More Life & Death on the Farm

Well, our turkeys have been getting bigger each day. And they are so entertaining with all their little barks and twitters and purs and chirps. They are so curious and pretty friendly. We have 3 toms that regularly fluff up their feathers and give each other a quick challenge.

And we have one hen. She is truly the favorite of the family. The kids had nicknamed her "Little Lou".

But Little Lou has a lame leg that has been getting worse. It was breaking my heart to watch her try to get up and down from perches or to keep up with her boys. Her left leg was completely turned out.

Michael and I decided the humane thing to do would be to kill her now before she got any bigger. It was a sad and dreaded day today. I cried when we killed her. Michael is still upset. Amira hates to even think about it. But she does. Often. Thank goodness for grandmas who come take little girls out for breakfast, shoe shopping and lunch. It took her mind off of it for a while. Then she came home and had some time to get goofy with daddy.

Okay, so we move on to the lighter side of our stories. Last week we got a call from our neighbor two doors down who said, "Congratulations! You're a grandma!" I felt a little drop in my stomach as I quickly searched my mind, "What of mine had babies?" I mean, the cat and rabbit are fixed. The poultry is fenced in. Well, this all started a couple of months ago when we were getting reports from other neighbors and kids that our chickens were getting out. "Saw one of your chickens over on Kittyhawk." "Saw one of your chickens in Dean & Rita's back yard ..." I kept checking the fences and counting chickens. I didn't see how it was happening. Then one morning I saw one of the chickens out near the garden. Total security breach! Well, upon closer inspection, this wasn't OUR chicken. This chicken belonged to the neighbor down the street. They have one lonely chicken, "Crazy Chicken" is what they call her. I guess she misses having a flock and either cuts through Dean & Rita's property or goes around the back way on Kittyhawk to get into our yard. So, one day about a month ago Crazy Chicken goes missing. We all speculate it was a racoon or opossum that got her. But nobody sees any evidence of a crime scene. She is just gone. Flash forward to the neighbor coming home last week to find crazy chicken with five baby chicks trotting across her back yard. Well, as the cat had already taken notice and they didn't want anymore chickens or tragedy, guess who has custody of the grandchicks?

They are right at home in Valerie's pet shop for now. One of them even has the extra toes that his father, Captain Fluffball, is known for. Chip off the old cock!