goodbye to Leia... or is that Luke?
Back in the spring when we got our latest batch of chicks on what has come to be known as Star Wars Day (locally celebrated as Zion's birthday) all three boys thought it made sense to name their personal birds after something from Star Wars. For his chick—an Easter Egger—Harvey picked "Leia", which I thought was just the best name ever for a hen; he didn't see the pun at first, but eventually came to appreciate it. And was he proud when his chick grew faster and bigger than the other three! For the fair, where we weren't allowed to show birds because of avian influenza, he made a beautiful poster of Leia filled with information all about Easter Eggers and their beautifully colored eggs. And then, not a month later, I started to notice how big and full Leia's tail was becoming. Uh-oh... When, a week or two ago, she he let loose his first tentative crow what I had heavily suspected was revealed to be true.
what a beautiful rooster!
Yes, Leia (or should that be Luke?!) is actually not a hen. As I said to the rest of the family when I knew for sure, "Leia will never lay a single egg." We had ordered sexed chicks, but sexing chickens is not an exact science, I suppose. It's too bad—but not because we don't like roosters! They're lovely, and as I've said before I think that the crowing actually adds a lot to the general ambience of the neighborhood. Most of the time, at least; Leia has been kicking off the morning's crowing at around 5:00, which isn't terrible, but we're into the winter half of the year now... that translates to 3:30 at midsummer, if not earlier!
Well, whether or not we could get used to it—I think we could!—doesn't matter, because the neighbors can't be asked to. Roosters aren't allowed in our part of the world. At least not yet; I can see that changing in 15 or 20 years if interest in backyard farming keeps developing at the pace it has been lately. So we had to find Leia a new home. And being part of the 4H poultry club really helped! One of the member families had lost their own rooster a few months ago, and were thrilled to take Leia off our hands. So with a mix of sadness and relief we packed him up Saturday morning (in a carrier borrowed from another 4H friend!) to bring him to his new home in Newton.
"why am I in this box?!"
They're not actually allowed to have roosters in Newton either, but this family has done better outreach work with their neighbors, and they're also prepared to use a crow collar on him. Aside from the collar I think he's going to have a great life down there: they're actively wanting to increase their flock naturally, so if all goes well he'll get to see lots of his chicks grow up amongst the bamboo and cherry trees in his new yard. With the stress of potentially angry neighbors hanging over me I would have paid someone to take him; instead we got to give him to grateful friends, and we got a big bag of black walnuts in return! Plus we can even go visit him some day. I wonder if he'll remember us?