During Monday night our second hen, Onion, died. Although she had been off colour a few weeks earlier we thought she had recovered but after Sage died she seemed to suffer a relapse and died just three weeks later.
We have decided not to replace them and so for the moment we have no chickens. It feels a bit strange and I find myself looking for them when I glance out of the kitchen window. I have taken down the wire fence that kept them to half of the garden and we are probably going to put the chicken coop on freecycle.
I will miss "the girls". Although they were a birthday present for my husband because he works long hours and spends an increasing amount of time abroad, it fell to me to look after them from day to day. Most fine days, summer or winter I carried a mug of coffee outside and sat down to drink it with one chicken on my lap and another sitting beside me.
The downside was that as we let them range freely in the garden, they did destroy a lot of my plants and the lawn was almost bare during the winter months. As much as I will miss them it will be nice to be able to hang out my washing without a chicken hopping up onto the bowl of washing, to be able to fill the gaps in the garden with plants that won't be scratched away and to watch the lawn recover.
Onion was quite shy, easily startled and didn't like the camera so I don't have many pictures but the one below shows her a week after she arrived exploring the garden for the first time.
and this one taken just a month ago is the last one I took of Sage and Onion together, both chasing after the same piece of bread as they often did.
6 comments:
I am just catching up on blog reading and see your chickens died. :( I'm sorry. It was always fun to hear about them on the blog.
Oh Williow, I am ever so sorry about your chickens, from your words and photos they seem such friendly creatures too.
...A big hug,
Nà
Yes the chickens were very friendly and it was fun to see them in the garden. Only having the two meant that I got to know their individual differences and quirks. Onion hated me shaking the kitchen mat outside and ran away to hide, Sage liked to eat small bits of bread from my hand, if I dropped it she waited, looking at me with her head on one side until I picked it up and held it for her, then she would then eat it!
I do miss them, I used to say they balanced out the male/female ratio in the household! On the plus side it will be nice to be able to walk out barefoot on clean paths and put a rug down on the grass for some uninterrupted reading. Maybe after a while we will keep chickens again someday.
4 June 2010 08:01
oh, so sorry to hear this.. at least they will be together in hen heaven now : )
sending you lots of love
xxx
Like Heather, I am still catching up and so sorry to hear about Sage & Onion. Chickens are such characters!
Sending a virtual hug.
Oh! So sad....I'm sorry to hear about this newest loss. Its always such an adjustment to ones routine when you lose a pet....cause really these chickens were your pets too. It sounds like you're able to see the greener side, but its still sad!
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