2024 April 3 - The First 5 Chicks and Sally

For six years, chicken keeping was so easy I did not understand why there were even books written about it. I remember hesitating about getting chickens because so many people were having problems in Facebook groups. Then one birthday my then girlfriend (now wife) Carli bought me a chicken coop and that set everything in motion. I had 5 bantam easter eggers sent from MyBackyardChicken through the mail. The people at the post office seemed just as excited as I to receive the little peeping box. That group of five were so sweet. They grew right on schedule into a nice little flock that fit perfectly into the little coop we bought. We named them Olive, Rose, Pearl, Loretta and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Ruth was dark with a white collar around her neck. I got one little blue egg each just about every day of the summer of 2017. No problem. 

After 5 years a hole in the back side of the run let an unknown animal in. We lost one hen and fixed the hole. Then another time in 2020, sometime nearing my brain surgery, I had a panic attack in the backyard and left them unattended. A hawk took advantage.

 The next year, we took in the sweetest Australorp, Sally. She was a big, black chicken with a deeper voice than we were used to. She had been bought by someone for Easter and kept in the tiniest bird cage. When we got her, she was emaciated, afraid, and featherless. Her little bantam sisters showed her how to be a real chicken and she thrived. Unfortunately, she died a couple years later of an impacted egg. 

Here's to Sally, she was wonderful. 

Tomorrow, I'll highlight the current flock of broads.