Daniellebell1
Songster
- May 14, 2020
- 69
- 212
- 136
Hello chicken friends,
The wheels are in motion for my little family to move from New Orleans to either Durham or Greensboro, NC, next summer. It's still a long way away (two brutal semesters of nursing school remain before I can actually leave,) but I'm already thinking a lot about what to do with my little flock.
Here's a bit about our chicken history:
I have four ladies: two New Hampshire Reds (Tilly and Ladybird), one Buff Rock (Zippy), and one Partridge Rock (Ruth Bader Hensburg.) They are right about 2 years old, and altogether lay maybe 15ish eggs per week. We got them as chicks from our local farm supply store as a quarantine project, and I've been in love ever since. I wanted three chickens, but I knew they don't have the best survival rate, so we got four and I expected to end up with two. (Chicken math reigns again!) At the time, I was struggling with the adoption-equivalent of postpartum depression, and watching the chicks was one of the only things that helped me be present and calm. They were better than therapy. (I mean, I was in therapy too. But I do believe Chicken TV made a bigger difference to my mental health.)
We built a coop (it's the most nonsensical design) but after Hurricane Ida, we stopped making them go in the coop at night. (Long story, but the end result is that they seem to know how to survive better than we give them credit for.**) Anyway, now they free range in the backyard all day and sleep in the fig tree at night.
Six months ago, Tilly and Ladybird started flying over our front fence and foraging first in my front yard and then in various neighbors' yards. I was very worried about them until I saw Ladybird challenge and fend off a cat. So I made little packages of eggs for each of my neighbors with a note saying that I was choosing not to clip their wings for now, but to please contact me if they felt the chickens were in any way a nuisance. After that I heard from most of my neighbors that they love seeing the hens. Not too long after, Ruth joined the traveling party (but poor Zippy is too heavy to make it over the fence, so she misses out on all the fun.)
A week or so ago, Ruth was attacked by a neighborhood dog that had escaped her yard. Y'ALL. I saw her body by the air conditioning unit. She was completely still. I got a shovel, a towel, a box, and tried to mentally prepare myself to bury her. I sat by her and gently stroked her feathers. She didn't move. I wrapped her body in a towel. She didn't move. THEN I pulled her wrapped body out from behind the AC unit, and she perked right up with a very sweet "Bok bok?" I just about had a heart attack. Anyway, she was only missing some feathers and was otherwise completely intact. I snuggled her and held her and cried and cried. I learned afterward, from this very forum, that chickens do experience "shock" and that her reaction was not at all unusual. Fortunately, it was a small (and kinda stupid) dog, and I think she stopped harassing Ruth when she went all limp because it wasn't as fun as harassing a flurry of noise and feathers. Anyway. Ruth was always the prettiest of the flock, but now she's also the sweetest...ever since the doggy attack, she has been my cuddliest chicken.
So back to the point of the post. My original plan was to keep these ladies for their eggs and then let them have a long and happy retirement once they stop laying. When the idea of moving after nursing school started to look more realistic, I thought that I would find them homes with friends and other chicken-enthusiasts. But now...I'm so much more attached to Ruth than I thought I would be. It seems totally impractical to move them. It's a 2-day drive, we'll have a restless 3-year-old and two dogs to soothe, I don't know anyone who has a trailer, the current coop is utterly ridiculous and would be a nightmare to move...besides all of which, the areas we are considering are more rural, and I suspect we are just not ready for the advanced predators. We will probably have to rent a place for the first 6 months, so that limits things even further. It's a terrible idea. But also...I think maybe these chickens saved my life two years ago, I've really bonded with Ruth, and the idea of leaving them behind is really upsetting.
I think the right thing to do is to find them new homes before we move. But also I hate it. I suspect I'm posting here not so much to ask for advice as for commiseration. I love these chickies, and I'm already missing them!!
**Obviously there's more nuance to my chicken-keeping philosophy and why they are not clipped and why we let them roost in the fig tree at night, and what the consequences are, and all of that. But that's for another post.
