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

[tlcmurphy]

You are most certainly doing everything right to have such long lived birds. I’m very sorry for your loss

 

[speckledhen]

You are most certainly doing everything right to have such long lived birds. I’m very sorry for your loss

Thank you. We try to give them the best lives possible, but sadly, there is no cure for old age. At least they had an old age. Some live until they just fall over, never having had any health issues their entire lives, some develop joint issues like Dru. Good girls have come and gone, so many over the past 19 years.

 

[speckledhen]

Reporting another old hen gone. My last Belgian D'Anver, Mina, has passed on. She was 12 1/2 yrs old. Her last couple of months was plagued by daily seizures, but she'd get back on her feet and do her threatening head bob thing with those of other flocks. She was left as the lone survivor of all the groups she'd been moved into and because of her age and condition, could not be with other birds without a barrier between them. I have never seen such a strong little hen in all my life. I will never have Belgian D'Anvers again. Three had neurological disorders including her aunt and her son. And they just do not lay after age two, or the line I had was not productive, though Mina did lay one egg two years ago. Plucky little thing, she was. Will have to add a picture when I'm on my main computer. Sure will miss that tiny hen, feisty as heck she was up until her last days.
I did lose an older Brahma hen right after Mina, Bonnie Blue, who would have been 8 in June, but she had a heart issue and on top of that, somehow almost tore her wing off and was healing from that devastating injury. She was at the end of her life even before she got hurt, though she was not nearly as old as most of my hens who pass away.

 

[TwoCrows]

Reporting another old hen gone. My last Belgian D'Anver, Mina, has passed on. She was 12 1/2 yrs old. Her last couple of months was plagued by daily seizures, but she'd get back on her feet and do her threatening head bob thing with those of other flocks. She was left as the lone survivor of all the groups she'd been moved into and because of her age and condition, could not be with other birds without a barrier between them. I have never seen such a strong little hen in all my life. I will never have Belgian D'Anvers again. Three had neurological disorders including her aunt and her son. And they just do not lay after age two, or the line I had was not productive, though Mina did lay one egg two years ago. Plucky little thing, she was. Will have to add a picture when I'm on my main computer. Sure will miss that tiny hen, feisty as heck she was up until her last days.
I did lose an older Brahma hen right after Mina, Bonnie Blue, who would have been 8 in June, but she had a heart issue and on top of that, somehow almost tore her wing off and was healing from that devastating injury. She was at the end of her life even before she got hurt, though she was not nearly as old as most of my hens who pass away.

It's tough to loose our senior birds, they have been present for such a long time, they've seen it all, cornerstones of the flock. I am so sorry.

 

[speckledhen]

Looks like we're losing a beautiful Barred Plymouth Rock hen, one of the last two whose mother was pure Marvin Stukel stock. Athena is dying, won't likely be here another week. She and her same age sister, Zara, are 9 years old. It's just her time. She's a huge hen, but has lost a lot of weight, has liquid poop, that smell they get at the end and a dusky-dark shrunken comb. Zara has been face to face with her all morning, talking in their telepathic type way they do, making tiny, almost inaudible noises in her throat. She knows she will be alone soon and I hope she doesn't grieve too much. Those two have been inseparable all their lives. They are the last daughters of my late rooster, Atlas, who oddly died at the same age about a year or so ago.

 

[TwoCrows]

Looks like we're losing a beautiful Barred Plymouth Rock hen, one of the last two whose mother was pure Marvin Stukel stock. Athena is dying, won't likely be here another week. She and her same age sister, Zara, are 9 years old. It's just her time. She's a huge hen, but has lost a lot of weight, has liquid poop, that smell they get at the end and a dusky-dark shrunken comb. Zara has been face to face with her all morning, talking in their telepathic type way they do, making tiny, almost inaudible noises in her throat. She knows she will be alone soon and I hope she doesn't grieve too much. Those two have been inseparable all their lives. They are the last daughters of my late rooster, Atlas, who oddly died at the same age about a year or so ago.