Poor Flossy

[maurerwerks]

Our first set of 12 chickens is a little over 5 years old and over the years we've lost 4 to sudden death and things that necessitated our helping them along to chicken heaven. One of our the survivors is Flossy, who has never been quite "normal." She has an odd feather pattern - never really growing feathers on her back, she has more of a thick down there and over the past winter started just looking like an old lady. However, we got a new set of 7 peeps this past week and Flossy has been glued to the wire divider between the bigs and the littles. To the point where we started calling her Nurse Flossy. She has actually looked and moved a little better since the babies arrived and started eating more again as well.

She proved her nursing this morning when I went out to open the popdoor and let everyone out for the day, I found one of the big chickens who has not looked great for a few days, dead in the corner. Flossy was lying right beside her with her wing covering the dead chicken. She was obviously distressed when we took the dead chicken away to bury her. I hope to come home tonight to Nurse Flossy keeping an eye on her peeps.

Has anyone ever seen what us humans might call compassion in a chicken before?

 

[scratch'n'peck]

That's a very touching story. Sorry about the loss. I hope nurse Flossy returns her attention to the chicks, too.

I have read accounts of chickens mourning losses in the flock. If you you use the search function above, you might be able to find the thread where a number of stories were shared. I have also read about chickens looking after sick or blind flock mates.

 

[maurerwerks]

Flossy was back with the peeps when I got home last night. She has her own ups and downs and this morning she was crouched by the door. It appears that every time it's a cold night she doesn't look so good in the morning. She's just getting to be an old lady (kinda like me). By the time I was leaving for work she was up and back to her Nurse Flossy post. Here's a photo of the peeps and you can just see Flossy's butt in the background.