Saying Goodbye to Our Chickens

It was over three years ago that we got our very first chickens.  We've lost a flock then started over again, and at the peak last year, we had 12 chickens.  Little did we know that when we embarked on this adventure that we would eventually consider these things our PETS!!  I've mentioned over the years that Brooklyn, especially, was attached to the chickens.  She carried them around like her babies, she was the best at catching them if we ever needed to coop them up.

Recently, there was some discussion at an HOA meeting whether or not chickens were permitted in our neighborhood.  The board president stated that it was against the HOA CC&R's to have chickens.  I guess we never really asked anyone if it was ok that we had backyard chickens.  We have never had an issue over the past three years; our neighbors were well aware that we had chickens and we're ok with that.  We shared our excess eggs with our neighbors and friends frequently.  I went for loooooooong periods of time without purchasing eggs!!  There were some annoyances that came with having chickens; flies, I had to hose off the porch frequently since they liked to come up by the door and poop all over the place.  They came running when I opened the back sliding door.  They followed me and KNEW when I was refilling their food.  There were times were I freaked out at the fact that a chicken wasn't doing well, and I was truly sad when we lost chickens over the years due to heat and other mysterious reasons.  I lovingly called them "poopy birds."

When Matt saw that people were raising a stink about chickens, he told me that we needed to get rid of them.  I pitched a fit!  I mean, Matt and I had ARGUMENTS over the fact!!!  I didn't want to get rid of our chickens!  He set deadlines, I kept putting it off and putting it off, making excuses why we couldn't yet.  I could not believe how attached I was to these dumb birds!  Finally, I came to terms with the fact that they needed to go.  The kids were obviously upset and there were tears where shed.  

Matt's aunt Julie offered to take them and we were about to seal the deal, but then my aunt Debbie expressed interest and we decided that was the best place for them to go, where they had ample land to roam, just like they had in our backyard.  

I kept Brooklyn home from school that morning that Debbie came out, partially because she really needed to say her finally goodbyes, but mostly because I needed her to catch the darn things!  She wrote Debbie a letter telling her about each chicken, helped load them up into the car and watch them go off to their new home.  It took awhile to get used to the empty backyard.  No little chickee-doodles "knocking" on the sliding glass like they wanted to come in, no running/wing flapping when I toss scraps out the back door, no "singing" after an egg was laid, no more collecting fresh eggs from the coop every day.  

Of course, I had to take some last photos of the kids with the chickens~~

Preston with his Cheesestick

Hermione

Misty

Diamond aka "Elvis"

Polly

Blackbeard

Puffball

Tux

Barack (yes, as in Obama)

Brooklyn with her beloved Ellie, the boss chicken-lady

Blake with his Puffball

Sweet Gavin, you can see here that he was emotional about saying goodbye to his Polly.

Last goodbye loves~

Remembering the beginnings

(Nov2011)

Brooklyn with baby Ellie

Blake with tiny Puffy

The second the chickens were gone, the kids starting saying things like, "You'd BETTER get us a dog!!"  "How about a guinea pig??!"  Um, no, children.  I can barely keep the five of you alive some days!!!!  We'll revisit the pet idea in, say........ 5 years? ;)