Sunday, February 6, 2011

dead chicken = no eggs = dig a big hole

well the second of our 3 chickens has died of old age following her sister earlier in the year, leaving us with 1 chicken pecking around on its own,,
 what a shame i thought
 so what tempted me to write was my deep hollow feeling of mortality as reflected by the bloody chickens death, over last few month we have watched as she became less mobile, the colour seemed to drain from her and even her clucking took on a geriatric tinge to it, really so like an old person fading away losing everything in spoonfuls, sad as she was we were like the children of elderly parent in nursing home buying expensive food to feed her despite the fact she was inching slowly uselessly towards death.
perhaps we felt so grateful of the happy rosy years of jolly brown eggs collecting them with the kids, making lulu scrambled eggs when she was tiny.. jolly happy pecky chickens now there is 1

so dilemma,, we need a couple of mates for solo mio white chicken but know for sure any young chickens will be pecked and harassed for the initial time, but the sadness of the lone chicken is as sad as the faded sand coloured carcass of the last isa brown
i think its a strange metaphor to our life full of change and upheaval, im sad at the thought of change and time marching on id like to keep it just the way it is, right now kids adorable loving husband aspirations and hope , i fear change i do not embrace it,, so to you all who think a dead chicken who should have been humanly dispatched months ago is no real tragedy,, im not sentimental about animals im really not but a chicken is really useful and they are nice little beasts
we mourn her with genuine sadness, sorry we ere not brave enough to wring her neck but glad she was our chicken rip little brown lady you will be missed

2 comments:

  1. Hey Gill, we had the same problem when one of the neighbours dogs broke through the fence and killed one chicken leaving the other alone. Eventually we got another one and it took a couple of weeks for the pecking order to be established however they love each other now and are inseparable.
    Debra from the sewing club breeds chickens, you should send her an email as she has quite a few heirloom breeds. Vanessa

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey v thats great will do that darran is going to make a super delux pen for them first, sad how we get attached isnt it ,, happy birthday miss, was it good one,, get anything special !!

    ReplyDelete