We had a happy ending for two young roosters (and a mystery bird named Bones who we think is a girl) from my March hatch: they went to live on a beautiful flower farm where they will free range with a nice flock of laying hens, wandering under blue skies with Longhorn Cattle watching over them. And no, this is not a euphemism for going into the stew pot!
Look, I have the flowers from the flower farm to prove it:
Aren't they gorgeous?
I always liked these little roosters. One hatched from a chocolate-colored Marans egg but his dad was a blue or green egg layer, so he is an olive egger and his progeny will produce very interesting egg colors.
Another is from blue/green egg genes and has coppery plumage that I've always admired. Here are the eggs they hatched from (a local farmer swapped them to me for a chicken!):
And Bones? She hatched out all black with a white face like a little skull, and when her feathers came in they were dark with white ribbing like skeleton feathers.
She comes across as an emo chick, but if you can get past the persona you'll find she's the sweetest thing. She's a special gal, but when we saw Mars Hill Farm and their purpose statement, we felt it would be a special home for her, so she joined the boys.
Anyway, if you are in the area or at the Dallas Farmers Market, check out Mars Hill Farm - you can buy super fresh locally grown flowers or even pick your own, and they host various events like farm days for kids where you can milk a cow and suit up like a Beekeeper!
And, if you happen to run into Bones and my ex-roosters there, tell them "hi" for us.
(Also, does anyone want to trade me something cool for some Gladiolus?)