Sweet Little Dixie

by Vicki Guest
(Michigan USA )

Dixie was not quite a year old. We purchased her with 3 other chicks last year for one of our broody Buff Orpingtons.

I believe she was a Dutch bantam/white faced black Spanish mix. She was very small and her eggs were tiny. She was sweet, mischievous and independent, always exploring our yard away from the flock, but not to far away. She was notorious for getting into my fenced in garden area.

Earlier this week she wasn’t acting normal, she wasn’t her perky self. She laid an egg on Monday, but Tuesday she slowly walked around the yard, stopping to close her eyes. And she was hunched.

So we separated her for the day. We wondered if she was egg bound. We gave her an Epsom salt bath, some electrolytes in her water and a dropper of B-12, a scrambled egg with nutritional yeast.

The next day she was wobbling, unable to keep her balance. She only ate a few bites of her eggs and I had to give her water from a dropper. By the evening her toes were curling off and on, she also looked like she was gasping for air, but she still kept trying to stand up.

Thursday morning we found her off her perch lying on the cage bottom, wings and legs stretched out. I wrapped her in a towel tried to give her water with a dropper and held her for a bit. I called my husband to ask him to come home from work to cull her because she was suffering.

While on the phone with him she started having what seemed like seizures. I held her right and walked outside where her flapping intensified. She let out a loud squawk and went limp.

I cried for an hour. She was gone. We have only been chicken tenderers for 2 yrs. We’ve lost several to predators so this was different. We had a sick hen several months ago but she got better within a week with B-12, electrolytes.

Did she have a stroke? Heart attack? A disease? We’ll never know, but she is resting peacefully now.

Nightmare Moon

by Samantha G
(Florida)

I lost my favorite hen today – Miss Nightmare Moon. She was named by my niece after watching my little pony.

Nightmare Moon was so sweet. Poor girl was just about a year old. Finding her this evening unresponsive, was heart breaking.

She was the first hen to start laying eggs. She would always find a way to get into the house and follow me until I gave her some fruit.

I have no idea why she passed away. There were no signs of illness or any injuries. She had been fine all day.

I miss her so much. I can't even put into words just how devastated I am.

Rest in peace, my beautiful feathery friend.

Dorothy

by Val
(Swindon uk)

Dorothy was a chocolate Pekin bantam that I raised from a day old chick.

She was very tame and free ranged my garden with my flock and would sit on my shoulder when I was in the garden. She also would come in the house and sit with me on the sofa.

Rest in peace little girl. Mummy loves and misses you.

Haddie

by Teri
(Town of Blue Mountain, Ontario, Canada)

I had someone babysit my girls while I was away for a few days. I returned and Haddie was nowhere to be found.

She was a Blue Azure. Of all of the girls, she was the feisty one. No fence could keep her from escaping to greener pastures. I searched everywhere for her and I found a large pile of white feathers and I knew that a predator had taken her.

It is the first chicken that I lost...and I hope it was my last.

She will be missed and I pray that her end was quick.

Runa

by Sarah Jean
(Hamden, NY)

We rescued a handful of chickens from a neglect situation at the end of December 2022.

Runa was a Rhode Island hen, she had beautiful reddish feathers with a touch of black on some. Though she was named after Odin's Valkyries, she was sweet and shy.

She was slightly more likely to shy away when other hens tried to eat out of our hands in a pushy manner. But we always made sure she got an opportunity.

She may have only been with us a few months, but we are so grateful to have known her, and provided her with the love and care she deserved.

We will miss you little hen.

Silkie baby hens that we hatched from eggs

by M Tui
(AZ)

These two black Silkie bantam hens passed last week. Elle and Flash were greatly loved. They were only nearly 5 months old.

We could tell them apart because Elle had flecks of gold in her hair while Flash had a blu-ish tint in her black.

They were as gentle and friendly as could be. They always jumped in our laps and seemed happy enough to love on us while the others wanted to be left alone. They were loving and made no fuss while getting carried.

We wanted them to live in house but mom said No. However we were shocked to realize that they fell over and were too hot in the sun.

While the other 5 Silkies lived, we were so saddened to find our favorites had passed.

We will forever miss you two babies. Rest in Heavenly peace sweet friends, where in heaven nothing dies, only lives.

Daisy

by Melyssa Stovall
(Buckeye, AZ)

I brought her home with her sister. She was such a sassy and adventurous little chick. She always wanted to flap and run around the little one. Would stand tall when the big hen came around.

She always ran to me when she heard my voice or saw me. Daisy was only 4 weeks old and I don’t know what happened.

She will be missed.

Becky Bear's Beauty

by KC
(NC USA)

Well...this isn't very easy. I know it will help keep Becky Bear be heard and mostly understood for what an amazing hen she was.

