In One Day.............

I ask myself, how did we get to this day so quickly? The time went in a blink of an eye and then on the other hand, it took forever it seems as well. We sign the papers tomorrow and the little house on Winnie will belong to a new family. Not only will the little house on Winnie not be ours any more but my beloved Chicken Resort will belong to a new family as well. This is the post I waited to write, as it is the one that is breaking my heart into.

The new owners requested we leave the chicken resort when the presented the contract on our house. With the structure being permanently fixed to the property, we really did not have a choice. The new owners wanted to have chickens of their own and they loved loved loved the chicken coops on our property. Sure..I get that totally...I mean, how could they not love it! It was built with love. So we agreed to leave them and thus the journey of trying to figure out how to actually work it out to move the chickens with us.

Unfortunately, due to the time constraints on closing on these two houses and the lack of time we have to move from our home we are in now, the logistics of being able to have a place for them in the time frame was not going to work. I have a dear friend who agreed to house the chickens for me until I could get a coop built and moved to the property. I say this and know, this has been something I have struggled with for weeks on what was the right thing to do.

So many things came into leading me to the decision I have made in regards to my beloved feathered friends, and that being said, the chickens of my heart will be staying at the Chicken resort. The new home owners were delighted to keep them and be their care givers. I know that no matter how hard this decision is for me to make, it is the right thing to do for them. This is their home, and they will be most happiest here where they know home to be. Chickens are just like me, they don't like change and it stresses them out. Consequently most of them are in molt and they are already stressed out because of that and they have almost stopped laying eggs completely. Uprooting them from the home they know would only compound that stress and I don't want to do that. I am at peace with the decision I have made, but it still has just about broken my heart into pieces.

Oh, how I will miss my Benny boy...he is the one that started it all for me and my love for keeping chickens. Me and that rooster have come a long way together. In falling in love with him, started my journey on keeping chickens and learning how to care for them. He was the first and the most special in my heart. He still does not like to be handled, but he likes to play games with me and tease me with the fact that he just might let me touch him....he likes to inch close to me where he is just stops beyond my fingertips and then when I reach for him, he just moves away. He always makes me smile and he is a sweet boy and I will miss him so much.

Each of the hens are special and unique in their own way as well, one of them, Goldie one of the chicks that hatched last spring just about breaks the door down to get to me when I open the door, she loves me and if I don't pick her up and pay her the attention she thinks she deserves, she pecks me until I do. America and Cinnamon are the other two chicks that hatched in the spring and they love to be held and loved on.

Shirley and Rosie are still skiddish but they have come a long way as well, as they were so wild when I first got them. They are top hens in the whole bunch, and they stay pretty much by Benny's side most of the time.

Penny is most likely the sweetest of them all, she is Nugget's best buddy and she is so sweet and loving. And lastly, Nugget...that little speck of bird is so full of character and personality, she may be the tiniest of them all, but she rules her side of the coop. I will miss Nugget's protest and squawking when she decides she wants to set on eggs and I don't let her. She is the baby and the smallest and she is very special to my heart as well. Each one is unique in their own way, and each one holds a very special place in my heart.

I know Steve is probably right, the chickens love me because to them, I bring the food and they see me and they know food is on the way...but maybe just maybe they love me for who I am just a little. I hope they don't feel abandoned, and hope they will learn to love the new care givers. We will meet the new owners on our last day of our move out and I will have the opportunity to tell them how to care for the chickens and what I did for them. It is my hope that they will open up the back part of the yard and the chickens will have free range of that area and the chicken resort will not be a coop and run any longer but just the coop. They will be happy to have the whole yard to explore in and that large space to free range in. I am sure that is their plan because they were so excited about the chickens in the first place. We could not do that as the area housed our large dogs as well as the coops, so in the long run, I think they will be happier with the new situation and owners. It is so hard when making the right decisions and they are the ones that break your heart.

One thing I do know, I have poured my heart and soul into the love and care for my feathered friends, and if I did not think this was the best thing for them in the long run, I would have never made that decision. Does that mean I have not cried enough tears to fill a swimming pool? No....I have and still am. I don't know how I will make it when I have to say goodbye in a few days, I hope I can keep it together when I explain to the new home owners how I have cared for them and what I think they need to continue doing. These chickens have had the BEST of what I could offer them. I have always put their comfort and needs before any thing else. I expect nothing less for them in the future.....and if I get the vibe that the new owners might not provide that....well, if your in the area, you may see a car driving down the road loaded up with chickens and a rooster and I may change my mind. I don't expect that to happen as the Realtor has assured me they are beyond happy and excited to keep them and have promised they would be well cared for.

 
In one day....my beloved Chicken resort and my sweet birds will belong to the new owners. The days of coming home and collecting blue, green and tan eggs will be over as well. The days of coming home from a bad day and sitting in the coops and being comforted and soothed by my feathered friends will be no more. In one day it will be officially not mine any more and only a couple of days away from walking away from the lights in my heart. I feel this day, my heart will break into when that time comes. This is by far the hardest part of this journey......and it all takes place in one day.