Halo and Blue

by Lucy
(Hampshire UK)

Hello all,

So upset what happened to our chickens.

I got my chickens last year in middle of October, little bantam chickens one blue in colour which we called Blue and a Millefluer, mainly white with lots of mixed colours. Called her Halo. When I got them they started out at 6 weeks old and also had a few others

They were in a coop and ran together on my allotment plot until 2 of them went broody. So I moved Halo and Blue to a separate coop which I managed to get free. I did it up nicely for the chickens to go in.

We would take the chickens out of the coop to let them free range on the plot while we were there.
Both of them would fly out, sometimes really far and sometimes shouting. They'd have a good free range around the plot.

So love looking after my girls. So cute, the little bantams with their tail waggles and lots to enjoy watching them.

Then I put them into a run when we were not there, when we went back to say goodnight and put them back in the coop. Halo would jump at the side of the cage and Blue would just shout a bit - I think they enjoyed seeing us.

I was building a little run that I got to go with the coop so they could go out and in when they liked. With the bird flu going around I was worried about that and them going over to the other run.

So with the run I was building I was trying to dig and put it on blocks. Somehow it was raining so much the bricks must have been too low in the ground and around them and in the run it got rather flooded. So they could not use it even with the plastic cover on the run.

So we decided to move the coop and run and to put up a polytunnel frame. We moved the coop and run and after a few day got a cover on it. We did tie it down, tried to make the run more of a drier place and sort the area out where they were.

It was so distressing when we got to my allotment plot on the morning of the 27/12/2020 and finding that the polytunnel had blown over in the storm.

It blew onto someone's plot and had knocked the coop and run over. The lid where it lifts up was open all wet in coop, and all we could see was feathers, so I think Mr Fox must have got them as well.

So the poor girls - not just one thing but two things that got them in the end.

We cleaned out the coop in the day before the storm on Boxing Day and it was not that windy in the day.

Well I am heartbroken. I really feel horrible. They were so joyful to be around, it is so hard them not being here.

I have been beating myself up as feel I did the wrong thing in moving their coop and run into the polytunnel. Wish I thought to move them back with other girls.

Am finding it so hard. It's so upsetting going to my plot where it all happened to look after my other girls. I'm sure they know, they must have heard noises.

I tried to give them the best life, but feel like I ruined it and cut their little lives short in the end. So scary for them.

So sorry for our girls. We miss them so much.