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

[speckledhen]

Since my last post on this thread, we lost Wynette, my last original Marvin Stukel hen, who was almost 9 years old, Sissy, a 7 year old Belgian D'Anver and Mary Jo, daughter of Atlas to some mysterious something (no symptoms other than loss of appetite) and today, we are burying my oldest hen of all, my McMurray-descended Barred Rock hen, Amanda, hatched March 13 years ago. She has been crippled for years, but was laying a few eggs every year and last produced a few in April 2019. Tough old gal, with a world-renowned thunker (Beak of Death). She was the QUEEN! We are so sad today.
This was Amanda in her prime in 2010. I want to remember her this way.

 

[Shadrach]

Don't know how I missed this thread. I hope @speckledhen doesn't mind if I post.
It's been a rough year.
Blue Spot, definitely 11 years old, possibly 12 died from age related oviduct problems. She never lost a chick and since her partner Harold died took on tribe leadership. Here she is (blond hen) spending her last days with her family

Gedit. 7.5 years old. Grey hen in foreground. Never laid an egg in her life. Solid as a rock and her roosters favorite. Killed by a stupid human who scared her enough for her to fall in to the duck pond trying to get away and the human didn't even notice. She died on my lap from shock and hypothermia.

Dink. 6 years old. A fraction of a second too slow. Killed by a Goshawk.
I took her out of a tree just about every night of her life at roost time.

Ruffles. 8 years old. Killed by a Husky owned by a dog trainer apparently. Dog here without a lead on National Park farmland. What sort of trainer does that? It took her over ten minutes to get both her Huskies back on leads.

 

[speckledhen]

Aw, so many losses. I'm so sorry! At least, Amanda lived a long, safe life and passed warm and cozy in her cage near hens she'd known almost all her life. Her cage-mate, Snow, my splash Ameraucana, is 12 years old, along with a few others, so more to come, I'm sure.

 

[speckledhen]

Looks like I'll be losing our last Blue Rock, Alice, in the next day or two. She has had a rough year. First she lost her sister, Neela-I called them the Blue Bookend Hens, always together. Then she hurt her neck somehow or had a stroke, not sure, but it twists sort of over her back and became progressively worse. Then she was injured by someone in the group she was in and had an open wound, was separated to heal, which she did nicely. For a 10 yr old hen, she has had a hard time. Lately, she's been becoming progressively weaker and losing weight. I doubt she weighs more than 3 lbs, but she kept going, living only with 12 yr old EE, June, and 11 yr old Delaware, Georgie. I have her final resting place ready.

This was Alice a few years back, so pretty. She was named for an actual color called Alice Blue, which is a pale tint of azure favored by Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt. I sometimes even call her Alice Blue.

 

[Shadrach]

Don't forget to bury her with something for the ferry man.
I send them off with a walnut and a bit of cheese.
If you've got chickens living to 12 years old (11 is the best here so far) then they and you have had a better result than the vast majority of chickens. I hate to lose a friend but at these age ranges I can at least believe they had a full life.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I'm sorry about all the losses. I was wondering what breed this hen is? I think I have one like this.

 

[speckledhen]

Don't forget to bury her with something for the ferry man.
I send them off with a walnut and a bit of cheese.
If you've got chickens living to 12 years old (11 is the best here so far) then they and you have had a better result than the vast majority of chickens. I hate to lose a friend but at these age ranges I can at least believe they had a full life.

Yes, she did. My oldest so far was 13 and she was the last one to pass away.

I'm sorry about all the losses. I was wondering what breed this hen is? I think I have one like this.
View attachment 2177936

Dusty was a Blue Orpington. Her comb was like that the last few years of her life because she caught it on the fence fighting with someone. She was a bossy, cantankerous woman, LOL.

 

[Shadrach]

Yes, she did. My oldest so far was 13 and she was the last one to pass away.


Dusty was a Blue Orpington. Her comb was like that the last few years of her life because she caught it on the fence fighting with someone. She was a bossy, cantankerous woman, LOL.

I wonder...
Given you have had it seems a few pensioners I wonder if you have come across this problem and maybe found a partial solution.
This is Fat Bird. She's a few months over ten years old.
Last year I think she laid seven eggs. But, as you will doubtless know, as they get to these kind of ages the egg shells become thin, no matter how much calcium they eat. Also the eggs tend to become elongated as you can see in the picture and this further reduces the shell strength. Have you seen this with your hens?
I didn't quite get to the egg in time and she trod on it.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, I've seen shell quality diminish. My 12 yr old EE was prolapsing every time she tried to lay because of the egg crushing inside before it got out of the chute and she'd strain and strain. She finally quit laying entirely, though they never became elongated. My 13 yr old who died laid eggs as recently as last year and only the last two were not hard shells, so she was an exception. Lots of stuff tends to change as they age. I do have a 10 yr old hen laying and her shells are always oddly shaped, but they have been all along, what I call an "ugly egg". They are still hard, though.

 

[Waves]

She was Giada, the queen of my first flock. i met her at 11 yy old and said goodbye forever at 16yy. She lived 6,5 long years. I know, these aren't so much years but for an ISA brown they're quite long.. She was so beautiful, i called her my top-model. She died this autumn because of a respiratory virus worsen by age-blindness. In her last weeks she ate only from my hands, i had never seen her so weak, she was the strong hen of the flock. She was respected from others until the last day, never seen a pecking. I sometimes cry again for her, i miss her.

Thanks for opening this thread, it's important to share feelings..Sorry for your losses y'all.