I don't really see a thread dedicated to this already, so I figured I'd make one myself! I recently lost one of my sweetest girls in such a tragic way, and dealing with it has been extremely difficult. It's only been one day, so the pain is still very fresh, and I'd like to do something good with that pain.... so if you've recently (or not so recently!) lost a beloved chicken or other feathered friend, please feel free to share that with me. Tell me the good times you had with them and what made you love them so much, tell me how you've been coping, tell me your woes, or all the above! I know not everyone has someone or some place to talk to about these things, especially since talking about death can be hard, so let's all help each other. 
I'll start: I lost my wonderful Buff Orpington, Ducky.
Her real name was Fairlight (my mom's suggestion for some reason, and it stuck), but she was perfectly yellow, and whenever she would talk, it sounded very similar to how a rubber duck sounds when you squeeze it. Especially as a chick! Sounded just like one. So, I started calling her Ducky. (I have a video of this and I'll post it one of these days when it hurts less to see. For now, it'd kill me.)
She was highly intelligent and used this in the naughtiest of ways. I put my chickens out to graze for the day in a dog kennel like this one, with a chicken wire roof on top to prevent hawks from snatching them up. Every time it was time to go to roost, I would open the door to let the girls go home for the night, and they'd all come.... except for Ducky. I used to joke that I "cain't" count on much in life, but I can count on Ducky to make me carry her from the pen to the coop each night. She was very spoiled, and that also ended up backfiring on her a few times: she preferred snacks to eating her feed and oyster shells, so of course she would ocassionally lay a soft shelled egg and get really puny from it. I'd always nurse her back to health and be sure she'd get her proper nutrition, but that never did stop her from overindulging on other things again later. She never struggled to figure out my tricks to get her and the others to find snacks (toys, my hands, etc), either. She was really, truly clever. Such a personable girl.
She was so loving and sweet. I never did see her fight with any of the others in her flock, even though she really didn't get along with my Dearie very well. She loved to come to me for cuddles whenever I was sitting with them in the pen in the yard, and she would come to visit me even when fully free ranging, not just for snacks, I could tell. Whenever I had her in the house with me and we would sit on the couch together, she'd love to flop down on my stomach and fluff out, as if she were sunning. I loved seeing her eyebrows when she was like that, she'd completely stand them up and it was so precious. She loved for me to give her scritches all over during, the spoiled lil' ole thing. I deeply miss doing that already. Sometimes, at night when I was closing up the coop for bedtime, she chose to come with me for bed instead of sleeping on her actual roost. She'd light on my shoulder or my arm while I was smoochin' everyone goodnight, and I couldn't refuse her, so I'd take 'er inside with me and let her sleep in the dog crate in my room. It was always the most endearing and heartwarming thing for me. It's been a long time since she last did that, so I'm missing that extra right now. Sucha sweetheart.
There's much more to love and reminisce about Ducky, but I have homework to do and I'm quite tired.... so I'll come back to this later. I bawled my eyes out all day yesterday after I lost her, and again today when I collected her ashes. I want to hold her and I can't, this stupid jar with her remains in it is as close as I can come anymore. You can read about some of her final days here. She died an awful death in my opinion, and I regret every moment I wasn't spending with her these past few months. It's going to be hard to continue on without her, but the rest of my flock needs me and I love them just as much. Gotta keep it movin'!
I'll start: I lost my wonderful Buff Orpington, Ducky.
Her real name was Fairlight (my mom's suggestion for some reason, and it stuck), but she was perfectly yellow, and whenever she would talk, it sounded very similar to how a rubber duck sounds when you squeeze it. Especially as a chick! Sounded just like one. So, I started calling her Ducky. (I have a video of this and I'll post it one of these days when it hurts less to see. For now, it'd kill me.)
She was highly intelligent and used this in the naughtiest of ways. I put my chickens out to graze for the day in a dog kennel like this one, with a chicken wire roof on top to prevent hawks from snatching them up. Every time it was time to go to roost, I would open the door to let the girls go home for the night, and they'd all come.... except for Ducky. I used to joke that I "cain't" count on much in life, but I can count on Ducky to make me carry her from the pen to the coop each night. She was very spoiled, and that also ended up backfiring on her a few times: she preferred snacks to eating her feed and oyster shells, so of course she would ocassionally lay a soft shelled egg and get really puny from it. I'd always nurse her back to health and be sure she'd get her proper nutrition, but that never did stop her from overindulging on other things again later. She never struggled to figure out my tricks to get her and the others to find snacks (toys, my hands, etc), either. She was really, truly clever. Such a personable girl.
She was so loving and sweet. I never did see her fight with any of the others in her flock, even though she really didn't get along with my Dearie very well. She loved to come to me for cuddles whenever I was sitting with them in the pen in the yard, and she would come to visit me even when fully free ranging, not just for snacks, I could tell. Whenever I had her in the house with me and we would sit on the couch together, she'd love to flop down on my stomach and fluff out, as if she were sunning. I loved seeing her eyebrows when she was like that, she'd completely stand them up and it was so precious. She loved for me to give her scritches all over during, the spoiled lil' ole thing. I deeply miss doing that already. Sometimes, at night when I was closing up the coop for bedtime, she chose to come with me for bed instead of sleeping on her actual roost. She'd light on my shoulder or my arm while I was smoochin' everyone goodnight, and I couldn't refuse her, so I'd take 'er inside with me and let her sleep in the dog crate in my room. It was always the most endearing and heartwarming thing for me. It's been a long time since she last did that, so I'm missing that extra right now. Sucha sweetheart.
There's much more to love and reminisce about Ducky, but I have homework to do and I'm quite tired.... so I'll come back to this later. I bawled my eyes out all day yesterday after I lost her, and again today when I collected her ashes. I want to hold her and I can't, this stupid jar with her remains in it is as close as I can come anymore. You can read about some of her final days here. She died an awful death in my opinion, and I regret every moment I wasn't spending with her these past few months. It's going to be hard to continue on without her, but the rest of my flock needs me and I love them just as much. Gotta keep it movin'!
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She would come running from great distances to great me when ever she saw me coming. Just my all time favorite hen!
