2014, the year of the chicken at our house.

In 2013 we dabbled, in 2014, we committed.  Our flock grew from 6 to (our current) 42. We welcomed 3 “hatches” of chicks, first 4, then 10, and then 4, adding in 18 littles ones to our flock.  We lost 4 to natural causes this summer, and as our chicks grew to become pullets, we started to run out of room.

And the roosters.

Out of those 18 chicks we were un naturally lucky with our hens.  Only 4 of our chicks turned out to be roosters, but still, 4 roosters is 4 roosters too many (especially when you have a mighty papa rooster already manning his flock)

So, it is time to cull the flock.

Now, don’t panic. . . luckily we have beautiful roosters, hand raised, friendly and blue ribbon winners (according to 4H) and we were able to home them all to forever flocks around the island.

But still, its hard on the kids (and possibly the grown ups too… but we will never admit it)  Roosters are handsome, with personality bursting from them.  They catch your eye and your attention, and you end up loving them more than the docile hens that provide your breakfast.

Our last dude goes to his home tomorrow, dear Spike, the ugliest baby chick ever to hatch, who has grown into a (huge) handsome Roo. He is off to manage his own flock of hens, protect them from predators and make sure they follow his rules.

Spike, my sons favourite.

After a week of preparing him for Spikes “moving day”, we have now planned to get him ready to go and then hit the swimming pool for some fun.

I mean, there is nothing worse than feeling like you are stealing a kids rooster is there?  So, we will have Spike prepped and dad will do the final handoff.

Our kids are learning that this is part of the process, and that letting them go to island families is a much better solution than having them end up in the stewing pot.

But still . . . saying good bye to anything is always a bit rough. . .