Ode to Old Hens... Pictures of the Seniors in Our Flock

[BantyChooks]

Speckledhen, so sorry about Caroline... She was beautiful.

 

[speckledhen]

Dang it woman....Snow has things to say and people to talk to...especially in these trying times. Let her proclaim and talk. Hehehehe. She is so blasted beautiful, sweet and annoying.

Yes, she does have a lot to day. Folks always comment on the "chatty" one.

When my gorgeous Becca goes...I need a couple barred fluffy feathers...4 actually for her marker and memorial.

Will see what I can do. She is just at the tail end of her molt. She's been very clingy to me lately, wanting to be held more.

Speckledhen, so sorry about Caroline... She was beautiful.

 

[speckledhen]

My black Ameraucana hen, Gypsy, is sticking by Becca, very closely, just as she did Caroline. I knew it. Gypsy is my new head hen in the Old Hens' group. She is 9 years old now herself. Becca stands most of the time with feet apart, as if she's braced herself, not laying down much at all, as if it's easier to breathe when she's standing. Gypsy gets on the floor with her head under Becca's chest feathers. This a.m., DH said that Becca did lay down in the shavings and Gypsy lay beside, stretching her neck over her back. It's my sign not only that Gypsy is head hen but that Becca doesn't have much time left. Her dark color, lethargy and muscle weakness, plus her lack of appetite all indicate the same; Gypsy only confirmed it for me. My husband is especially attached to Becca. She loves to hug him and sit on his chest close to his face when he's on the hammock. She's his chicken, just like Snow is. They claimed him years ago as their human.

 

[BantyChooks]

 

[speckledhen]

Becca is gone. Tom is burying her now out in the dark before rigor sets in-the hole was already dug. Heard it over the baby monitor. Everyone upset, mainly Apollo and Hector. RIP Becca. 9 yrs 8 months.

 

[robhuncor]

for you and Tom

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, Robin. She was a fine hen, loved my husband a lot. He always said she was the first of our hens to "hug" him. He was so sad this morning.


And, surprise for us, her sister, Amanda, laid an egg just now! She was laying early in the year, but at almost ten years old, I don't expect her to keep going, yet, she does. And on the day we lost her sister, too.

 

[robhuncor]

Amazing! I haven't had an egg from my oldies since last summer.

 

[speckledhen]

Miss Amanda, who just lost her two closest pals, who hasn't been able to walk for three years now, has laid four eggs this month so far! She will be ten years old in March. She is amazing. And she still bosses them all around, too. Her thunker is just fine.

 

[BantyChooks]

"Her thunker is just fine" had me in stitches!!