The wheels are in motion for my little family to move from New Orleans to either Durham or Greensboro, NC, next summer. It's still a long way away (two brutal semesters of nursing school remain before I can actually leave,) but I'm already thinking a lot about what to do with my little flock.
Here's a bit about our chicken history:
I have four ladies: two New Hampshire Reds (Tilly and Ladybird), one Buff Rock (Zippy), and one Partridge Rock (Ruth Bader Hensburg.) They are right about 2 years old, and altogether lay maybe 15ish eggs per week. We got them as chicks from our local farm supply store as a quarantine project, and I've been in love ever since. I wanted three chickens, but I knew they don't have the best survival rate, so we got four and I expected to end up with two. (Chicken math reigns again!) At the time, I was struggling with the adoption-equivalent of postpartum depression, and watching the chicks was one of the only things that helped me be present and calm. They were better than therapy. (I mean, I was in therapy too. But I do believe Chicken TV made a bigger difference to my mental health.)
We built a coop (it's the most nonsensical design) but after Hurricane Ida, we stopped making them go in the coop at night. (Long story, but the end result is that they seem to know how to survive better than we give them credit for.**) Anyway, now they free range in the backyard all day and sleep in the fig tree at night.
Six months ago, Tilly and Ladybird started flying over our front fence and foraging first in my front yard and then in various neighbors' yards. I was very worried about them until I saw Ladybird challenge and fend off a cat. So I made little packages of eggs for each of my neighbors with a note saying that I was choosing not to clip their wings for now, but to please contact me if they felt the chickens were in any way a nuisance. After that I heard from most of my neighbors that they love seeing the hens. Not too long after, Ruth joined the traveling party (but poor Zippy is too heavy to make it over the fence, so she misses out on all the fun.)
A week or so ago, Ruth was attacked by a neighborhood dog that had escaped her yard. Y'ALL. I saw her body by the air conditioning unit. She was completely still. I got a shovel, a towel, a box, and tried to mentally prepare myself to bury her. I sat by her and gently stroked her feathers. She didn't move. I wrapped her body in a towel. She didn't move. THEN I pulled her wrapped body out from behind the AC unit, and she perked right up with a very sweet "Bok bok?" I just about had a heart attack. Anyway, she was only missing some feathers and was otherwise completely intact. I snuggled her and held her and cried and cried. I learned afterward, from this very forum, that chickens do experience "shock" and that her reaction was not at all unusual. Fortunately, it was a small (and kinda stupid) dog, and I think she stopped harassing Ruth when she went all limp because it wasn't as fun as harassing a flurry of noise and feathers. Anyway. Ruth was always the prettiest of the flock, but now she's also the sweetest...ever since the doggy attack, she has been my cuddliest chicken.
So back to the point of the post. My original plan was to keep these ladies for their eggs and then let them have a long and happy retirement once they stop laying. When the idea of moving after nursing school started to look more realistic, I thought that I would find them homes with friends and other chicken-enthusiasts. But now...I'm so much more attached to Ruth than I thought I would be. It seems totally impractical to move them. It's a 2-day drive, we'll have a restless 3-year-old and two dogs to soothe, I don't know anyone who has a trailer, the current coop is utterly ridiculous and would be a nightmare to move...besides all of which, the areas we are considering are more rural, and I suspect we are just not ready for the advanced predators. We will probably have to rent a place for the first 6 months, so that limits things even further. It's a terrible idea. But also...I think maybe these chickens saved my life two years ago, I've really bonded with Ruth, and the idea of leaving them behind is really upsetting.
I think the right thing to do is to find them new homes before we move. But also I hate it. I suspect I'm posting here not so much to ask for advice as for commiseration. I love these chickies, and I'm already missing them!!
**Obviously there's more nuance to my chicken-keeping philosophy and why they are not clipped and why we let them roost in the fig tree at night, and what the consequences are, and all of that. But that's for another post.
No, no, you're quite right. There are a zillion variables between now and then!
