Very sorry for your loss...I had a White Leghorn, she passed away today, she was about 4,5 years old) and I will miss her very much because she was so friendly. She's was ex-battery hen, I got her when she was about 16 months old, her foot had been broken and not properly healed and she was missing a lot of feathers.
I heard that white leghorns are very skittisch and aloof so I treated her accordingly, to win her over and so that she would trust me. So no sudden gestures, reminding myself that she could only see me from one eye because of her floppy comb, and treats from my hand.
After a year she was still a bit afraid of me and then our other chicken died, during the pandemic, so I couldn't get her a new friend right away. And then she got bumblefoot and I had to treat that .. she didn't like it but after a while she new that what I was doing helped, she was no longer in pain. So she began to trust me, I spend a couple hours every day with her because she was alone. She was talking to me all the time, and I began to understand what she meant... She would ask with her Putputput if it was okay for her to go somewhere, that I needed to follow her , that she wasn't shure and so on. After 9 months we got her a friend... She dindn't like it at first, but I saw the difference and why most chickens can't be kept alone... She began to eat more, she got out into the garden more , she was not in her nestbox all the time... It realy made a difference although before I didn't see she was lonesome.
But also she became more friendly towards me, she wanted to cuddle, wanted to be hugged, she developed a whole set of signs so that I would know what she wanted of me . Pecking on my leg was ,I want to sit on your lap, and when she sat there she would arange with her beak where I should place my arms... scratching at my shoe ment that I had to help her searching for worms ( because of her foot she couldn't realy do that ) standing on my shoe ment that she was tired and wanted to be carried... And so on. Even today, minutes before she passed this happened: She hadn't been drinking since this morning so I knew that this was it...( She had been not feeling well for the last 11 days, and yesterday it became so that I called every vet I could reach but they wouldn't take her because they didn't want to see' new patients' , our neighbour offered to help us this evening but she passed before that could happen)
So I checked on her every now and then, and at noon I desided to sit with her, when she saw me, she got up, holding balance with her wings, she was realy weak, but still allert, and moved towards me. I didn't want to pick her up because I was afraid hurting her, so I leaned towards her and gave her a hug. I told her everything was okay, she was safe... then she looked at me , and she was gone....
I think I was very lucky with her, but I also noticed in the last couple of months that althought they are supposedly skittisch and aloof I see a lot of those White leghorns ( here on the forum, on Instagram and so on) that have realy special bonds with 'their ' humans...
Also our other Hen, a light Sussex, has followed in her footsteps and is also a lapp chicken, doesn't want to be held, but she likes that we pet her and even allowes a cuddle .. If she's in the mood...
Last wednesday I rescued three ex battery hens ( two Leghorn and one Lohmann brown). All of them seems quite shy and are afraid of me. I hope they will become friendly as the last hens I rescued, but those were all Lohman brown. Maybe they need some time to get used to a new life.
