I wanted to write an exciting post about our first egg that we got yesterday, and instead I am writing a post talking about saying goodbye to our girls. I am so heartbroken right now, its hard to find the right words. These chickens have always been more to us than fluffy egg layers, they are part of our family, we love them so much and right now I cant believe this is happening to us.
Indy layed her first egg Sunday morning. It was small and cute and green, and I will post a picture of it sometime. Today she was making a lot of noise, clucking and screeching around the yard. At times she did get pretty loud, but not for excessively long period of time. She was just proud of herself! I was getting a little worried, and threw out some grain to quiet her, and that's when I found her second little egg. The kids were so excited, they ran over and showed Jessica and Wayde and the kids right away.
Tonight Hillsboro code enforcement came to our door saying that a "neighbor" had complained about us having chickens, and the noise. He said that there wasn't much we could do - that someone just took our city to court to be allowed to have chickens in city limits and the court sided with the city. So unless we had tons of money (we don't) and wanted to throw it at a bunch of lawyers to fight a losing battle (we don't) we need to have our chickens out within a week or two. He was really nice, saying that he had to do this at least 7-8 times a month in our city, and that he knows that chickens are pretty popular.
All of our cul de sac neighbors knew that we had chickens, and Wayde and Jessica are our closest neighbors - they never would have called, and in fact came over right after the cop left and let me cry on their shoulders. We have a pretty good idea of who reported us, there are really only two houses that are close enough to hear/see the chickens. It doesn't do us any good to know, but it makes me so mad that someone would choose to do something like this. Why?! They have no idea how much these girls mean to us, and even if they made a little noise while laying eggs, its certainly not all day long. They don't stink, they don't wake anyone up at 3am, they don't hurt anyone. I cant figure out why anyone would care so much that they had to do this. It seems so mean to me...
So, now we have to find our girls a new home, and say goodbye to the future of having our own eggs, having our girls wander our backyard, have fun with them and loving them. It doesn't seem real, but the heaviness in my heart is. I know that they are "just chickens" to some people...but they weren't to us. I am going to miss them so much. I cant imagine what its going to be like to walk outside one day in the next week or two and realize that I don't have to let them out of their coop. I don't have to lock them up at night, and I don't get to listen to them coo happily at me when they see me walk outside, wondering what treats I am bringing them. I dont know what I am going to do. I don't want them to go to a home where they are "just chickens", they aren't used to that and it would make me so sad if they didn't get daily loves and pets. I know I need to separate emotionally from them, to make this easier, but I just cant. I love them so much, they were part of our family, and I am so heartbroken tonight.
Indianee's first egg:
Indy layed her first egg Sunday morning. It was small and cute and green, and I will post a picture of it sometime. Today she was making a lot of noise, clucking and screeching around the yard. At times she did get pretty loud, but not for excessively long period of time. She was just proud of herself! I was getting a little worried, and threw out some grain to quiet her, and that's when I found her second little egg. The kids were so excited, they ran over and showed Jessica and Wayde and the kids right away.
Tonight Hillsboro code enforcement came to our door saying that a "neighbor" had complained about us having chickens, and the noise. He said that there wasn't much we could do - that someone just took our city to court to be allowed to have chickens in city limits and the court sided with the city. So unless we had tons of money (we don't) and wanted to throw it at a bunch of lawyers to fight a losing battle (we don't) we need to have our chickens out within a week or two. He was really nice, saying that he had to do this at least 7-8 times a month in our city, and that he knows that chickens are pretty popular.
All of our cul de sac neighbors knew that we had chickens, and Wayde and Jessica are our closest neighbors - they never would have called, and in fact came over right after the cop left and let me cry on their shoulders. We have a pretty good idea of who reported us, there are really only two houses that are close enough to hear/see the chickens. It doesn't do us any good to know, but it makes me so mad that someone would choose to do something like this. Why?! They have no idea how much these girls mean to us, and even if they made a little noise while laying eggs, its certainly not all day long. They don't stink, they don't wake anyone up at 3am, they don't hurt anyone. I cant figure out why anyone would care so much that they had to do this. It seems so mean to me...
So, now we have to find our girls a new home, and say goodbye to the future of having our own eggs, having our girls wander our backyard, have fun with them and loving them. It doesn't seem real, but the heaviness in my heart is. I know that they are "just chickens" to some people...but they weren't to us. I am going to miss them so much. I cant imagine what its going to be like to walk outside one day in the next week or two and realize that I don't have to let them out of their coop. I don't have to lock them up at night, and I don't get to listen to them coo happily at me when they see me walk outside, wondering what treats I am bringing them. I dont know what I am going to do. I don't want them to go to a home where they are "just chickens", they aren't used to that and it would make me so sad if they didn't get daily loves and pets. I know I need to separate emotionally from them, to make this easier, but I just cant. I love them so much, they were part of our family, and I am so heartbroken tonight.
Indianee's first egg:
