are receiving, the chicks are now chirping away the day in an artificially warmed dog carrier. As they are too young to occupy the chicken coop, their carrier is set on a shelf in our bedroom beyond the reach of the rest of the menagerie.

That's correct. My lifestyle has descended to the point where there is poultry living in my bedroom, and I'm content with that. I have designs on moving them to the large dog crate in our Versailles bathroom someday soon. What diva wouldn't put her chickens in an lavishly appointed, marble-lined room until they are old enough to live in a coop?


And that chicken coop is not just a shed. Our property came equipped with a rock star chicken coop complete with nesting boxes, feeder bins and vertical sliding hatch that can all be accessed from a service area in the barn without entering the coop. Certainly, it's a step down from the Versailles bathroom, but I'm taking suggestions on how to spruce it up.  A chandelier? A disco ball? Hmmm...


The interior of the coop could use some cleaning and sprucing up.
Design ideas?