Thanks re: keeping the girls. I just couldn't let them go....they make my mornings (not to mention my breakfasts). Who knew having chickens could be so much fun (and so hard to let go! I must say--I had 20 responses from people wanting them--but...well, they are MY girls...as much as Millie drives me crazy--she's taken to roosting on the other side of the fence...I keep telling her that is a bad idea....). I'm waiting for snow--they don't like snow and maybe Millie will stop this nonsense about jumping the fence once the snow flies. My dad wants me to come to MN to help with my mom--the condition is that I can't start a chicken farm! He did say I could have 3 chickens...didn't I start with 2...and then 5...and then 2 more...and then 9...and then five...and now 2 more? Chickens are kinda like potato chips--you can't have just one.
On a sad note--I went out to the farm on Saturday to feed Rocky and the chicks. Rocky was beside himself--has an injury on one of his wings. I locked him in the barn with a hopper of feed and water. It took hours to get him in the barn. He only has one of his tail feathers. He was terrified of me--unlike his behaviour when he was here and he would attack me--he was running from me and hiding. No chicks. Found evidence of two being slaughtered. Didn't find evidence of the others being killed. Blood on the coop door, a couple of piles of feathers, a couple of legs...not pretty. If any of the chicks are alive, they are roosting in the trees. The DH went out Sunday, he couldn't find any either. He's going back out today. I told him it was a bad idea to have chickens at the farm with no one living there...he didn't believe me. Now he does. (Don't know what part of the DW is always right he doesn't get...)