April 29, 2008

THEN THERE WERE 7

Well...we lost another chicken today. Of course it was my favorite one. She had a crooked beak and would 'talk' to me when I came in. In fact, she was the nicest one. She was my little brooder. For the past few weeks I got to pick her up and pet her, and take her off her pretend eggs.
Poor little Beeky. Yes I named her. The only other one I named.

They were out free ranging in our yard. The neighbors dog came running and got her.
By the time I got there she was laying in the tall grass trying to 'talk', but nothing came out.
I carried her to her nest to see if maybe she was just in shock.

When I checked on her a few hours later she was dead.

So....really I could have eaten her. BUT...when I tried to pluck a feather off of her to see what it was like to pluck a feather off a dead chicken, I winced. I just could not do it. I felt like I was hurting her, and part of me was scared she was not completely dead and I would torture her.

So... we buried her. Yes we did. Stop laughing. Putting the dirt over her was not easy. For the record I have only seen ONE person in my life who I loved dead....and it was weird. I have been to autopsies as a paramedic and that was just fine. I even put the other chickens in the fire this winter. But for some reason this felt different. I really did become attached.

Of course now all I can think about is how every other chicken I've eaten has had a personality as well. Oh I hope they all died fast.

Rest in Peace Beeky.

Moving on....

I my other chickens look great, and I hope to be getting more the end of May. Thank goodness my FIL will come at the end of the summer to 'take them away'....and fill my freezer.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sorry your lost your favorite chicken.

Erin said...

awww..that's tough.
when i was working as a nanny, I helped raise their chickens. one day (when I was off thank goodness), the families pet husky dog got loose and into the pen and killed 22 chickens!!! (out of 29 i believe)
lets just say, they buried more than just the chickens.
not sure where i was going with this...somehow this was supposed to make you feel better??

i suppose..be thankful you weren't burying your dog? or thank goodness you only lost one chicken?

sigh. nevermind me. thank goodness for father in laws.

Paula said...

Oh Alyson.. that is awful...
I came by to pay you a visit and to tell you how nice it was of you to stop by my blog and leave such sweet comments. But I'm so sorry about Beeky- I'm attached that way to ALL my animals. *sigh*
I love your blog- I'm going to read back some and try to get caught up so I can learn more about you!
Please come back and visit me again, soon!
Blessings,
Paula

tammi said...

Awww, I'm sorry, Alyson. As weird as it sounds to get attached to a chicken, critters just have a way of working their way into the hearts of humans. I totally get that. I would've been tempted to do something dastardly to the neighbour's dog, I tell ya. Mangey mutt.

Katy said...

OH NO Alyson!!! We had the SAME THING happen yesterday!!! No joke!!! Except the culprit was our dog!!! I posted about it on my post today..at the bottom. I was sooooooooooo bummed!!! I totally feel your pain!!! Chris had to bury her :(.

Anonymous said...

Exactly. Sweet blog, Alyson - the dilemma of animals and how attached we (and they) get. . .