"I love chickens"

 I had to share this photo sequence. Recently, some family friends, and suppliers of our organic, farm fresh eggs, went out of town for a few days, and we tended to their chickens and other animals while they were away. Apollo loves when we are on chicken duty and gets so excited whenever he is on his way there; "I love the chickens!" he professes. 

  One particular Saturday morning, we arrived to do the chickens. We opened up the coop and let the chickens out into the yard. Apollo follows the chickens around, and talks to them, sings to them, and gives them advice; "Don't go in there," as he points to the blackberry bushes, "that's a big owe'eee!" Amidst his chatter, Apollo turned to me and mentioned that he wanted to hold the "little chicken." I told him that chickens don't like to be held and they were too fast to catch. That did not deter him at all. "Come here little chicken, I want to hold you." I watched Apollo walk over to the chicken a couple times, and bend over to pick her up. She would take a couple quick steps away from him, just out of arms reach, and the process would start over again. I chuckled to my self and turned away from Apollo to admire the weather and look around the pasture. I could hear Apollo talking to the chickens still, and decided that he must be content just following them around. Then, I heard a couple comments that made me stop and turn to see what was going on; "Your so cute!" followed by giggling,  "Your feathers are really soft." There was something in his tone that made me think that the situation had changed... in his favor. To my surprise, when I turned around, Apollo was walking through the pasture carrying the "little chicken" in is arm. I ran back to the car, and grabbed the camera, and snapped some shots.

It took me a few minutes, but I finally realized that several of the chickens were pretty tame and used to being handled. The family that lives here, has 3 children, the youngest is 5, and the oldest is 13, I believe.
  Apollo walked around with this chicken for 20 minutes or so. At one point he told me that he wanted to take the chicken home with him. I told him that the chicken couldn't come home with us. "Why not." he asked. "Because we don't have a place for him to live at our house," I replied. "Yes we do!", he snapped back, "I love chickens!" "Apollo, I love chickens too, especially cooked ones! If we take this chicken home, I will have to cook her and eat her."
  "NO dada, you cant eat her! she's  my friend!" Apollo replied in a scathing voice.
  "Well, maybe we better leave her here where she is safe, and we will only eat her eggs."
   After thinking about my proposition for a few seconds, Apollo kissed his chicken, and spoke softly to her, "You have to stay here." and set her gently on the ground.