Well, we had a good thing going for a while….but alas, it has come to an end. Last summer (2017), it would seem that a brazen fox discovered where she could find warm chicken dinners a-plenty. Our backyard. We had grown in numbers to 15 hens, and over the course of about 2 months, that number had dwindled to 3. We made the decision to let them remain truly free range, because we felt that this dramatically improved their quality of life, despite the extra risk of predator attacks. If we ever get more chickens, though, I believe I’ll keep them better contained, just maybe give them a much bigger run.

But we were down to three sad little chickens, and then one of those appeared to be ill, so we very heart wrenchingly had to cull her. Hats off to George for taking care of that, because I would never have been able to muster the emotional strength to do it. So after that, we were down to 2 chickens. Meghan and Carrie Anne. With winter approaching, we made the decision to “re-home” our last 2 ladies, because they would not have been able to keep each other warm through the New England winter in a coop as big as ours. They literally went to live on the farm with a nice man who raises chickens just for their eggs. I felt good about it. The day they rolled away in the truck with their new owner was super sad, though.

We miss them. The DOGS even seem to miss them (Cleo & Rocky for the chasing,  Juju for the egg acquisitions). It seems odd to not see them meandering around the backyard when we’re outside. Every evening around dusk, I think I need to go close them up for the night. And buying eggs in the supermarket (WHAT?!?) is just not my thing. The chickens were very much a part of our lives.

 

I think we’ll get more someday, but for now we’ll remember them fondly. Maybe next Spring?? 🙂