Chicken boarders

[johnandkymberley]

Blossom died yesterday, we dont know what was wrong with her, physically she was perfect, apart from not laying eggs but when we found her not eating or drinking and sleeping all the time we knew something wasnt right but she didnt respond to the meds, we came home to find her in the corner of the run sleeping, we got her out and put her in the cube so she could pass away with her sisters, and comfy in her bedroom, rather than outside were she has never slept, we felt she might feel it was a normal night. in the morning found her with her head under her wing, she must have been in such a deep sleep and just never woke up, she was a lovely hen too, very nosey and the first to tell you off if she wasnt happy, we said bye to her b4 putting her in the cube, we cuddled her and we kissed her and told her we loved her and have a good long sleep, we took her to be cremeted that day, and i was so upset as we drove there because most people on here double bag their hens and chuck them in the bin, bury them, which we didnt want to do cuz of foxes, im totally disgusted by those options and i was crying as i could never do that to Bloss, she is going to be scattered in the flower garden, with her other sister Cherry, who died last year, the best place for them is in a garden full of flowers, just felt a bit helpless though as we couldnt do anything to cure her, she was too far gone i think, but we gave her the best life, she had a fab little life and didnt live in fear or poverty or anything, had all the garden, was loving and very happy. i love to see my hens snoozing, they dont wake for a car driving past or the parcel man coming in the gate, they are so calm and settled. Blossom mainly spent the day sunbathing with her wing out! her fave pastime! apart from eating treats! she died peacefully too, she was a lovely little girl and we will miss her loads, but better to have known her than not at all, i even went out today to let them out and went to count 5 brown instead of 4, and when i found the greenhouse open, i said to the girls, get out because Blossom will be in here to eat it all again and then realised she wasnt going to , im going to stop now as i'm going to cry!

[jackian]

I am nearly in tears just reading your post, I have never lost one of ours yet and dread the day.I never thought I could feel so close to a chicken

 

I do hope that you will feel better soon and be it a feathered friend or a human friend the best thing of all is they did not suffer .

[chick wiggle]

Aw bless her, sounds like she had a wonderful life with you,

RIP Bloss

[Mercedes55]

So sorry to hear about your poor little girl. We also lost one of our girls today and I have to say it's the most upsetting thing ever and can totally understand your grief. We did bury our little girl in the garden as we did with our little ex batt that we lost earlier this year too.

[KateC]

As you say, you gave her the best life she could have had and even ensured a peaceful and calm ending. I have only had my hens for a short time but appreciate they are all little characters and love them all to bits. At least Blossom is with her sister again and home with you. x

[gongladosh]

They get to you don't they? When our first two hens died we had them cremated, and scattered their ashes in the parts of the garden that they liked to be in the most.

 

RIP Blossom.

[LunaKiw1]

I was in tears too as I really recognise your feelings from when we had to have two PTS recently. It was a peaceful end though and you will always have your memories of her. x

[johnandkymberley]

Thankyou all, i get really attached to my animals though, they are part of the family, and we always joke about them, violet is daddys girls and willow is a mummys girl and we say and talk to them in the garden like that, people must think we are mad! And as you can tell they girls have nicknames, eg Bloss, Pet Pets for Petal, Vi Vi for Violet and Doo for Daisy as in Dasiy Doo, Phloxy Lhloxy for Phlox and wil wil for Willow and lil lil for Lily, dont ask where these come from cuz i dont know we just make them up and they stick and the girls respond to them!!!! and we also call them all little fellas, off that bit in nemo where dory is trying to get the whale to come over, my dad said that to them (yes my dad!) and that has stuck aswell, mainly we say that when they are going into the run at bedtime, then whilst doing that i will say, good girl petal (for example) or whoever in the order they go inthe run and they get a stroke so they all run to go in so they have the stroke and praise!! They really are part of our lifes. Millie our cat is like a human and i get upset at the thought of her passing away, im not going to be able to deal with it, even my family worry about it happening! Anyway have uploaded some pics, Blossom always loved camera time! she loved to be a model and when you took a photo she would move her head like a true professional!

This is Blossom with her best sister Laelia. We think she died next to Laelia as she rested her head on her when we put her in, usually they stick together - Blossom is behind Laelia

here is Bloss and Laelia again - laying eggs together!

Blossom nipping into photos, she has to be in all photos!!

and one of my fav pics of all time, Blossom showing her cheekiness and beauty in a perfect pose! and it shows how nosey she was!!!

