All the Chicken Stories

Time to face the music. Of our 11 new chickens, 5 of them were roosters. Interestingly, we got 6 bantam breeds and 5 regular-sized breeds. All five of the bigger girls were hens, and 4 of the 6 bantams were hens. I really do love those cute little bantams, especially their feathery little feet. But every year we give away more roosters than hens we get to keep and it's a bummer. It's also a problem...this year we figured out that getting rid of roosters is harder than it used to be. 

The first two roosters discovered were two of the three Mille Fleur D'uccles. They had the CUTEST little crows - they are truly tiny little guys but they'd stretch up on their tippy-toes and crow their little hearts out:

We were so sad to send them away, but as always, there really just wasn't a choice. So I got them, put them in a bucket, and made the drive to IFA where they let me know that they no longer take roosters. This was very bad news. What the heck was I supposed to do with them? I returned our two very confused roosters to the yard and began hunting for a place for them because as you know, I can not bring myself to just do away with them. We found a couple of farms that take old chickens, but they said no thanks on the roosters. I tried putting them on KSL before figuring out that I think some people want them for illegal fighting. Maybe I'm wrong, but I had such a bad feeling about it that I removed them from KSL immediately. 

In the meantime, Troy and I agreed it was time to take our elderly ladies to a retirement farm. We got up very early one Saturday morning and fetched Sissy, Tuck, Marie and Chrissy. Into the laundry baskets they went and off we drove to Provo. We have one remaining elderly chicken - Mean Francine. Chase and I decided that she's so small and we love her so much we could keep her. She is small, it's true, but she's also very loud. She may still find herself in a car on the way to a farm in Provo in the near future. 

Yeah, it was kind of sad to just leave them. Tis the life of a tough-hearted old farmer like me.

We still needed to find a spot for the mini-men. I sent another message to the same farm and this time they said sure. I have no idea why they wouldn't take roosters one day and would the next, but a second trip to Provo happened. Chase and Romney made this trip.

PHEW. Found a place for all those chickens! Except....pretty much the day after Fifi and Prim were gone two of the regular D'uccles started crowing. Noooo!!! Not Ripley and Sigourney! They were the extra fluffy ones, of course. So...I made a THIRD trip to Provo. (We are truly ridiculous.) Here's me with Ripley. That's one of my favorite names ever. We will have to use it again, I think.

Anyway, we are down now to a somewhat-reasonable chicken count of 11. Most of them are the biggest chickens we have ever had. They got pretty skittish around the older chickens so the kids and I, mostly Chase, have been working hard to get them more used to us and letting us hold them. This mostly involves sitting in the grass with a bowl full of dried worms. They will now climb all over you and let you pet them just as long as they can have their favorite treat. Lizzie and Jane are still the most skittish, our big Easter Eggers are the least. We still have one D'uccle and one Mille Fleur, and they are so teeny tiny. None of the new girls are laying yet but I hope so soon.

Obviously I have a chicken problem. My coworkers are starting to notice. Every time they give me a gift it's chicken-themed. Every time they find something with a chicken on it in the child life storage area they grab it for me. It's fun. It's a LOT of chicken memorabilia around me. I should start to let them know I like other things too but I'm not sure I'll be very convincing.