And maybe even better now that, for whatever reason(because 4 hours ago she was fine at 2pm), I go back out to the coop about 6pm and she was laying face first, belly down on the ground 😪.

I enjoy going to talk to them and love bonding with them during those moments before I see them the next morning. Now I adore each chick I have!

We have a special bond and are so tame and friendly, but I adopted Becky. So we had a different one on one bond. I adopted her about a year ago from a friend of mine who couldn't keep the batch of bitties.

Becky was completely black with a hint of a green tint when the sun would shine on her. Her feathers was completely beautiful, like silk (she's not a Silkie tho)and she's never acted like a regular hen would.

She loved having her "man" with her – Crip Daddy. But I recently moved Crip out of the coop into a different one. So it's bothering me thinking I made her depressed and she just...left.

She's been eating, drinking, moving around, etc. So my chickens get checked on throughout the day until the roost. I don't understand. If it wasn't because she was in her coop alone then what happened?

All and all she was a wonderful hen and she's deeply missed and loved.

For my Beautiful Becky Bear. ♡

Chicken Little, gone but not forgotten.

by Terra
(Jurupa Valley, CA)

We got 6 chicks in June 2022 and have loved them so much. They are the absolute best pets.

We went out to the coop today and she was just laying there lifeless. Our hearts are so sad and confused as to why something like this could happen.

We love them, feed them the best organic feed. They get to free range too. I just don’t understand why or how.

RIP sweet girl. Thank you for blessing us with eggs.

Little Lumpy

Little Lumpy had some difficulty hatching, but I assumed it was because the shell was a bit too thick. When he’d successfully gotten out, I realized that wasn’t why.

Little Lumpy had some pretty severe deformities. His legs were on backwards, and his feathers were more like lumps or scales than feathers on his neck and back.

I tried for two days to bind the little guy’s legs to get them in the right position, but all I was doing was hurting him.

I didn’t want to give up, Little Lumpy was loud and peeping and biting and kicking, but Little Lumpy couldn’t move unless moved by a person.

Today I finally had to admit that I was keeping him alive because I couldn’t let go, not for his own welfare. He never would’ve been able to walk.

Today I buried Little Lumpy under the violets in my front yard. He was only here for two days, but he was a fighter. And I wish I could’ve saved him.

Bella Chicken

by Tracie Clark-Hudson
(Prees, Shropshire, UK)

Bella, Chica and Willow came to us 2 years ago from a friend who was having issues with a fox. She had them for 1.5yrs, they were rescue ex bat hen chicks.

Bella was the leader, the youngest, the most confident and always getting up to all sorts! Digging up next door's garden, always playing hide and seek, sneaking around to the front door and greeting us and hitching a ride on my shoulder whenever she could.

She was best friends with our dog and would constantly try and live in the house.

Today she was put to sleep and went peacefully.

I will miss her so much 😞

Shadow

by Nicole
(Idaho)

We received 4 chickens from someone who couldn't take them to their new residence and we honestly had no idea what we were doing. I did research and made the best possible environment with coops, heater for winter, heated water bowl for winter, constant supply of feed, and occasionally healthy snacks.

I went from being afraid of chickens to loving them like I'd had them forever. We grew to 8 in our chicken family and Shadow was one of the original 4. She got her name because she would follow you everywhere, like a shadow.

She let me hold her and pet her and every time I came outside she would come running to me. She was her usual self yesterday and today when I went to collect eggs, she was gone.

I found her laying in the coop alone and with no visible injuries so I have no way of knowing what ultimately caused her death. I keep wondering what I did wrong and how I could've helped her. If only I could've been with her so she wasn't alone when she died.

My Shadow is gone, but I'll always remember her for the beautiful, sweet girl she was.

Princess Aurora

by Natalie
(West Melbourne, FL)

Our baby was a delicate princess. A chatterbox with the sweetest voice.

We had her since she was a chick and she died suddenly in our backyard in a shaded cranny that her and her sisters would huddle up and take sand baths and rests together.

She died peacefully and without suffering. We will all miss her beautiful fire orange and Jemmie misses you the most. Besties forever.

Love you baby girl and we'll see you again someday. ❤️

Lover of chickens

by Gwen
(Murrieta California America)

Her name was Zelda we don’t really understand how she passed away. I just threw her in the air and she started throwing up blood and passed away. I feel like it was my fault. I threw her in the air and I don’t even know why I did. She was the first to trust me and let me pick her up.

Sometimes I even felt like she understood me. I would pour my feeling on her and share stuff that I hadn’t to anyone. Now she’s gone and I miss her a lot but we will always remember her.