The chickens are big enough to run out freely in the backyard now, although one of us stays outside still when they're out of their coop. One of the neighborhood cats seems a little too interested in them and stalks them right in front of me.

We're down to 8 now -- yesterday I sold the last two small black bantams (probably hens) to a family who lives on a farm. This was through craigslist and we had a much better feeling about this sale than last week's auction experience. So the remaining chickens are Stinky, Mohawk, Vulture, Fancypants Johnson, two Penguins, and the two large dark ones now named Walter and St. Elmo. We'll wait til we know which of these are roosters before we decide which 4 we can keep long-term.