The Chicken Chronicles 6.24.22

I haven't been posting about the chickens because there hasn't been any significant news to report.  All of that changed in June, when after many months of deliberation we decided to give away Bandit.  We knew that some of our neighbors appreciated how Bandit's crowing made it feel like we live in the country.  We knew we were not violating city ordinance.  We knew that families just down the hill from us had roosters.  And we thought about these things, along with the knowledge that we hoped to move away soon, and justified keeping him for a while.  But eventually, between our back neighbor's intermittent voicing of her annoyance, often laced with profanity; the not-quite-anonymous complaints from another neighbor, through our landlord; and the occasional visitor who was nervous to go in the backyard for fear Bandit would peck at him or her; we felt we should try to find a new home for him.  We hoped we would have as much luck as we did finding the perfect home for Henry, and I think we did.

I shared this picture of him on the Utah Backyard Chicken Enthusiasts Facebook group, along with a short bio.

I got lots of comments about how handsome he is - no surprise there - and several people were interested in taking care of him.  I connected with one owner who said she would come, but never showed.  This is the first day we thought we would be saying goodbye...

I tried again and found him a new home with a real chicken-lover who has dozens of chickens on a little family property in Payson and who'd lost her rooster when he was protecting the flock from a predator recently.  She said she's reinforced the chicken area to make it safer and needed a new rooster to try to raise some chicks.  She was very sweet and excited to have a new rooster to love on.

I was really sad to say goodbye to Bandit, and I expected Jack to have a hard time.  Thankfully, he understood why we were sending him away and handled it really well.

The ladies seemed to act the same after Bandit left - no moping around or confused behavior.  Though we have noticed that they don't come down to watch us through the family room glass doors nearly as much as they used to.  I guess that was Bandit's thing.  Sometimes I miss hearing him in the backyard, but I don't miss feeling anxiety about whether his crowing is bothering someone else.