Memorials

[unlikelyfarmers]

Hello! I'm a newcomer to the site, but it's so encouraging to find a group of people that love chickens. We've lost quite a few chickens over the years to predators. I had one barred rock chicken that I names Miss Sassy because she was so bossy and LOUD! She was really friendly though and I would call out in the yard to her and would hear her clucking back to me...she would answer when I called! She would fly up on my arm, let me hold her and carry her around, sit on the front steps with me . She was part of the original 6 chickens we bought (5 hens and 1 rooster). I think a fox got her. It was a rainy day and she never came to roost that night. She was one of two left. The other chicken (Lady White) lamented with a kind of soft cooing sound the whole next day. It was heart breaking. I haven't had a group like that first batch since.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Ok here's mine. My baby roo, Sgt. Major Bok Bok. Killed in the line of duty. Killed by a black snake, protecting his 23 girls. He was just 5 weeks old. He was a great chick. He would stand on my shoulder, give me little baby chicken kisses and run to me when he saw me. I lived him very much and he is really missed.

My Bok Bok:

 

[chicknmania]

OMG, it's something to read other people's stories! They are all so captivating. I just had to respond to Sgt Major Bok Bok, because we have a hen named BokBok. She got her name cause I asked her what her name was one day, and that's what she said! Silly, but fun. She is the only hen who has enough sense to still roost in the garage, after all the predator attacks we had. We're sure she knows that if she does, we'll come get her and put her in an elevated pen with a locking door for the night, that's in the barn. Nothing can get her in there. If we leave her in the garage and don't come get her, usually she'll move to the kitchen window sill, as if to say "don't forget me!" It's too bad that BokBok didn't get a chance to meet Sgt Major BokBok...oh, well.

 

[Julie R]

Well after reading a few other post I was touched and thought about adding one myself - I am a new chicken mom and i started out with only three girls thought it was a nice easy flock to start with. one of my girls was always smaller than the other two so she quickly got the name itty bitty, she was my fav everytime I would put my hands in thier tub to visit with them she would jump in my hand for some loving, well after watching them grow for a couple of weeks and finally being able to go outside in thier yard we built for them ( they share it with our two ducks right now ) they loved it. Itty bitty was the first to come to me every morning just to say hi mom,well after a few weeks and thinking everything was great I went out to the yard to visit with everyone and I seen Itty Bitty dead in the corner she had been pulled through the fence and was pretty messed up, the other two chickens KFC and Peaches were sitting on the ground with her. after a few days of wondering what had killed her we got our answear when my boxer's barking chased off a skunk of all things. We have redone the fence but I feel awful thinking if i only keeped them in the house alittle longer she would have been fine but they were around 8 weeks old when they went outside and she was killed at 11:30 in the afternoon so I thought we were doing everything right.

 

[chicknmania]

We just got our first two Silkie pullets (Thing One and Thing Two); a gift from a friend. One was black, one white; they were heartbreakingly cute. They eventually bonded with the rest of our flock, but Thing Two and Jack Frost, my favorite young White Leghorn roo, (son of Whitey roo) started a thing...and I mean, it was like love, to the exclusion of all others. They were side by side all day, and he chased all the other hens away from her; every treat he found was for her alone. In the evening though, he would go back to the barn to roost before she did; she was always one of the last ones in, then she would sit in the straw and sleep with Thing One. Especially since it's been so hot; some chickens have stayed out later and later. We worried about it, but there was nothing we could really do...she wasn't really tame enough yet to catch to bring to the barn at night without a lot of chasing, and usually she would follow one of us back to the barn eventually, or one of the chickens. Well, last night everyone was preoccupied; it got to be 8:30 and probably due to the heat, a lot of the chickens were still outside; Thing Two never came back to the barn, and we couldn't find her, though we looked and looked, there was no trace of her. Thing One paced around without her; finally roosted in the straw by herself. Today, Jack Frost moped about all morning and did not crow; late this afternoon, he began a friendship with Thing One. Thing Two never returned; we're sure a fox got her, as we have had one hanging around off and on all summer. We live on twenty acres of woods and fields, and are surrounded by them, and I'm sure there are, actually, more than one fox. We are very sad.. I never realized how captivating Silkies can be; apparently, Jack Frost never realized it, either. I started this thread a while ago; it's kinda dissapeared; maybe others will have more stories, now, too.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Those are beautiful stories everyone...I hadn't felt that it was time to put mine in, but it's the 4th Anniversary of Tom Brunanski's killing and the 1st Anniversary of Slifer the Sky Dragon's demise.
Tom and Jerry Remy were my first two chickens, evah! My son's 3rd grade class hatched chicks as a science project. Over Memorial Day weekend they hatched.

Everyone got to take a couple of chicks home to look after for overnight. DS got Tom and Jerry. Tom was an Easter Egger Pullet and Jerry was a Black and White Leghorn mix Cockerel.
The first night that we had them, they peeped and cried and I was like okay, it's bedtime...We had been holding and petting the little things all night. Finally after a couple of hours on nonstop crying, I picked them up and they snuggled onto my shoulder and fell asleep. That was it, I was hooked.

