Chicken update

We were very disappointed to learn that the chickens left by the previous owner are 6 years old and don't lay any more. We thought we would keep them as pets initially, but didn't name them in case we changed our mind (they were sometimes referred to as C1 and C2). They became company to Zebadee, but Lara never warmed to them. Zeb must think she is also a chicken - how else do you explain the fact that she prefers the chicken house than her own dog kennel?

The chickens acted like they owned the house, but they started to grow on us. It was nice seeing them walking around in the garden every morning but it was time-consuming to get them back into their coop. Simon thought there was some intelligence in those little brains, but they were basically food-driven. It was nice to get rid of our kitchen scraps but we usually didn't have enough to feed them. And the food attracted wild turkeys, some morning we saw a couple of turkeys in the garden with the chickens. We heard they can be a breeding ground for lice (pooh hanging from their bottoms was a telling sign we were told). We didn't like Zeb supplement her diet with chicken poohs either. At the end, we decided to 'give them away'. But who wants some old hens? No one! The vet offered to put them down (for a price), but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

At the end, the local vegetable man came and took them. Whether they are being used as soup stock, or live in a farm (as we were told), we would never know. They are very handsome-looking so hopefully they now live in their 'retirement' farm as breeding stock.

We won't see this outside Lara's bedroom window any more. The chicken coop feels empty without them...