How to deal with/handle a chicken passing

[Silkie27]

A few days ago, my sweet beloved girl Maxine, a beautiful brown Dutch bantam, was killed by one of the many hawks in our area. Maxine meant the most to me out of the 16 chickens we have, she would always sit with me, and would sometimes even sleep in my room in a little nesting box when she was broody and refused to go under the heaters during the winter. We had her since she was just a little baby chick and I honestly still can’t get over the grief. Anyone have any tips for handing it?

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

A few days ago, my sweet beloved girl Maxine, a beautiful brown Dutch bantam, was killed by one of the many hawks in our area. Maxine meant the most to me out of the 16 chickens we have, she would always sit with me, and would sometimes even sleep in my room in a little nesting box when she was broody and refused to go under the heaters during the winter. We had her since she was just a little baby chick and I honestly still can’t get over the grief. Anyone have any tips for handing it?

Im so sorry for your loss
I don’t have tips as I to have had a hard time getting over the loss of a bird
I know in time it got easier but I still find I will cry thinking about it now
It’s okay to be upset
Cry as much as you need and talk about her and all the great memories you had with her
You are more then welcome to share stories on here and we are all here to listen and help

 

[Silkie27]

Im so sorry for your loss
I don’t have tips as I to have had a hard time getting over the loss of a bird
I know in time it got easier but I still find I will cry thinking about it now
It’s okay to be upset
Cry as much as you need and talk about her and all the great memories you had with her
You are more then welcome to share stories on here and we are all here to listen and help

Thank you, I really appreciate it. She was such a sweet lil girl. She
was the smallest of everyone and got broody VERY often. Whenever
we called them for food she would fly across our yard 2 feet off the
ground with her body upwards and her feet tucked in, it was
adorable. And she’d always make the loudest “bupbupbupbupbupbup” noise when she did it!! She had the sweetest voice and loved to be pet. When id have her with me in my room, shed jump around to come to find me. She would come and lay down and go to sleep right under my chin, and would watch what i was watching on my phone. And if she didn’t like it, shed peck at my fingers until i changed it!! I like to snack a lot, and so whenever i had a snack like some cheese, chips or anything else, Maxine would make it her duty to eat it to. She’d steal it out of my hands even! She had such a personality, i swear she acted like a tiny person.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Thank you, I really appreciate it. She was such a sweet lil girl. She
was the smallest of everyone and got broody VERY often. Whenever
we called them for food she would fly across our yard 2 feet off the
ground with her body upwards and her feet tucked in, it was
adorable. And she’d always make the loudest “bupbupbupbupbupbup” noise when she did it!! She had the sweetest voice and loved to be pet. When id have her with me in my room, shed jump around to come to find me. She would come and lay down and go to sleep right under my chin, and would watch what i was watching on my phone. And if she didn’t like it, shed peck at my fingers until i changed it!! I like to snack a lot, and so whenever i had a snack like some cheese, chips or anything else, Maxine would make it her duty to eat it to. She’d steal it out of my hands even! She had such a personality, i swear she acted like a tiny person.

She sounds so amazing as a bird child
How old was she ? Do you have picture to share
I have never had my birds watch what I was watching but when they were smaller I would put YouTube on and video of flies on the screen
My ducklings would peck at the flies lol
Did she ever hatch any chicks out ?

 

[Silkie27]

She sounds so amazing as a bird child
How old was she ? Do you have picture to share
I have never had my birds watch what I was watching but when they were smaller I would put YouTube on and video of flies on the screen
My ducklings would peck at the flies lol
Did she ever hatch any chicks out ?

i do have some pictures! These are from a bit ago though. She was almost 2 years old. We gave her some fertile silkie eggs we wanted to hatch while she was broody. Unfortunately only one survived and it was a rooster. We still have him luckily. ive attached the pictures of her as well.

 

[Silkie27]

i do have some pictures! These are from a bit ago though. She was almost 2 years old. We gave her some fertile silkie eggs we wanted to hatch while she was broody. Unfortunately only one survived and it was a rooster. We still have him luckily. ive attached the pictures of her as well.

It’s 1 AM a where I am so I better get to sleep as I have a flight in the morning! Thank you for the help. ) I will continue talking most likely tomorrow afternoon/evening

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

i do have some pictures! These are from a bit ago though. She was almost 2 years old. We gave her some fertile silkie eggs we wanted to hatch while she was broody. Unfortunately only one survived and it was a rooster. We still have him luckily. ive attached the pictures of her as well.

She was beautiful
And well loved and spoiled by your stories

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

It’s 1 AM a where I am so I better get to sleep as I have a flight in the morning! Thank you for the help. ) I will continue talking most likely tomorrow afternoon/evening

Travel safe
We are always here to help each other

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Sorry for your loss.

I don't have a real answer for you because it's just hard. I lost my favorite chicken (adopted her as an adult hen) just 5 months after I got her. Then I lost another really great hen about a month or two later. So I feel your pain. For me, just talking about the hens and remembering the good times is what helped me the most. I have lots of pictures of my chickens and when I miss the ones that have passed, I like to look back at all the funny and happy pictures. Sometimes it used to make me cry even after seeing pictures that make me happy, but that's okay. My fiance and I still talk a lot about these chickens and it feels good to bring up the good memories. I also did some journaling to write what I loved about those chickens, which made me feel good knowing I can keep their memory even if it starts to fade in my head a little.

Those are the things that helped me at least. I think it will just take time to get to a point where it isn't so painful, but I don't think it's helpful to avoid the emotions you're having about missing your chicken. Allow yourself to think about her, talk about her, and maybe even cry sometimes. It's okay to do all that.

 

[Chickeeaholic]

Fly high dear Maxine!

What a special bird she was. It’s hard and there is no way around the grief. You just have to go through it but you will come out the other side. You’re a richer person for knowing her and so she is with you still in that and your memories of her. Be patient with yourself, you feel what you feel and that’s okay.

I heard a saying once that helped me “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened “ and that has helped me.