I set myself a writing prompt. One of writing a story explaining the photo attached.
Well here it is.
CSI Chicken - Fowl Crime Division
Every night, after the hens put themselves to bed and the automatic pophole cover closes when it gets dark, Dad goes out and fills the yellow treat ball with cracked corn. He does this so when they get up, they can all kick it about for early morning exercise. It works by dropping corn out of 1 of the 2 holes when it rolls across the floor.
Last night was no exception.
Across the garden, the 2 rabbits, Rupert and Apple, always watch this, and find it funny watching the hens daily exercise routine.
They both decided it would be even more fun if they got up and the chickens had no ball to play with. So they hatched out a plan between them to steal it.
Later that night, once the hens were safely tucked up in their coop, the plan was set in motion. Rupert knew how to unlock the latch on their cage. He rests his front left paw on Apples right shoulder, and slides his right paw through the gap and unhooks the latch.
Freedom. They now put their fun plan into action.
Over the last few weeks, under the cover of night, both Rupert and Apple, had escaped from their hutch regularly. They had moved a small log, which was resting against the chicken run wall and dug a tunnel into the hen house under it. On the inside, they lift the square piece of wood which the food bowl was on top of like a trap door.
Once in, they easily find the yellow treat ball. Dad normally puts it in the same place, under the stairs to the chicken house. Apple grabs the ball in her mouth, jumps down the hole, through the tunnel and up out the other side into the garden. It was Rupert's job to cover their tracks. He slowly lowered the square piece of wood back into place on the inside, and carefully rolled the small log over the entrance on the outside.
The treat ball was too large for Apples mouth for her to hold for long, so she puts it down on the grass. She decided to roll it down the garden instead of carrying it. She nudged it with her nose until it rolled to the flower bed next to the edge of the lawn.
Apple being the smallest of the two rabbits, jumped into the flower bed and dug a hole under the grass, making sure not to damage Mam’s plants, while Rupert stood guard keeping an eye out. It didn't take her long to dig a hole big enough to roll the treat ball in, then Apple covered it over with the soil, using her back legs.
The naughty rabbits laughed to themselves as they ran back to the open hutch door and carefully relocked the latch. All they had to do was wait for morning.
At 6am, the automatic door to the hen house started to open, slowly it raised and the daylight came in. All 5 hens yawned, stretched and flapped their wings, jumped down from their perches and waited in line to go outside and have some fun.
One by one they climb down the wooden ramp and hop on to the floor.
Where's the ball, they all wonder, looking around frantically. None of them can find it. They start to panic, this has never happened before, they always have a ball to play with when they get up.
They squawk loudly, for nearly half an hour. Mam hears them and wonders what's up, she goes out early with their breakfast to check in on them. She opens the chicken runs door and unusually all 5 burst past her legs into the garden.
Zelda, the boss chicken, quickly spots a few pieces of corn near the log outside the coop fencing. Her head looks up, and sees a trail of corn leading down the garden. As she follows it, she calls out an order to the others NOT to eat the corn. They reluctantly agree but are clearly not happy that they can't eat that tasty yellow corn.
The naughty rabbits are lying down looking out of their cage, watching the hens running around looking silly. They hadn't realised when they rolled the ball down the garden, corn was falling out of the holes leaving a trail behind them.
Zelda stops at the last piece of corn and is very confused. Why does the corn stop? Where is the treat ball?
She squawks loudly. Her voice commands the others to join her and do the same. All 5, stand yelling staring at the same part of the grassy floor.
Apple and Rupert can see and hear everything. They find it too funny and roll on the floor of the cage laughing at them.
Mam walks down to hens, and the hens get louder. She can't understand why they are making this noise. They have never done this before. They don't stop crying out and all pace around in the same area, as if stamping their feet, while looking at the ground.
Eventually mam grabs the garden spade, she knows it's something to do with grass but has no idea what. Guessing they will not be quiet until they see under the grass, she starts to dig. As soon as the shovel cuts into the soil, the hens go completely quiet. Mam keeps moving the spade, cutting a few pieces of turf loose. One by one she carefully lifts a piece. Zelda's head was very close to the ground examining carefully under each bit of grass as it lifted. She is only interested in finding the corn in the treat ball. However Ruby and Tamitha happily gobble up all the worms that pop up.
When Zelda sees the yellow ball, she squawks, flaps her wings and does a little happy dance. Mam bends over and fully lifts out the grass sod exposing the treat ball. Mam is very confused, she has no idea why or how the ball ended up under the grass. All the hens jump for joy, and the rabbits are still rolling about laughing.
