It's that time again: my 3rd chicken coop tour.

Any time before May of 2011, I never would have imagined myself saying this phrase:

On Saturday, I went on a walking tour of neighborhood chicken coops for the third time.

For me, one Saturday of my summer will always be devoted to thee Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association's Tour Des Coops. In Madison, it's legal to keep up to 4 chickens in a backyard, and local residents just love showing off their coops.

The Jones family (aka Scott, Elysha, Abby, and Clementine) and I took a leisurely walk down the bike path to get to the tour, which was smaller this year (only 6 homes). But still, I had the usual goal: snuggle a chicken.

Commemorative artwork from the 2011 Tour Des Coops (my first visit).

It didn't take us long to find some fresh eggs. 

And it also didn't take long for me to make a friend: Kuna, a 2-year-old Australorp chicken:

Kuna was quite talkative and did a lot of clucking.

Pretty girl, eh?

She had just finished laying this egg. Nice one, Kuna!

She lived in a well-decorated coop with some friends, like this gal.

Abby (a chicken coop rookie) had a great time feeding Kuna and her friends.

And soon, we were off to more coops! 

These 3 identical chickens stuck together, so I bonded with their cat instead.

Big Red posed while enjoying a snack.

It was getting pretty hot, so after our chicken coop fix, we grabbed some snacks at the Willy Street Co-Op and headed home via Jenifer Street. Of course, this meant walking by Andrea's house and seeing her latest sidewalk creation:

Ryan Gosling and a dog in sidewalk chalk: picture perfect.

As always, never a dull moment.

For my first Ryan Gosling chalk post, click here.

For my recap of the 2012 Tour Des Coops, click here.

For my recap of the 2011 Tour Des Coops, click here.