Broilers (What???)

What???

When dh first mentioned it, I have to admit, I burst out into guffaws and (nearly hysterical) uncontrollable laughter just imagining that someone would do that.  Then I realized... he was serious.  Okay, that still didn't keep me from laughing.  Apparently we are taking the broilers for a little trip - 400+ miles each way!! - to join us for our Christmas holidays with my in-laws (and stopping overnight at my mom's on the way).  These will probably be the most travelled broilers at the 4-H show this year!

What is the rationale for taking chickens with you on a family road trip?  Just in case you too are wondering that, I'll explain.  We have 17 broilers that are 4 weeks old.  We don't have an ideal setup with huge feeders, waterers, etc.  We have 2 small feeders and 2 waterers.  We have to refill their food *3X* a day now and their water twice.  That's way too much to ask of anyone for several days in a row.  Even if we paid a fellow homeschooler's children to care for them or asked a neighbor, that's still a lot of work.  Plus, the weather is erratic and we check on their temperature also (the door to the shed is cracked right now but I'll go out in a bit to see if they're huddled under the lamp).

Thus, the building of the "Traveling Holiday Chicken Coop" that can be used for any occasion:  Christmas, Easter, Spring Break, you name it.  This is not to be confused with the "M. Family Traveling Circus."

Of course, there was the time that we showed up at my in-laws with 1 dog, 2 guinea pigs, and 3 beta fish!

[Update:  Phew!  We just made it back home... with all of the chickens intact.  The chickens had a 7 day road trip and did really well.  I'll post photos in another post.  We arrived just after dark at my in-laws (day 2 of the trip) so we stopped a block away and put Christmas lights around the coop.  I had to laugh out loud again when I saw that dh had brought lights just for that reason.  They were able to see us arrive with lights blazing.]