chicken with attitude
Chickens

Chicken Down

May 23, 2013

Tuesday, after an incredibly long day at work, I walked through the yard, gathered eggs, put on my muck boots and headed into the coop to feed and water the chickens.

I grabbed their water and turned on the hose, then went to the scratch bucket to give the ladies some treats before filling their feed bin.

Then, inexplicably, I thought I heard something different in the way the Ladies were chatting with me, so I decided to count them.

14.
The Ladies are never up in the coop in the early evening, but I still listened for shuffling in the coop and then I counted again.

Still 14. But I was tired. Exhausted. I could have counted wrong.
So, I counted a final time.
Three Buffs, two Australorps, nine Ameraucanas.14.

Shit.

Then I saw her. The 15th hen, one of our Original Five, was laid out under the coop. Gone.I didn’t have it in me to do much investigating, so I didn’t.  But, damn…who knew losing a chicken could be so sad or so hard?

We’ve never lost a chicken like this before.  I know fully that it is part of the process when keeping laying hens…there’s bound to be sickness, accidents or the necessity of culling, but I guess I just wasn’t expecting it this week…or anytime soon.

xoxo,
M

 

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7 Comments on “Chicken Down”

  1. Pingback: The Keeping & Care of Backyard Chickens - Ever Growing Farm | Ever Growing Farm

  3. It’s very sad and none chicken owners don’t understand. This week we lost our Gertrude, one of our original six, to prolapse. It went from mild to intestines hanging out. It was awful. Losing any animal isn’t easy.

    1. I am sorry about Gertrude. It sounds as though it was a very sad and traumatic experience 🙁

  4. I don’t think you can ever expect it. We keep a lot of chickens, and I still hate it when we lose one, especially if I don’t know why.

    I am sorry for your loss.

    1. Thank you, Jocelyn. I do think it’s the uncertainty of what happened that’s bothering me most!

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