Fewer eggs

[Falkor 0]

RIP my little PIP

 

xx

 

[Groovychook 0]

My poor Betty died during the night.

 

She hadn't been on top form for a few weeks but we'd hoped she was getting better.

 

Shall miss you Betty xx

 

 

It's only a couple of months since Blanche died... thought it would be nice to post up her photo too.

 

[Mrs Webmuppet 0]

Little Miss Webmuppet's mini Maran Petals passed away today.

 

She had a growth in her abdomen possibly caused by sterile egg peritonitis, she went down hill yesterday and had to be put to sleep at the vets this morning. There will be tears when LMW gets home from school............

[SarahJo 0]

RIP Ebony - died a few weeks after Mrs Snowy, and with what seemed to be a stroke of some sort

 

May all my hens roam free and re-united. Nuggett and Jas are mow together at the farm and happy

[jsbates65 0]

My Rosemary died this morning. She was fine yesterday, but this morning she wasn't coming out of the Eglu so I opened the egg door and picked her up. She sort of gasped and died in my arms.

Clarisse, who was by her side for the last 3 years, sat beside her body forever. So sad.

I'm so glad that I got Enid this summer. . .

 

Is this normal for a chicken to seem totally fine one day and then just die the next? She was 3 years old. . .how old have your chickens lived?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4YrahuKGws

 

the video isn't too exciting. . .just the girls having a good day.

[ChirpyChirpyCheepCheep 0]

Just wanted to let you know my Peggy died yesterday.

 

Gosh I didn't realise how hard this would actually be. Have just returned from dropping Peggy off at the local vet. They will cremate Peggy. No charge too.

 

Thank you for your kind words.

[Reikiranf 1]

This morning when I went to let the girls out Yum Yum didn't come out I could see she was in the nestbox and thought that she must be laying an egg, so I opened the eggport to say hello & stroke her and found she was stone cold and dead. She was fine yesterday and was grabbing beakfuls of live mealworms at treat time! I'm devastated, she was such a lovely girl, I was meant to be going out this morning but can't stop crying.

[dancing cloud 0]

Yesterday morning I found Moon dead in the nestbox . She seems to have died peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her friends, which is as good a way to go as anyone could wish, and I will very much miss her. Thanks to BHWT she enjoyed nine months of freedom, but she never did quite thrive like the others and was always rather frail, and so rather my favourite. A very sweet little character, Moon would happily follow me round the garden and would stand looking up at me all adoringly, just waiting for a cuddle. I'm sure her lovely little soul will be very warmly welcomed wherever little hen souls go.

 

A sad s"Ooops, word censored!" when she arrived in March

 

 

Moon became a lovely gentle joy to have around

 

 

She had nine months of playing in the garden with her friends, knowing she was very much loved by her human, and she even lived long enough to enjoy her share of the Christmas sweetcorn and grapes.

 

Goodbye little one.

[Little Clucker 0]

Poor Ethel cockerel passed away on New Years it seems the infection he recovered from a few months ago was too much for him to bounce back from

 

RIP little one you will be missed by everyone who met you and was cuddled by you!

 

Your wives Nugget, Tikka and Dipper miss you already

 

xx

[chocolatedog 0]

Have just lost Pepper - within the last 20 minutes....... so one very sad chicken mummy here....

found her lying on the floor of the freezing run this afternoon so I crawled in to get her and brought her into the house. Since then she's been wrapped in a towel in a box by the fire having had a few drops of water syringed down her beak.... I hope she didn't suffer too much before I found her but at least she died inside in the peace and the warmth and she just slipped away - her breathing was very gentle and peaceful so she was either asleep or had drifted into unconsciousness....... she was over 2 1/2 and had laid her little heart out for the first 2 full years of her life - and had only gone off lay in the last 3 months. Soppy old me can't stop crying just at the moment........

 

[Griffin 0]

Mimi Maguire, one of my ex-batts, has died I knew she was going downhill, she's always been the weakest one of the three, and she's spent the last week or so living in the garage with a heat lamp to keep her warm because she couldn't cope with this weather. She loved to try to roast herself, squishing up as close as she could to the heat. That's where I found her this morning, she'd just fallen asleep under it and not woken up. I've cried buckets this morning at the injustice, I've only had her since the end of May so she spent more time in those cages than she did free here I know she was happy here but I so wanted her to have more time, she needed another summer for sunbathing.

