the hen pen

mr. burlingham sat in front of the puter, scrolling through page after page of chicken coop plans. he took a sip of coffee, and then called again for noah and isabella to e join him. “unless you two e and help me decide what kind of coop you want,” he announced, “i’m going to pick something myself, and it probably won’t be very fancy!”

“ing, dad, ing,” said isabella, as she and noah joined their dad at the kitchen table.

for the next hour, noah, isabella, and their dad learned everything there is to know about chicken coops. one site remended allowing at least three to four square feet of space per chicken, which meant that the coop would be about five feet long by four feet wide. they also discovered that they needed only one nesting box per four or five birdsley that, however, didn’t seem like enough nesting boxes to isabella, who was worried they might want to all lay at the same time, so they decided on three nesting boxes.

“i’d like the nesting boxes to have their own door,” mented mr. burlingham. “that will make it easier for us to collect eggs without letting the chickens out each time.”

“what about a door and a ramp for the chickens to e down” questioned noah, pointing at an image on the puter screening.

“i think that will be fine for one end of the coop,” agreed mr. burlingham, “but we’re still going to need to have a larger door on the other side where i can ess the inside of the coop for cleaning,” he added.

“why don’t we also build a little shelf above the nesting boxes,” suggested noah, sketching on a scrap of paper,” and then we can make the perch perpendicular to the shelf, which they can use to get onto the perch so they can roost at night.”

“i think we should be able to fo that,” said mr. burlinham, scratching his head. “it’s been a long time since i tried something like this,” he admitted, “but you both have some really good ideas, and i think things will e together pretty quickly. as long as i have some helpers!” he added.

“we need to use really fine mesh wire for the windows,” said isabella thoughtfully. “i’m worried about predators.” she told her dad and her brother the story that claudia, her friend and fellow chicken lover, had told her. shortly after claudia’s family transferred their chickens from he brooder to the coop, there was an incident at night with some roons. although the chickens were safely locked up in their coop, one of their windows had been left open for ventilation. roons, with their nimble fingers and greedy appetites, had managed to kill two chickens through the holes in the chicken wire.

“that’s crazy,” said noah, shaking his head. “i had no idea that roons were so… well… fierce. i guess.”

“i know!” said isabella. “claudia also told me that they have the fine motor skills of a toddler, so if you put a latch on the door to the coop that a two-year-old can open, a roon can probably open it too!”

“all right, kids,” said mr. burlinham, “i think we have wrought to get things started. a trip to the hardware store is next. oh, and i guess we’ll need a name for the coop, too.”

“i think we should call it hoolihan’s hen pen,” said isabella, her eyes sparkling. “the girls love him, and he did protect them from that hawk when they were still babies.”

“hoolihan’s hen pen it is!” said noah. “i’m going to get started on the sign right now.”

單詞：

perch- n. 棲木，樹(shù)枝；v. 停棲

nimble- adj. 靈活的