I couldn't let these two little fluffy things go back to the farm especially when I found out that Jerry, being a boy, would have short life span. I kept them. MY DH didn't talk to me for a few days. When it was time to put them out, I went to Petco and bought a clearance rabbit hutch. DH didn't talk to me for a week.
Tom and Jerry loved being outside. I found Tom flopping in the dirt one afternoon. I ran out screaming. She gave me a disgusted look. That was the first ever dirt bath I had ever seen.
I had been noticing that the trash barrels were being opened at night, but thought nothing of it. In August, we had a friend of my DS's over and we had Tom and Jerry out front and she was enjoying sitting on my shoulder and on the iron railings. The next morning, I saw that something didn't look right with the hutch. I had cleaned it out and only had the solid pan, but not the wire too. I opened the back door and Jerry was huddled under the mountain laurel whimpering. I called Tom and got no answer. She was always the talker...she would hum and sing and trill. I went to the hutch and the pan in the back corner was pulled down. oh crap! I turned around and looked down and there was what was left of Tom. She had no head and her chest had been torn open and there were tooth marks on her breast meat...I screamed and cried. It was my fault. I should would coulda...I didn't know at the time that raccoons would take chickens. She was a good sized girl too. But the raccoon was much bigger. He stood 4 feet on his hind legs. She didn't have a chance.

So I had DS get a couple of plastic bags to put her in...I didn't want her to be dug up because I knew that I couldn't have taken that. I had him close his eyes and I shoveled her mortal remains into the bags. I threw my first baby away into the trash with a prayer and a handful of chicken feed.
Meanwhile, Jerry was laying under the dining room table crying. He wouldn't let me go anywhere without himand he wouldn't do his "squeaky toy being run over by a cement truck crow". So I knew that he had to have friends. We went to the farm where the eggs came from and we brought home Slifer and Obelisk. The guy said that we could've had all the Leghorn pullets that we wanted...It was like trying to catch lightning in a bottle...So we got the one and then there was some EE's. One was a beautiful mahogany colour and I asked about that one and he said no you can take a different one. There was one that was standing by itself with it's head down and it's feet were all crooked, and it had no feathers on it's back so I asked about that one...He was like okay, that one's no good anyways. So we stuffed the two birds in a box and brought them home. Being newbies, we just opened the box and let them all get together and become friends...you really and truly should quarantine all new birds. Jerry was taken by his new buddies. Obelisk and Jerry would get into trouble together and Slifer would rat them out to me. He got so comfortable with his friends that he started crowing again.
Now it's Oct and I get visited by the Health Department. I have to get rid of Jerry.

within a week. So I start calling around and calling all over the place. Noone wants a rooster. Even though he's friendly, handtamed and just a great boy. I'm at the end of my rope, having heart palpitations and fainting spells. I'm scheduled for heart surgery. But Jerry's gotta have a home first...finally my SIL calls just when I'm about to put him in a bag and run him over with my car. Just so that he'll be with someone who really loved him enough to do it. There's a petting zoo near her that would like to have him. I've been crying for a month, but now it's happy tears because my baby will have a forever home.

On October 26th off go Jerry, DH, DS and myself to NH. We stop off at my SIL's so that she can show us where he's gonna live. It's a lovely little petting zoo, with a calf and some pigs. Jerry will be really happy here. I leave a note telling the people all about him and get their phone number so that I can call and ask about him. Over the years, I've sent birthday and Xmas cards and Portuguese Sweet bread that was his favourite treat.
I'm gonna have to stop here because I'm

all over again.

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

Whew...

Since before I was a baby, my parents had a Rhodesian ridgeback named Jazz. She was, in all aspects, the perfect dog, just about till the end. She was ALWAYS friendly, beautiful, intelligent as all get out, never growled or snapped, was a GREAT guard dog. She only barked when someone we did not know came to the door. And quite a bark she had! It was so deep, loud, and strong that it would make even us tremble. She put up with so much, especially when we were babies. Tail pulling, ear pulling, chasing, tumbling- the whole deal. I'd known her my entire life, never had another dog besides her. She lived to be 12 or 13, which is very long for a big dog like her. Towards the end she had really bad arthritis, and got to where we had to lift her up from the floor.

We put her to sleep.

After that, we got Taz. She was unbelievably beautiful, and more people then us thought that. I'll post pictures once I get some onto the computer. She had ONE issue, that's it. I'd really rather not talk about it. I loved that dog, my 'good sweet girl'. She was my good friend, always. I love her so much! We had to put her to sleep a year ago. She was only two.

Tears are running down my face as I type this.

We also had Max. My parents had Max since before they got married. (!) He was a lovely white cat with blue eyes, who happened to be deaf. He knew different signals, like 'come'; 'good kitty'; 'bad'; and 'shoo'.

He had a good long life, and died a few years ago at the ripe old age of 16. (We had to put him to sleep also, due to mouth cancer.

) After him came two female kittens. One ran away, and one had leukemia, and had to be put to sleep. Cuddles and Cricket were their names. Now we've got Rusty, a orange tiger cat. He's a funny little guy.

