As only chickens can.... (a true story)

[Cuban Longtails]

Recently, the husband of a lady I work with passed away. He'd been diagnosed with cancer and only lived about 3 months after the diagnosis was made. She has since returned to work and told me something that sorta gave me chills after I was showing everyone my green easter-egger egg (one of them just started laying).

Her husband kept chickens, he was also a truck driver. When he was on the road, he'd call home to check on his chickens. He'd always ask about them first and then ask how his wife and son were doing.

His wife and son hated the chickens, but the husband loved them. After his health started failing, he gave most of the chickens away to one of his older sons and kept four for himself. On the day he passed away, the chickens were doing something very unusual. They were quitely hanging out beneath the bedroom window where the husband lay in bed. They stayed there the whole time and just after the husband passed away, the rooster crowed.

Since his passing, the chickens have not repeated that behavior nor had they ever done such a thing before then.

Sometimes they just know, and sometimes they are not "just chickens".

 

[Cheekon]

Thats really neat.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

that is scary. wow you really cant call chickens livestock. They really are pets. That is so sad and really beautiful. I could not find the right words

 

[thechickenchick]

That gave me goosebumps, the good kind. How sweet and heart warming. My prayers go out to your co-worker.

 

[Wolf]

I've heard of dogs doing this...
chickens, too?
Just goes to show you what a Connected world we live in!
Too bad so many humans are DIS-connected from that world now-a-days.

~The Cycle of Life

 

[Cetawin]

That story made me smile and feel a deep warmth. I was going to post about my chicks and a friend when I saw this post...I am glad I got distracted by it.

Animals are amazing creatures and have so much to teach us. Being raised in a traditional indian household (i.e. 4 grandparents, 2 great grandparents, siblings, parents and I...in one house), I was taught from a very early age to watch animals, learn from them, respect and take care of them. Animals are not stupid by any means.

This story teaches that they know love, loyalty and sorrow.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Doesn't surprise me one bit.

When my mother died, I had a pair of hermit crabs...just after I left to go to where she was, my hermit crabs started making noise and flailing their antennae everywhere...

And when one of my favourite Society Finches died, all of the other ones in all 3 cages came to the back of their cage and just stood there while I took her body out...

 

[wegotchickens]

The other morning as I drove to work I came around a curve and saw a rabbit sitting mournfully by the side of the road, staring into the road. It looked so sad.
Then I realized that there was the body of another rabbit the same size and color in the road that had been hit by a car. I came to almost a complete stop (luckily a back road) because I didn't want to interupt it. But it saw me anyway and bloted after a couple of seconds.
Even wild animals grieve for their friends.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Sorry for hijacking the thread...but hubby and I saw a squirrel get hit on the Redwood Hwy...its mate was standing by the roadside pacing and darting back and forth. I was so afraid she was going to get hit that I got out of the van and went over to chase her back into the woods. Hubby just continued odering our coffee while I chased the squirrel.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Same thing with me Cetawin. Only there were 2 squirrels dead. That is a sad but touching story ChicknGurl. And it does show you that chickens are pets.