 

Fans of Shameless will know Mimi is the gobby bolshy one, so that's where my girl got her name. I'll miss her

[Dharma chick 0]

Sadly Norbu my ex-bat girl passed away peacefuly in my arms this afternoon. She has been slowly going down hill since christmas. We have been nursing her in the house at night and letting her outside with her sisters for short periods in the day.

 

Yesterday she went off her legs so we have kept her in and given her lost of cuddles. She just loved sitting and snuggling into me. It is so qiuiet without her, Norbu would always let us know if she was not happy. She was such a character and she will be sadly missed. I am in awe of Norbu's courage, she was in very poor condition when we recieved her from the BHWT - she has had 22 months of freedom and got into lots of mischief!!!

 

She will be missed by many.

[Roxanne 0]

Over the past few days, Molly, one of my ex-bats, had lost colour in her comb and yesterday she stood all hunched up on her own in a corner of the run. The same thing happened to Hetty before she died.

I went back to the run after dusk to check on her and she was alone on the floor of the stable while the others were all tucked up in bed. I picked her up and put her in the nesting box and when I checked on her this morning she was as stiff as a board

One of the hens had kindly laid an egg beside her body .

At least she didn't die alone and had almost 2 years of freedom after release from a battery cage so I can only feel sad for myself.

 

It hasn't been a good few months, the loss of 2 hens and my beautiful german shepherd after 13 years has been hard. On the up-side, we now have Sasha - a greyhound rescue, a beautiful girl who will be 10 next month, to run around with Joey.

[gracie 0]

RIP omlet

 

who was put down today with what they thought was egg Peritonitis

 

we will never forget you

[LisaP 0]

Last week we had to have Peony put to sleep. She was one of our 2 original girls from Omlet and was only 2

 

She had never been a prolific layer and wasn't well a couple of months ago, but that turned out to be a stuck broken egg, which we managed to help her pass by following advice from this forum She then picked up and although she still wasn't laying she was happy.

 

Unfortunately she rapidly went downhill last Sunday and then on Monday she spent the day cuddled up on the sofa in the lounge. Monday evening (11 Jan) we took her to the vet and it was agreed that she should be put to sleep. The vet was very understanding but felt that Peony probably had a tumour which was causing a blockage and although she was still eating and drinking she was just too weak for anything remedial to be done - she had started falling over on Mon too

 

She was such a lovely friendly girl who loved a cuddle and would have much rather preferred to live in the house with us given the chance

 

She is very much missed.

 

Lisa P

[chelsea 0]

Sadly and very suddenly our dear old top chook Ella had to be PTS this evening.

 

Hubby rescued her almost four years ago - she was destined for Sainsbury's meat shelf but was a runt in the broiler shed....she was only supposed to live 56 days!

 

She laid right up until last Autumn, survived 2 years with sterile peritonitis, and recovered from bowel surgery and even up until this morning was stuffing her little beak with porridge and raisins.

 

OH came home from work just after lunch and let them free range. We had always covered and dressed Ella's bum area post surgery since last January as she had thin skin under the vent, about an hour later we went out to give them their tea only to discover Ella's bum was bleeding she was rushed to the vets and they tried their best to repair the damage but it was too much. Even the poor vet was upset - he was quite taken with her and she'd always been his "party piece" at parties as she was such a special hen in many ways. He hasn't even charged us!

 

I will miss her so much, especially her bossy nature - the garden is never going to be the same again.

[LJ's Chooks 0]

Lilly died today, so I'm really sad. She had a lovely life with us, but we're not sure what happened. She had been under the weather yesterday and didn't lay. I thought it was a spring sortie coming, but I found her dead in the nest box this morning.

 

She looked so peaceful.

 

sleep well little one!

[madchickenlady 0]

Our lovely little splash pekin, Mini, died on the operating table today . She had an eye problem which had been going on for three months, and surgery was a last resort. Unfortunately, the abcess had penetrated deep into her eye and would have moved in to her nervous system. She didn't wake up from the anaesthetic. Gone but never forgotten, Min-min 'Meh-meh'

[dancing cloud 0]

My lovely Joy-hen died this morning, very peacefully and as I held her .

 

One of my original ex-batts, she had been out of her her cage for just over 20 months and was one of those happy cheeky chooks that loved every minute of life.