As for chickens, 4 of them died at young ages. 2 to unknown causes. For the second one, I came into the coop and saw the others pecking at one laying in the corner. (Ithink it was a rooster, but this was a while ago so I couldn't really tell. (He had some beautiful markings!) ) He died while I was in there.

The other, a lovely black pullet, was injured VERY badly by the others. She made it for a few hours before dying, comfortable and warm.

Kudos for starting this thread; touching idea.

I'm so sorry for everyone's losses. It's just something everyone has to deal with throughout life.

 

[chicknmania]

What touching stories. It's nice to have a bunch of friends to tell, and whose shoulders we can cry on. Having pets of any kind is such a traumatic thing in the end, but we do learn things from each one.

However, I've got GREAT NEWS!!! Jumped the gun a bit....Thing Two CAME BACK TO LIFE!!!

She re-appeared this morning. Which means she's setting, cause now she's gone again. I guess that love affair paid off. We have two other hens who have turned up missing over the past few weeks; we attributed those to the fox, too, but now I'm beginning to wonder...we have two other hens setting in the barn,too...I'm beginning to think...oh,oh...what if they all hatch!!!!

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

Here's my sweet girl, Taz.

She was so fascinated by those chicks. (They're the gold sex links.)

She LOVED that ratty old soccer ball. She was so fast. She loved to chase it and bring it back more than anything.

The last two were taken the day we had to put her to sleep.

 

[birdlover]

This is about Chester, my sweet, handsome roo who was hatched in a kindergarten class where I substitute back in May of 2004. I ended up with all the chicks (long story) and there were 5 roosters in the bunch. Well, poor Chester had a bad leg and couldn't use it at all as a baby but I lovingly massaged it and did other therapeutic exercises on it several times a day until Chester could walk around like any other chicken except he had a limp - hence the name Chester from the character in the old TV show, Gunsmoke, who limped. (Showing my age!) Since Chester had a handicap the other roosters were very mean to him and one in particular was bound and determined to kill him! I found good homes for the other 4 roosters and kept Chester as I knew he would never make it somewhere else. Suddenly he was Da Man with a wonderful harem of 20-some hens and he blossomed in his new found role. Well, the summer of 2005, I had an incredible number of fox attacks and I got so depressed that I gave all my chickens away rather than lose more. Chester was given to someone on BYC who didn't have any roosters and he was, once more, king of the roost with 20-some hens. I was chickenless and very very sad and would walk around in my empty backyard crying my eyes out many days on end. Then, in September, I got a call from Chester's new family that his leg had gotten worse and they wanted to know if I wanted to come and say goodbye to him as they were going to put him down (thought he was suffering). Well, Chester was my LOVE so I went and got him and took him to the vets. He was given medications but his leg never did improve. However, I wanted him to have a fighting chance so I kept him. Chester seemed very depressed.

In October, I got a temporary job with a farm that has a huge Fall festival from end of Sept. to beginning of Nov. They had two chickens they let me have to bring home to Chester for company. You should have seen him! He was languishing in a corner of the coop and when I approached him, he ran out the door and wanted nothing to do with me. He was about to run out into the yard when he heard the two chickens I'd brought home. They were emerging from the carrier I'd brought them home in. He stopped in his tracks, looked back over his shoulder to see if he was hearing things and, when he saw them, he ran over and made friends with them immediately. It just made me sooo happy to see HIM happy plus, here I was with chickens again!!!! I made sure things were predator proof this time and things went on uneventfully into the winter months. Chester could no longer roost but he slept with the little black "sizzle", Pansy, every night and oh oh! The other chicken turned out to be a rooster! He fooled me because he was very young when I got him and I thought he was a girl! Well, I was worried because of Chester's handicap but Chester held his own and the other rooster submitted to Chester's authority. All was well until it got really, REALLY cold and I could tell Chester really was suffering now. He couldn't keep up with the other two and started laying around a lot. I decided to bite the bullet and take him to a different vet who has an incredible reputation and treats exotics and just pay whatever it cost. I just loved him so much I couldn't put him down without trying one more time to see if he couldn't be helped. The vet was optimistic that he could be saved because he still had an appetite and was alert and healthy otherwise. His hock was now swollen the size of a pingpong ball and very hot to the touch. They put Chester to sleep to do xrays and draw blood and, when he was coming out of the anesthetic, his little heart stopped beating and he passed away. I could NOT believe it when the vet told me!!! Oh my gosh, Chester was gone just like that! However, I do realize it was probably the best way for him to go and he really was in a lot of pain. I still have the other two chickens, Pansy and Leviticus (who has turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous, wonderful rooster) and I have since gotten 5 more hens and two ducks! Never, though, will I ever forget my handsome boy, Chester, and I keep his picture right there on the refrigerator so I can see his beautiful face every day. If I can ever figure out how to post his picture here, I will. This is an IMac and I haven't learned how to do that on this new fangled gadget!! Anyway, sorry this is so long but it felt so good to talk about him again. Thank you for starting this thread. The heartfelt stories pull at my heart strings and I can relate to every one of them.

Ellen