This photo was taken early in our care taking careers.  You can count six chickens here.

A short post to say good bye to the remaining two chickens left in our care by our young nephew, Reid while he and his family spent a year in the wilds of Oregon. Faithful readers will recall that we were chicken sitting and can revisit our post here:Playing Farmville.

Cue ominous banjo music here

Our record for keeping our six charges safe is disappointing. We lost one chicken to the neighbor’s dog, one chicken just disappeared without a trace, and just recently we lost two to a marauding gang of raccoons. We really enjoyed having the chickens in many ways; they were beautiful, gave us yummy eggs and made the yard more amusing. Melissa will miss their help keeping the weed and bug populations down. And we will miss the way they clucked contentedly whenever we fed them scraps. On the other hand, we won’t miss the mess, the worry about their safety and the difficulty finding a qualified chicken sitter for our trips to Astoria.

Our last Australorp lays an egg before leaving

Have Chickens, Will Travel. Two chickens and all their appurtenances are neatly loaded into Darin and Amy’s truck.

After our sailing days are over we will have a place that can accommodate another small flock of chickens. Maybe some bantam breeds would be nice. Melissa and I love the beautiful colors and grace they bring to the property. We enjoy their little noises and antics as they weed the garden and worry the dog. Just a few chickens. No more than a dozen.