Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Bye bye

Remember this little chick? It was our first born chick. It was the only chick that hatched from the first batch. And because mommy chicken Nera had to stay on the second batch of eggs, we had to take this one from the coop and raised it ourself. It's a special breed called 'Vorwerk'-bantam (small chickens). The other batch were the same kind we already had, wyandotte bantams.

He grew up with our daughter as mom and sometimes our son as dad. He slept on their laps, he napped in the computer cabinet when the kids were behind the computer... to cut a long story short he was our baby.

But as we all know babies grow up and unfortunately this chick grew up to become a rooster. We can't have a rooster here (our neighbours would probably shoot him), we knew that in advance, the kids knew that in advance. We saw him change, but we kept our promise that we would hold on to him until he'd start to crow. So the point came where he had to leave us and move out.

We found a good place for him in the south of the Netherlands, where he is to become head of 4 Vorwerk-girls. But even knowing that, saying goodbye hurts. So we had a lot of tears yesterday from the kids even though they tried to be strong. I'm a little sad myself, cause he was really a cute hunk of a chicken.

This morning he was gone, my husband got up in the middle of the night to bring him down there. All went well and the new owner was all smitten by him. He's promised to send some pictures once Coco has settled in.


Rooster Coco (Vorwerk bantam)
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Dag dag

Herinner je je dit kleine kuikentje nog? Ons eerst geboren kuikentje. Het was het enige dat uit een eerste broedsel kwam. En omdat mama hen Nera nog een tweede set eieren onder zich geschoven had gekregen, moesten we dit kuikentje wel weghalen, zodat Nera zou blijven broeden op de andere eieren. Dit eerste kuikentje was een Vorwerk krielkipje (de andere eieren waren wyandotte krieleieren, hetzelfde ras als de kippen die we al hebben).

Het kuikentje groeide op met onze dochter als moeder en soms onze zoon als vader. Het sliep op schoot, zat in de computerkast als de kinderen achter de computer zaten (later op een zelfgemaakt stokje)..... kortom, het was onze baby.

Maar zoals we allemaal weten baby's worden groot en deze baby groeide uit tot haan. Helaas kunnen we hier geen haan houden (onze buren zouden hem waarschijnlijk neerschieten). Wij wisten dit van te voren, de kinderen wisten dit van te voren. Langzaam zagen we het kuikentje in een HEM veranderen, maar we hielden ons aan de belofte dat hij pas weg moest als hij gekraaid had. Dus het moment kwam dat hij ons moest verlaten.

We vonden (gelukkig!!!) een goed adresje voor hem ergens in Limburg, waar hij de leider zal worden van een groepje van 4 jonge Vorwerkkrielhennetjes. Maar toch deed het afscheid pijn, en vielen heel wat tranen gisteravond bij het laatste afscheid, ook al probeerden ze stoer te doen. Ik mis hem zelf ook wel erg, het was niet alleen een geweldig fotomodel, maar ook een stoere en slimme kip. Vanmorgen was hij er niet meer, héél vroeg is hij vertrokken met mijn man naar Limburg. Alles ging prima en de nieuwe eigenaar was weg van onze Coco (logisch!). HIj heeft beloofd wat foto's van ons kindje te sturen zodra hij wat gesettled is.
Dag Coco.

Vorwerkkriel haan "Coco", ± 3 maanden

7 comments:

natalia said...

Ciao Lien ! I'm crying too ! He's very beautiful your Coco ! I'm sure he will be happy there !

Laura said...

We had one rooster too, it was heartbreaking, especially because we couldn't find a home and left him in a feed store. Luckily a nice lady bought him and sent us pictures of his new home. I would have never imagined that chickens could become part of our family. The first chicken we had, raised by us in a box is our pet, she often comes in the house and in the winter we take her in to keep her warm since she is so little. My daughter sometimes wonders how we are going to survive when she dies.

Of the 4 chicks we hatched this summer, one was lost to a cat (so sad), one is really ugly with an awful personality, one is super cute, and one may be a rooster. He/she is developing amazing colors but hasn't started crowing, so there is hope. It is going to be sad if we have to go through the pain of saying goodbye.

Feeling sad for you and the kids, Coco is a stunning chicken.

Hugs!

NKP said...

Oh, what a handsome bird Coco is!
I am sure he will be happy with his new harem. But still, sad to lose a pet.

Elizabeth said...

He's beautiful. I can well imagine being sad to see him go. Do you think he'll miss you too (or will he be too busy with his harem?)

Anonymous said...

What a handsome chap! Isn't he lucky that he hatched in your home and had all that TLC? I wish him well in his new life. What a sweet post this is, I really loved it. Joanna

Elle said...

He sure grew in to a handsome rooster!

Sadie said...

Wow, i would have never imagined that chickens could become part of our family. The first chicken we had, raised by us in a box is our pet, she often comes in the house and in the winter we take her in to keep her warm since she is so little, thanx for posting.