 

So sorry to hear about other losses, it doesnt get any easier does it? One thing i wondered is if the other hens miss her? Blossom was quite high in the peking order, so thats all gone to pot now, Laelia wonders around on her own now, i think she misses her alot, they all walked past her when they were going out in the run in the morning, they couldnt have got down the steps without doing so, i think they all saw her and knew

[Mercedes55]

 

So sorry to hear about other losses, it doesnt get any easier does it? One thing i wondered is if the other hens miss her? Blossom was quite high in the peking order, so thats all gone to pot now, Laelia wonders around on her own now, i think she misses her alot, they all walked past her when they were going out in the run in the morning, they couldnt have got down the steps without doing so, i think they all saw her and knew

 

It certainly doesn't get easier no. Those pictures are lovely and they've started me off again re my own girl. I do wonder too if they miss the ones that we lose and I kind of think they do. We sometimes have to move one of our posh girls in with the ex batts when she gets broody and you can tell she is desperate to get back in with her little group as she would go and sit by their run and just look at them as if to say "someone let me back in please!".

 

When we lost one of our ex batts at Easter we buried her in front of the smaller run we have at the back of the garden. All the other ex batts trooped out there and just stood watching as we buried her. When we had finished they all just turned away and went back again, it was like they were saying goodbye to her.

 

Sadly our little girl who died yesterday just seemed to collapse and die and it was truly awful finding her the way we did. So hard to believe that a little hen can touch your heart so much, and yet they do.

[johnandkymberley]

Where did you find her? its so horrible to think you could of helped more aswell, isnt it? blossom went from bad to worse in 24hours and we checked her physically and nothing found? i think its difficult to tell with hens though, because they are prey to foxes etc they hide their illnesses and wounds etc so not to look vulnerable, but means we cant tell quick/soon enough, another thing thats bugging me is, i bought my 6 girls (blossom and cherry were part of them) with my cube, we were told they were 9 months old, we had never kept hens before they were fully grown so had no reason to not believe her, but the other weekend they were 2years old - we had a mealworm party that lasted all of 30secs! but me and john were talking and he said, we never ACTUALLY knew though, the woman was so desperate to get rid of them as they werent getting on with her other hens she could have lied that they were younger so we would take them, only been in lay a couple of months, for all we know they could have been 18months-2years old, but maybe she thought we wouldnt have them as older hens? To the best of my knowledge the average age for a hen is 3years old isnt it? am i right in thinking that?! so now i wonder if old age could played a part? and its funny that its 2 of the original 6 aswell? Willow,lily, daisy, chryssie and violet we know the exact ages of as we got them before point of lay,from farms/breeder and by the time we got them we were a bit more experienced too. Cherry we think died of stress, we had them a month and she died, they were in a disgusting place before we had them and then they moved here and had lawns and flowers and tasty treats and i think it was just the change, i bit like batt hens, but you are exactly right they really do get to your heart, but my comfort is at least i had Blossom and Cherry and i knew them rather than not knowing them at all, that comforts me alot xxx

[Luvachicken]

Sorry to hear about your lovely girly.

Sending hugs and xxxxxxx

[Mercedes55]

We found ours just laying on her back in the run. It was really awful as she had been in the living room most of the day so that we could keep an eye on her as we have Myco going through the whole flock right now. She was only 15mths old and we'd had her since she was 14wks old. She was a huge girl, as most Favorelles are, more like an eagle than a hen and everyone who saw her fell in love with her as she was beautiful inside and outside. I think with her being so young it's made us more upset as she would have had years ahead of her and we feel responsible for her being sick.

 

I'm not sure what the average life span is as I think it can vary. The ex batts often don't last so long as they've had a hard life to start with. Pure breeds however tend to live longer as they don't lay in the Winter. I think you can tell their age more easily if they are quite young. Once they start laying to my eyes they all look the same. Sorry you are going through all this pain too, really not nice at all is it.

[suzannejoy]

Thats so sad, but at least she had you xxx

[johnandkymberley]

We found ours just laying on her back in the run. It was really awful as she had been in the living room most of the day so that we could keep an eye on her as we have Myco going through the whole flock right now. She was only 15mths old and we'd had her since she was 14wks old. She was a huge girl, as most Favorelles are, more like an eagle than a hen and everyone who saw her fell in love with her as she was beautiful inside and outside. I think with her being so young it's made us more upset as she would have had years ahead of her and we feel responsible for her being sick.

 

I'm not sure what the average life span is as I think it can vary. The ex batts often don't last so long as they've had a hard life to start with. Pure breeds however tend to live longer as they don't lay in the Winter. I think you can tell their age more easily if they are quite young. Once they start laying to my eyes they all look the same. Sorry you are going through all this pain too, really not nice at all is it.

 

That is so sad, im so sorry, how awful for you its hard not to feel responsible isnt it? but if you try your hardest, which we do and sounds like you do too, there is only so much that you can do. I do think my original 6 are older than she said, although no way of proving it or anything of course but she was so desperate to get rid of them, which now puts alarm bells in my head?! hope you are feeling better and my empathy is totally with you xxxxx