Fair Warning: This is a lengthy one , and I won't be offended if newbies or even oldies want to skip it.
Well I decided to try one more time to log in to BYC with the password that they generated. I finally got one that actually worked. Yay!
Sorry to anybody who offered to take my chickens that I was unable to get back to.
Here is the skinny on what I have done (good or bad). I had been hoping to send them as a group someplace. But when it got down to the time to do it, I had to split them to get them good homes with people I know and trust.
Close to home (and not talking about anybody here). I got some of the usual:
Oh yes we will be happy to give your new laying hens a home for free. Oh, you have a rooster. Well I don't know about that."
Followed by.
"Well sure we will take him too. Not sure if he will work out, but we will give it a try. And I promise WE won't eat him."
Which really reads: "I am so happy to take your full grown just laying flock off you hands for no money in exchange and take your rooster to my neighbors to be butchered!"
Also some people who were happy to take some of my hens but not others, and not Pinky (the rooster)
Chicken Rustler offered to take all of the hens and place them at his or his dear neighbors coop. But he was fair and told me that he just simply couldn't give Pinky a home and displace his current rooster (whom Pinky would likely have squashed if he sat on him). And then Nyrial offered to take Pinky and his trio of black hens. She also would take the 3 chicks that Liza had just hatched.
I have known the two of them on here for enough time to have a pretty good picture of how they feel about their chickens. And between the two of them I was satisfied that all of the chickens would have friends along and the split was do-able.
In the end, when it came time to take the 9 hens to Rob, I kept back 3. Fran -Production Red was pretty torn up on her back from Pinky.... So I wanted her to heal some before encountering the new pecking order at Rob's. Willow -EE quit laying about 10 days before the move, so I kept her so as not to burden Rob and Diane with a hen not pulling her weight. (And I needed to confirm that she had quit laying, and not just changed egg color) And Fred -NHR had just begun to sit on eggs and wasn't going to be happy about stopping.
I have gotten reports and pics and am reassured that those moved are doing fine at this point. The ones that have had the hardest time are Fran and Willow who still run around the yard wondering where their friends are. I couldn't close them into a coop alone, so I bring them in to sleep in a wading pool brooder with a roost each night. They even walk to the back door and knock to be let in now....LOL
Fran is feathering in. Fred has 3 - 3 day old chicks right now running around brooder pool in the dining room with her. But Willow is still not laying. Willow is my White EE girl who layed the prettiest light blue/green eggs. If she never lays another egg, she has earned her way into my heart. If she does lay, I may still see if Rob wants the 3 girls. Or I may use them to begin a hen only coop. But it isn't what I wanted at all when I started on this crazy journey.
I know some people don't understand why a flock is important to me. And I don't think I can ever make it clear. But it is important to me to have that male presence in my coop. And with some of the problems with my physical disorder, a rooster and his natural abilities made it possible for me to keep chickens. I am still evalutating whether I can figure out a way to replace his service to me.
Some have suggested a timer, and making a "fort knox" type coop for security. But I am not sure that those will work well enough for me to continue. Time and experimentation will tell.
I have to tell you that I experienced a little bit of backlash from some of my friends on fb who also are BYC'ers about being some upset about all of this. It hurt my feelings and slowed my return to this website and this thread.
But I am stronder now, and I am back to BYC for now. Not as much as in the past, but I will be popping back in to harrass the "boys" and laugh with the girls from the old group. (If they are still around)
Now back to your regularly scheduled program
Oh Ron - I am only getting one egg a day right now..... But at least it isn't white!
