so that's two less animals, right? Though I'm sorry about your cat--a month is a long time!

I'd like to have 2 less animals. When I get any guts, I'll ditch the guinea pigs.

That will make many things better.

I don't have much experience with roosters, but my neighbor has 2 guinea pigs. They are adorable and 'talk' to us everyday; they love to sit nestled in cleavage (and yes, they are both males. hehehehe!) and just squeal away. I have grown quite fond of them but they are soooo messy. They have a huge cage and just kick cedar chips everywhere as well as dump their bowls of food so it gets mixed in with their waste at the bottom of the cage. I am not sure I would want one just because of the huge mess. I have 2 large dogs, and I think my Chloe and Queenie are easier to deal with! Did I mention that my friend's house starts to smell a bit rancid if the cage is not cleaned at least every other day? Pewie!

Um...I'm not sure whether to say "sorry" or "congrats" on the rooster finding a new home, so I'll say both. :-) Sorry you're losing a pet, but congrats on finding him a wonderful new environment - I'm sure he'll love those hens. :-)

As for your cat...I'm truely sorry about that one. One of my parent's cats got "lost" over a 4th of July holiday one year, and we thought he was a goner, but almost 6 months later, someone called and said they had found him in thier shed. Dad went to check it out, and it took awhile to catch him, but Max is back home, not too much worse for the wear.

I love guinea pigs - used to have a couple. Sorry they aren't working out for you, Tally Sue...

Well, here we go again. We picked up 3 of the most adorable "banties" chicks you've ever seen. Since they are not a science fair project, like Rosie, DD should be able to enjoy them more and not be so stressed. I told her I'm not taking care of these at all. LOL we will see.

here's a fuzzy pix of the fuzzy chicks

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I forgot to mention that I tossed a bunch of stuff from the garage to get ready for the chicks. It felt so good. I haven't been on a rampage like that in a long time. I had so much stuff put away for "later" and realized I didn't have room to store stuff. My new motto " Use it or lose it".

Now you have chickens??!!! Betsy you are so fun and shall we say . . . spontaneous!!! I really love them when they are baby chicks, but I'm not sure I'd do well with them when grown. Does your neighborhood allow chickens? Our old one did, but this one has covenants that say's no chickens. Personally I think every neighborhood could use a few. I really miss our "late morning wake-up call" by the lazy rooster in our old neighborhood!

I am so sorry about your kitten. I hope he returns! That is hard to deal with. It is so easy to get attached to those furry little critters. Our kitten was sick for two weeks and making messes all over the house. He couldn't help it, but it was so frustrating. We finally figured out it was the cat food. We had been using the cheap stuff, was guilted by the vet to use the good stuff. He got sick on the good stuff and now that he is back on the cheap stuff, he's his happy, naughty self again!

Good job on getting the garage clean. It is funny what it takes to motivate us. For me it was getting my parents old freezer and not wanting my BIL to see how messy our garage was when he helped us move it in there! LOL!

Brenda

Please be warned that chickens (especially bantams) are highly addictive. Do not under any circumstances get a lawn chair and hang out by the nesting box. They will draw you in and convince you to free their entire race. Next thing you know you'll be spending all your time at backyardchickens.com in the forums, buying chicken diapers and devising elaborate coops that "go" with your house.
Ok, I gotta go collect eggs and look at paint chips for our new coop!
Annette

BoCRon, that is one nice chicken coop! Love the color. No kidding about hanging out near the nesting box. I'm still trying to convince DH that we could have just a few hens, but the silly things would probably drown themselves in our backyard pond. Is there a door in the back of the coop where you can get to the nesting boxes?

artmom, I love the little banties! They have the most beautiful eggs; I hope you got hens. There's nothing like fresh eggs. I'm curious though...How did getting rid of one rooster turn into three chicks?

Betsy, our neighborhood has a covenant in the bylaws about chickens! We're not allowed to have them. LOL wonder why they felt the need to actually put it in the bylaws.

We are not supposed to have them either but until someone complains...we have chickens!. The lady we gave the rooster to loves him. He follows her all areound her yard. We missed having chicks to raise and I figured with all the things kids can get into that is bad, why not get into something that is good. It's a wonderful learning experience and responsibility, and we get eggs so why not?

forgot to tell BoCRon how beautiful your coop is. Ours is about half that size, time to add on. LOL

Believe it or not, that's our "little coop". Here's a pic of the back with the doors to the roosting area and the nest boxes below.

Here's our main coop where the main flock of egg-layers reside.

Here's Vinnie-one of the little banty roosters.

And finally, some of the prettiest eggs ever!

Okay, I'll stop now.
Annette

hey, Annette, you could start a lien of paints inspired by the colors of those eggs---no, wait, it's been done already.

We had a chicken when i was a kid. My brother saw the bird run into the Place's store (dime store) on the square in our small Iowa town, so he ran in after to bring it out.

The store manager yelled at him, "you get your chicken out of my store" and didn't listen to DB saying, "it's not my chicken." Well, it was now.

Dad turned the play jail into a coop, and we have one fresh egg a day untll the heating lamp got bump and the thing burned down. Poor chicken!

She used to follow my brother around the yard. Not us, just my brother. Or the dog, who didn't like it, it made her nervous.

Ok, Betsy, I would LOVE for you to take your chicken to PetSmart, and let us know what they think!!! That would be too funny! They say bring your pets!

Annette and Artmom, you really inspired me to want to turn my dogyard into a chicken yard. I have slept since then and returned to my senses. Suburbia is my present, and the chickens were my past. Darn it though. I'm loving all these chicken and coop pictures!