Another Sad Day

I have been struggling with the fact that I have 2 too many roosters for months now. I knew the day would come when I would have to get rid of 2 of my roosters.

Let me first say, I never thought I'd be sad about a rooster. I also never thought I'd end up loving a rooster. I never even thought I'd own a rooster. But here we are, a little over a year into raising chickens and I fell in love with a rooster. Smokey wasn't just any rooster though. When you think of a rooster you think of a very mean and aggressive chicken that tries to attack you every chance you get, right? Wrong!!! Smokey was the absolute best rooster anyone could ever ask for. And I definitely didn't ask for him. He was given to me by my sister who said "she"was lonely, as she was the only chick that hatched out of 22 eggs. So, "she" came home with me. 5 or so odd weeks later "she" started crowing. I was adamant that he had to go. I hated roosters. There was no room in my flock for a rooster. But here he was, and I was slowly starting to fall in love with him.

Over the last year he has been the absolute best rooster. He makes sure his girls get fed first. If he found a bug he would make cute little noises to let them know there was a treat over here for them. And whenever it was time to go to bed he'd make a different sound to tell everyone to get into the coop and on the roost. He was the first one up and the last one to bed every night.

I've been saying for about a year now that if there was a time where I had too many roosters, old hens who weren't laying any more or just some chickens that needed to go, that I would end up sending them to freezer camp. And I was always adamant that I could do it. Well, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it when Alfredo was hurt and having trouble standing. And I couldn't do it now knowing that Pepper and Smokey were such adorable, sweet boys.

So today I said goodbye to my sweet boys. And no they didn't go to freezer camp. I just couldn't do it. I guess everyone was right when they said as soon as you name them they become pets not food. My husband was able to find someone who likes to keep roosters as pets. So my boys will go on living out there lives as pets. Or so I'd like to think. I honestly don't know if that's what's going to happen or not. But here's to hoping they are as taken care of and spoiled as they have been while with me.