It's not always fun on the farm...

When you have as many lives here on the farm, inevitably there is going to be some loss. When we got back from Oregon, we found that one of my favorite hens was dead in the coop. I picked her up and she was nice and heavy, not dehydrated, her comb was still bright red and she was not egg bound or had any evidence of parasites. In fact, other than the fact that she was dead, I couldn't find anything wrong with her. She looked like she was sitting down peacefully and had not been gone for long at all. Poor sweet girl. You would think with a dozen chickens, that losing one would hardly be noticed, but this hen was quiet and calm and a wonderful layer. I am definitely missing her.


She was always interested in what was going on around the farm, including what might be going on in the house as well! The australorp hens (and Sophie) are more assertive, but you would always find this one just behind them, waiting to see if anything good was coming.



Any time the minis were staked in the yard, this chicken was almost always by Yakki. Maybe she was waiting for him to scare up some bugs or worms. This hen was only a little over three years old, and while reaching the end of her steady egg production, she could still have given us a few eggs a week for a while yet.


I hope to have an announcement of some new additions on Monday or Tuesday, but I'm only about 50% confident of the outcome, so I'll keep it to myself for now. This picture above (off the internet) might give you an idea what we're watching and waiting for...oh, and it's not the puppy, although that would be fun too! So stay tuned!