 

Here she is when she arrived

The most feather-bare, she was also the friendliest from the outset and the first into everything, especially mischief. Here she is again, celebrating 18 months of freedom

 

and in the recent snow

 

When she didn't come out of the this morning I knew something was wrong, so I brought her in and held her on my knee, and she died gently about 40 minutes later.

 

Thanks to BHWT she got to have a proper chicken life, and she certainly made the most of her 20 months of being spoiled, pampered and very much loved. My favourite of my original girls, I will miss her enthusiastic nosey-beak no longer being poked into everything that didn't concern her. Joy by name really was a joy by nature.

[TAJ 0]

Our blackrock (Nutmeg) has died this afternoon . She looked a bit slow so we brought her inside and gave her some nutri-drops. She was very peacefull but died just an hour later. She is our first pet chicken to die and was two+half years old. She laid and laid, never stopped and only moulted for the first time a month ago.

 

I know we also keep meat birds, so she is not our first chicken to go, but these others are not pets and she was DD + OH best chicken.

 

I guess she lived a reasonable time for a productive hybrid hen and had a happy life.

 

Tracy

[Griffin 0]

Lily Pie, my screamy shouty green egg layer who went to live at a friends farm to scream to her hearts content, died suddenly yesterday after a very short illness. Tomorrow would've been her first birthday She'd calmed down a lot and was going to try coming back here later on in the year to be with her sisters again

[mostin 0]

Daisy our ex-batt went to the big chicken coop in the sky yesterday

 

She arrived last May with her buddies and has had 9 wonderful months of freedom and sunbathing which was her all time favourite occupation. She had just moulted and become a truly fully feathered girl....so sad . Her comb went very purple though and then she stopped eating and drinking despite all the TLC we could give, so we helped her on her journey. It broke my heart .

 

She will be very much missed, I think she only ever layed about 5 eggs, but I always hope that the x-batts never lay any for me, and just recover. She was 1/2 the weight of all the other ex-batts when she arrived, and I really didn't think she would even last the 1st week. I have to remember to be grateful that she had the time she did in the great outdoors.

 

RIP Daisy, you will never be forgotten xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

1st day home

 

 

 

Soaking up those rays

 

 

Fully feathered at last

 

 

 

She had such a beautiful tail once it had grown

 

 

Goodnight Daisy xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Ella 0]

My two chooks Bubble and squeak died from a fox. Its really sad as we used to get a egg a day from them. I miss them dearly and although we have some more i'll always remember then..... I miss you guys.

[cathybc 0]

Harriet had a prolapse over the weekend (isn't it always when the avian vet is shut )

 

Took her today, it was her oviduct which had started to become necrotic (?) so the vet said the kindest thing was to put her to sleep

 

Really gutted, she would have been out of battery-land for 2 years had she made it to next month. Rest in peace little one, so pleased the weather was good enough at the weekend for you to have a final trash of the garden.

 

............................

 

Thank you all for your kind words. People at work just didn't get me having a half day to take a chicken to the vets

[craftyhunnypie 0]

My little Anneka the goldline - is taking her very last breaths as I speak.

She is a goldline, who is not even 2 years old. I had her as a day old chick, along with her friend Heli.

She has been the most lovely natured ginger chookie & layed lovely eggs.

Her comb went black over the last couple of weeks (not a good sign). Then last week, she sort of had a mini stroke & her co - ordination & use of her legs went quite a bit. She has been eating & drinking & we have kept her seperate in the broody / medical area of the shed.

But today she hasn't ate a thing & hardly moved.

I have been out to shut them all in & her eyes are tight shut, she is in a twisted awkward position, with her legs at strange angles. There is tiny movement / flicker of life in her wing. But I think my beautiful pet has left & her body is nearly stopped.

I have sobbed my heart out - I hope no one saw. They wouldn't understand how attatched I am to my chooks.

I gave her the very best, loved her & kept her safe from Foxy loxy.

 

Why are Gingers so friendly & loveable - but never live long? Is there such a ginger chicken that isn't an egg machine?

 

Bye bye little Anneka.

 

Emma.x

 

I have just come in from my W.I party & Hubby informed me that Anneka has definitely slipped away, as I couldn't accept it properly earlier. He has removed her from the chicken shed & put her in his other workshop shed - away from the other chickens - who know exactly that she has died. Especially 'Boon' my big cochin cockerel. He gave a soft cluck as hubby carried her out of the shed.

We have both had a big cry together - she was such a sweetheart.

 

Chickens bring lots of pleasure & lots of heartache, like any loved pet.

 

Emma.x