Without A Trace

So the Fam went to Lincoln City over the past weekend to check out the beach house we were planning on staying in, and it was a nice three-story one, kinda far from the beach, but nice altogether. On the way back from the beach, after checking out some minor stores, we stopped at a fruit stand to get some cherries and corn etc, but I was more interested in the animals the family owned. The father of this family (I never caught their names) was giving pony rides in a little round-about track for little kids. I went over to their little fenced in animals and saw a very short horse, only to be assumed a pony, and a little, fuzzy donkey'ish animal. Then comes running through the fence at me is this little baby chicken. Short enough to just run underneath the bottom of the fence and chirp at me, probably trying to suck up and get food out of me. I picked him up and petted him, but kindly explained that I had no food for him and he went on his way pecking at the ground as if I meant nothing to him.
Now if you're really in the chicken-scene then you know where all the chickenesque conventions are held, the names of all the "united chicken lovers of america" etc etc, and of course you get the monthly chicken magazines. I do none of those things whole-heartedly but I caught wind of an open house in Oregon City where you just grab whatever chicks you want and pay by the breed. So it's like one of those sushi rounds where you grab whatever food looks best and then pay according to the color of your plate. This sounded all too exciting for me since chickens are hard to come by in small amounts. If you try to have them shipped to you, yes you get to pick the breeds, but usually theres a minimum shipment of 25, so if you dont want 25 they'll stick random birds in there. I didn't very much want 25 so this open house sounded good to me.
Now back to this fruit stand, I asked the dad if the chicks were for sale and he said that the lady who was selling them wasnt there but rather giving pony rides a little ways away. His daughter said all the red chicks were for sale for three dollars each, so I said I wanted five. Chicks aren't very fragile so a few of the family's daughters wrangled some up for me, one holding three at a time. Now I have four new baby chicks. Why four you ask? Because one mysteriously went missing after I only had it a few days! Normally when one goes somewhere they ALL go. That's why it's so strange that one morning when I went to feed them that I counted only four. So now I'm one short. Plus these chickens aren't guaranteed pullets so I might end up with a little rooster on my hands.
I personally dont mind roosters, and their crow is cool, but our neighbors got mad last time we had a rooster in the backyard. So if we get a boy, he's going to a "better place."