Speckletail

by Tia Thorne
(Australia )

Speckletail was an ISA Brown chook who we got in about October 2016. Before then, we had chooks only really for eggs, so they weren't really pets or friendly.

Then, one day, this chook started following me around. I was surprised, but I decided to call her Speckletail. Little did I know at the time, this was the start of my love of chooks, and ever since then, I've named all of our 25 flock, and they've become very friendly.

But there was something about Speckletail that remained very special. My parents couldn't tell the difference between all our other chooks or remember there names, but they knew Speckletail.

She was the cheekiest, sassiest chook you could ever meet. You'd go out to get the eggs, and she'd follow you, waiting (ahem, demanding) for you to give her some grain.

You'd be walking around, and she'd follow you, waiting for you to turn over a rock so she could get the bugs underneath it. She'd follow my brother when he filled up our cart with wood for the fire, just so she could get the bugs underneath the wood.

She had that look on her face, that just said, come on, you're my servant, where's the food? She was so so special.

I even could pick her cluck from the rest of the flock.

And then came the 31st January, 2020. She started becoming unlike herself, starting to look sick.
We brought her onto the lawn, gave her water and food and all the bugs we could find. But on the 1st of February, I went out that morning to find her dead.

It broke my heart, it really did. In the days, weeks, and months to come, I'd have a bad day and I'd come home, and go to give her a hug, but she wasn't there. Another chook had a cluck that sounded like hers, and I'd hear it, and my heart would jump, thinking it was her.

It got better over time, but my username for all my social media etc is still Speckletailgir. I still have a framed photo of her in my room, and parts of her in all our chooks we have now. Her cheekiness, her sassiness, but most of all her heart, and I will never forget all she has done for me and my life with chooks.

And although chooks will come, chooks will go, I will move away, I will never forget Speckletail, and her legacy will always live on.
I love you, Speckletail. ❤️