In addition to being a musician, artist and landscape gardener, Carlton "Oba" Davis is a chicken man.

A Kaua'i resident since 1993, Davis' parallel chicken universe began unfolding years ago with his drawings of three stylized chicken cartoon characters he dubbed the "Jungle Chicks."

Davis placed the chicken images on T-shirts and bumper stickers, selling them from the trunk of his car and in a few retail stores. "People loved them," the 53-year-old Davis says.

From the original design grew variations on the theme, with chickens depicted surfing, golfing, boxing – even driving a car on a road with the lettering "Road Kill Kaua'i Style" and human legs sticking out from under the vehicle where dead chickens are usually found.

"Local people really like that one," Davis chuckles, as he and his wife, Rachael, show some of their chicken-wares in their garage workshop from which they run their small business.

The original Jungle Chicks – which refers to both sexes of chickens in the sense he uses it — were loosely based on some wild chickens that friends of his had identified as neighborhood residents.

But in Davis' hands, they became Oba-fied into a peace-symbol-wearing chicken, depicted with a "Mom" tattoo, do-rag on his head and sunglasses. This cool dude of a chicken "knows about the environment, is conscious of the environment and knows his stuff," Davis says of this character.

The second of the original trio is a reclining chicken, with flower leis on her head and neck. "This is the laid-back chick," Davis says. "This chick knows how to relax."

The third chicken is "the swinger," shown on a hanging swing, with Rastafarian locks and a reggae neck scarf. "The swinger has gotta know how to swing between the two zones" of laying back and taking action, Davis says.

And there, in an egg-shell so to speak, is Davis' philosophy of living well on Kaua'i.

The "Jungle Chicks" T-shirts he designed became Davis' uniform as he worked as a landscape gardener in various North Shore locations. When people asked about the shirts, he'd gladly sell them one from his vehicle.

"I've definitely sold more shirts from the trunk of my car than in stores," Davis says.

Somehow, gradually, Davis began working on the words and concepts he wanted to get across in a storybook. There was more to "chickology" than he could get across with shirts and coffee mugs.

Rachael, 45, says she "translated" Davis' "chickenscratch" of handwritten words and phrases to the typed copy that together they crafted into the book, "Aretha and Her Three Chicks — Their Big Adventure."

The Davis' self-published the book almost three years ago. Since then, they have read it aloud at numerous book fairs and other events, where children of all ages seem to respond well to its universal message of finding your life's meaning from the journey itself and your companions along the way.

In the story, Aretha and her three chicks travel the island of Kaua'i from the North Shore to the East and West sides. They learn that chickens in each area may talk and act a little different, but they're all related. And they learn some safety lessons along the way, too.

Rachael Davis, who is an artist and art therapist, chose healing colors to reproduce her mother, Elsa Thompson's vivid watercolors in the book. She also chose a yellow background and a special typeface for the printed pages that would be soothing and accessible for learning-disabled readers.

"I've stopped calling it a children's book," Davis says. "I call it a storybook."

The creative couple plans this year to add other types of clothing to their Jungle Chicks offerings, to keep working on a sequel to the first book, and to put on a play version of "Aretha and Her Three Chicks – Their Big Adventure."

Lofty goals for people who have regular jobs. But not if you keep your "chickology" in perspective – laying back when needed and working when its time to do so.

Look for the Davis' at Kaua'i's summer reading program and fall Keiki Story Festival, as well as on their Web site at www.junglechicks.com.

Reach Diana Leone at dleone@honoluluadvertiser.com.