Another loss in the family

We were so excited in February when we finally got a record five eggs. Just a few weeks later we were up to six or seven. At the end of March, success! We finally had eight eggs….one for each girl! It was such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

Just three days later…we lost Zombie. She was acting strange and sitting down in the run near sunset. When the girls went into the coop, she continued to just sit there. I decided to put her in the barn for the night…it had worked for Bluebella over the winter.

However, when I went out to the barn in the morning, she was already gone. She was still missing a lot of feathers from the pecking by the other girls, but no more than Ozzie. Since we knew she had laid just a few days ago (and seemed to be a regular layer), we didn’t think she was egg bound. I guess we will never know what happened.

What to do with a dead chicken?

My first thought was bury her, but I thought the hubby would laugh at me. When he came out and saw her gone, he was sad too. He talked about how much she had given us and how she was a pet so we should bury her…of course we have to wait for the ground to actually thaw. It’s always wonderful when people surprise you and show more compassion than you expect.

Life goes on

We are still averaging six to seven eggs a day…no complaints here. The pecking at each other has not improved and I have turned to Etsy for “hen saddles”, also called “chicken aprons”. They are supposed to protect the chickens back end. They will be here any day and I sure hope they help.

Spring is popping

The best news of all is Spring is finally showing it’s head. We are starting to see crocus and native Prairie Trillium emerging. The hubby has been working on clearing parts of the woods that are over run with invasive trees like buckthorn. I can’t wait to see what emerges next!

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