Hi, I started out with 25 chickens from Murry McMurry Hatchery in 1983 in central Illinois. They were all kinds of breeds. I showed them in 4-H and even got a trophy for Best Hen with my Light Brahma in the day. Those chickens bred and we had a rainbow collection of mixed breeds. As a teenager my father thought it would be funny to feed the chickens by my bedroom window and my room was in the basement. The roosters started to go near my window and start crowing very early. It drove me nuts. I asked him to stop feeding them there. He did, but the roosters didn't care. All 19 of them would crow there. After months of puberty and roosters I convinced my Dad to let them. We caught them in the middle of the night and took them to an auction the next day. My neighbor was at the auction and told my Dad he was thinking of buying them and bringing them back as a joke... My sister and brother still tell stories of how I would go outside in all kinds of weather including snow in my pj's throwing balls, socks and whatever was handy at them to get them away, but they would just come back to my window. Then in 1999, I moved to Malaysia and my neighbors had chickens (a lot of roosters). They would roost in the rambutan tree next door and crow by my window (flashbacks from my youth). It drove me nuts - literally! Then one day the neighbors moved away and they left the chickens behind. One by one I would catch them and drive with them on my lap and give them away to a local villager that already had chickens. Fast forward to the present - just got the idea to get backyard chickens for my kids and I to enjoy. We got one Batam Brown Leghorn cross hen in January. She became broody and I got some fertile eggs from another wonderful BackYard Chicken member. They hatched in May and two are roosters. One had his first virgin crow today and being in a city we can't keep them. This evening they are going to a new home. I can't believe I would ever feel sad or shed a tear to see a rooster go, but that is where I have healed my wound with roosters. I have gone full circle with chickens.
