Lola and I are on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry right now, headed to the peninsula. Lola to a new life in a home where roosters are welcome, and me to a 3 day work retreat at the Port Ludlow Resort. I’m stealing a moment as I can’t get online to check work emails and so instead am looking out the window at the scenery. I was knitting, but that always makes me a bit queasy on the ferry.

What’s wrong with this picture you might ask? Well, let me tell you. That picture my friends represents the apartheid that has come to pass in my coop. Seven birds is about 2 too many. And the big girls have decided that the little ones should not be allowed to roost with them in the roost box. Not sure why exactly. The other factor I think is that Lola, as a rooster, would prefer to roost up high. And that bar is about as high as you can get in my coop.

I put that bar up when I first built the coop with the idea that the girls might use it during the summer. But they never did, the big girls not being able to fly well enough to get up there, and Agnes not being inclined to roost alone. Since no one was using it, I pretty much forgot it was there and move the waterer over directly underneath it. About a week ago I noticed that the girls water was pretty nasty. Like someone had been sitting on top of it and pooping, for hours. Took me another day to realize that that was because the little ones were roosting directly above it and so were, in fact, pooping on it for hours.

Instead of chasing them back in to roost where they should, I let them be and just moved the waterer every night so that it was safe from the nastiness. Then moved it back in the morning. And I made arrangements to find Lola a new home. He’s starting to exercise his vocal chords. Not even close to a real crow yet, but we can’t be more than a couple weeks away.

So today Denise is meeting me in Silverdale and Lola is off to join her flock of 7. She’s a bit short on hens right now, but Lola and Phyllis should be about the same size and so will hopefully get along splendidly and give her some more hen chicks to lay little beige eggs.

DeeDee can stay for the moment. Mostly because Denise doesn’t want 2 banty hens (who can blame her?) and I’m still not 100% sure that she is in fact a he. And if she is a he, we’re still a month or two away from crowing as the silky in her makes her slower to mature. Plenty of time to find a new home - and DeeDee is going to find a new home regardless of sex as we need to get back down to five birds. And this time, I’m opting to keep Maisie as I have pretty much no doubt that she is a she.

Ever tried to catch an 8 week old banty rooster that doesn’t want to be caught? Much fun I tell you. First I tried the subtle approach, but he was too smart for me, flying over my head three times. Then I tried the direct approach, trying to corner him and scoop him up. But he’s too little and kept sneaking under and over things. Damn banties can fly! So then I chased him. Which while fun for me, scared the crap out of him. Then I got smart and went and got a fishing net and tried to catch him that way. Still didn’t work, but in trying to get away he got wedged in the garden fence (just a bit too big to squeeze through now) and I was able to grab him. Took 20 minutes, about 18 minutes longer than I expected it to. Oh well, he’s in the box now and there’s no escaping his relocation.

Well, the ferry is docking. Lola is leaving. The high roost bar is gone so hopefully DeeDee and Maisie will roost in the right place tonight.

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And Lola is gone.