Farewell 3 Spot

Without a doubt, 3 Spot, this beautiful Black Australorp that I hatched way back in July is a rooster. After that one tenuous crow in early October, his crowing got louder and he started doing it earlier in the morning and more often. It's just amazing how loud a sound can come from such a little chicken!

What to do? If a neighbor complained, animal control wouldn't hesitate to take him away. I was very close to breaking down and butchering the poor little guy, but he just didn't seem big enough yet to make it worthwhile so I put a last ditch call out on Craigslist. I was overjoyed when a woman responded to my add! Her mom lives in Southwestern Minnesota and has a flock of chickens looking for a young rooster. To top it off, her mom has a "thing" for black chickens. The perfect home for 3 Spot! She came and got him today. I'll miss the little guy, but I'm quite happy to know he'll have a good home with a flock of his own. He'll be a good rooster to them I'm sure.

Here's a few more pictures I took of him today before he left. What a beautiful chicken!

With Puff, his "sister." My next big chicken challenge will be to integrate her into the rest of the flock. I've let her out a few times to mingle with the big girls, and it didn't go too well. They seem to like to gang up on her and peck at her....

His face is blurry here, but you can see how nice his feathers are. They have a beautiful green sheen to them.

The two Black Copper Marans. Still not laying... lousy freeloaders..... They are sweet though. They don't hesitate to come up and say hi whenever I go into their run.

The feather footed Wheatan Maran. Both she and the Buff Sussex are really close to laying. In the last week, their combs have gotten a lot more red, which is supposed to be a good sign. It seems like I've had them forever with no eggs!

This sweet girl is turning into my favorite hen. She's the best layer of the two that have started laying, and whenever I come into the run she follows me around like a puppy. I don't have a good name for her - Red Hen is the best I've come up with.

Not much to report in the garden. Here's the backyard as it looked this afternoon. Still some beets and turnips to pull, and I planted some garlic for next spring. Everything else is cleaned up, ready for winter.
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