A Scaly Tale

Here is my first attempt at a children’s story for adults, with a sustainable living bent!  Hope you like it.

Once upon a time there was a little chicken called Poppy.  Poppy is a Pekin Bantam chicken, and she was very cute.  She and her 7 other chicken friends lived with a kind man and his family, who loved them all very much, and liked all of the fresh eggs that the chickens laid every day.

One day Poppy woke up and noticed that her legs had a small patch of white scale on them.  This went unnoticed by the man because the scale was hidden under Poppy’s feet feathers.  Soon, some of the other hens noticed scale on their legs as well.  Whatever it was, thought Poppy, it was spreading fast.

A week later, the man also noticed the white flaky skin on some of the larger hens legs.  He knew that it was called Scaly Leg Mites, and if left untreated, it could cause pain, itchiness and lumps.  Not very nice for a chicken to have.

So, the man waited until dark when the chickens were fast asleep in their house, and one at a time, he and his wife gently sprayed each of the chicken’s legs with cooking oil spray.  He knew that this oil would suffocate the mites and help the chickens get better again.

In the morning, Poppy and her friends began to notice that their legs were not as itchy as the day before.  Within a week all of the chickens were much better.  The nice man continued to spray their legs once a week for a month until the nasty little mites were gone.  He wanted to make sure that they chickens were happy again, because he loved them very much.

Once they were all better, Poppy and her friends thanked the man and his family by laying lots of lovely eggs every day, for a very long time.  Everybody lived happily ever after.

The End.