TerrorMoon
In the Brooder
Henny Penny was given to me as a stray wandering around my friends farm, lonely as a solo chicken. I decided to take her on and add her to my flock even though I was a novice chicken owner. She stayed in my bedroom in a crate the first 2 nights I had her, the 3rd morning I thought it would be okay to put her out with my other hen & rooster. Boyyyyy, was I wrong!! It was pouring rain, Solstice (my pound chicken) did NOT like Henny - of course they had mini hen battles to establish the pecking order.. Henny decided she had enough and took off down the road too quickly for me to follow. I didn't know what to do so I stood out on the front porch crying over my new chicken who had ran away... about a hour later she came back into the yard, came running for me & I brought her back into the house. A day later, I properly introduced her to my flock.
This hen quickly became my best chicken friend, she would follow me around outside while I did yardwork, yell at me when I was making too much noise throwing trash off of the back porch, peck on the front door or my bedroom window when she wanted attention, ate treats out of my hand & begged for car rides. I could do my crazy lady chicken call & no matter how far away she was, she would come running for me..
About 2wks ago we experienced our first egg binding together, I had never been through something like that before but this forum helped guide me on how to properly treat her and help pass her egg. During the entire ordeal, Henny remained calm & happily allowed me to doctor on her. She passed the soft egg the following morning & was back to her chaotic energetic self. This past week Thursday - Saturday - she laid 3 soft eggs in a row, on Saturday she became lethargic and not as talkative with me as she usually was... I called our local avian and exotic vet to have her seen as soon as possible bc I KNEW this was something serious and needed to be addressed immediately. The vet was on his way out of town to help his mother & told me he would call me back as soon as he was back in town.. by the time he called me, Henny was pretty much back to normal but I still wanted her seen.
I loaded up my sweet Hen Pen & headed to the vet, she sat in the front seat with her "chicken carrier" opened so she could see all the scenery & enjoy the car ride. We arrived at the vets office & he took her inside without me due to COVID. I waited in the car growing more worried and impatient. When he finally came out he advised me Henny ALREADY had another soft egg inside of her (less than 7hrs since she laid the last one) & he wanted permission to move forward with an ultrasound & x-rays. He complimented on how well behaved & docile Henny was during her examine & how he rarely had a chicken so willing to be examined, of course I said yes since Henny was my other chicken half. The vet came out 30min later to let me know that she had masses all along her reproductive tract which was putting a lot of pressure on a majority of her air sacs. She was suffering, there was no guarantee we could fix her permanently. I opted for humane euthanasia. I sat in the car with her sleeping in my lap for what felt like forever as I cried my eyes out, snuggled her, told her how much I loved her and gently rubbed all of her favorite spots until I let him come back out to get her.
My heart is still healing but thanks to Henny I have learned the difference between production Rhode Island Reds & heritage Rhode Island Reds. I have used her story to help educate others, these chickens aren't meant to live a long thriving life - they're meant to lay eggs until they can't anymore & they die. The heritage line of RIR is completely different & I hope to find the room in my heart to add a heritage RIR in memory of Henny to my flock one day. Tomorrow I go to pick up her ashes as I chose to have her cremated so she can be with me forever. I hope you guys don't mind the rambling story of my love & heartbreak with Henny Penny but it was nice to finally type it out to others who may understand the love & pain I endured with my favorite hen.
Thank you for taking the time to read if you've made it this far.
