Sign of the Times

Chookonia is ready.

The roof is insulated, the fencing is finished, the perches are built, the nesting boxes are done, the straw is strewn, the grain bin is filled and the feeder and drinkers are hung.

All that remains is for the sign to go up. Oh, and the Girls themselves, of course. The latter event will wait until we return from our forthcoming trip. I’ll call to order them on 25th and we’ll be able to collect them a few days later.

As for the sign…

We have a  round ceramic ‘Chiconia’ plaque beside our front door which my oldest friend had specially made for us as a wedding gift. The Girls deserve their own version, I felt.

I found this old section of plank down the side of our garden water tank, when I was clearing out old, dead fern fronds. It came up nicely after a bit of time with a hand sander to take off the old paint splatters and the worst of the roughness, and that knot at top left suggested an egg, so the rest followed on from there.

I chose a font, printed it out at the right size, traced it onto the wood, and burned it in using my pyrography stylus. It should last many years. Not exactly chainsaw art, but hand-crafted nonetheless.

Even a chicken needs a decent address.