Good-bye Chickens!

Yesterday we butchered our last 10 chickens. Over the past few months, egg production has diminished significantly (only about 1 - 4 per day from previously 8-10 per day) and we decided it was time (at one year old) to say goodbye. Meanwhile our freezer is full of meat again (for a while) and if we stew it slowly it should still be good--we'll see. We will probably get chickens again in a year or two, but it is very difficult to get away (even though we had awesome help from friends and family) for very long when there are so many animals to arrange care for. I'm somewhat relieved, although I will miss the sight of them running and flapping across the backyard and vying with our black lab for scraps. Schwarz occasionally would even climb through the open door into the pen part of the coop if he thought the chickens were getting a better snack than he was! :-)

(sigh) Good-bye Eggs. Good-bye Chickens. Good-bye tucking the chickens in every night. Good-bye letting the chickens out each morning. Good-bye bowls of chicken scraps (left over garden produce) on my counter.

Good night chickens. Good night mittens... Good night!