Update!!

After the loss of Blackie, everyone in the house felt it even Henrietta. For about a week she kept looking for Blackie, and making cooing sounds. I was told my mother that NO MORE CHICKENS we coming to our house, and I fell in to a deep depression. I stopped going outside and paying any attention to Henrietta, and she went a little bit coo-coo. She then started to come into the house, and look for us to give her attention.

She also stopped laying eggs. No surprise, she had no other hens around to follow their example. Plus it was winter time and the shorter days had begun.

One day (Nov 26th, 2012) I was walking out to the back yard to get something, and I passed the most unusual thing. In the bottom of my daughters stroller was 12 eggs.

Henrietta had not stopped laying eggs, she just stopped laying eggs in her nesting box! She was doing in in the bottom of my jogging stroller basket. Plus with the cold temps, it was keeping her eggs fresh. So I put those in the house did the egg sinking test (they all sunk), put them in the fridge and ate them.

Then she really did stop laying after I folded up the jogging stroller and put it into the shed.

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On Jan 5, 2013 I was told I HAD to get rid of Henrietta, so I took her to a friends house who already had 12ish hens, and that was a VERY sad day for me.

 

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And that's my update on Henrietta, and how I have no flock anymore.

Reflecting on Life

Well, now that Blackie has been dead for a week, it has been anything but quiet around here. Henrietta has been following all of us around, and even coming into the house. I catch her making cooing sounds I think she is looking for the other chickens. I also think she is lonely, so I am in the process of getting more hens to build up our flock.

I had a visitor this evening and she was surprised at my current life style of having a chicken, a garden, canning, dehydrating, and even juicing. What has become my normal, is in a way not the "normal" 32 yr old single mom, (especially what is portrayed on TV). I have always felt older than the average female my age even way back when I was 23 and married, going through life as a married woman, when some of the women I knew were obsessing over the latest celebrity gossip and it felt so petty compared to my life/ marriage struggles.

I also think because I surround myself with online bloggers / Facebook fan pages of farming and chicken families, that I forget that I'm not the average struggling single mom "poor me" mentality. I make due with my situation and make the best of it with a smile on my face. Also between gardening and taking care of my flock, I get a lot of therapy and my garden is progressing well, and even though my flock is down to one, I'm getting through it. Surprisingly well!

Please comment below if you have any thoughts on the matter.

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Plus here are some pics of Henrietta in the house!

Blackie My Rooster

I'm sad to announce that Blackie (my silkie rooster) died this afternoon.

I've been asked to spare the gritty details of how he died. For the record I know why he died, but as for Sunshine and Rainbow I have no idea why they died, or if their deaths were related or not.

So below are some of my favorite pictures of Blackie...


As a young fluffy chick, he was originally named "Valentine" by Ava

We had no idea Blackie would be a rooster, because we went to a chicken farm where they sex their chicks....

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Still fluffy, he enjoyed sitting in my purses and going places

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Sitting in a basket on our way to a chicken play-date.

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The question has already come up about if I will be getting more chickens, and the answer is yes... not sure when but I do plan on getting our flock back up to 5-6 chickens depending on the situtation.

Sad News!

I am sorry to announce that Rainbow (Lavender Silkie) has died this afternoon...

Her cause of death is unknown. I did do a beak to talon inspection and nothing looked to be out of the ordinary. The only thing I know is she had not laid her first egg and she was a little over 6 months old.

I did hear some high pitched squawking the past couple of days, and even today she had what looked like the beginnings of clear liquid, no shell egg. But since Friday she has been distant from the flock, staying in one place for hours at a time...

When I went to see her this afternoon, I turned her upside down to inspect her vent (where the poop & eggs comes out) and then when I turned her right side up, she went into convulsions, fluttered to the ground, and then died.

The commotion caught Henrietta's attention to came over to inspect, then Rainbow's eyes were closed, and there was no more life in her.

I put her in a paper sack, and put her in the garbage can. Then washed my hands, cleaned the coop, gave the flock new water and let everyone know the sad news.

Henrietta!!

She laid her first egg today!!!

Pictures of my flock

it has come to my attention that my pictures of my flock does not do them justice. So I was reading online on, "How to take pictures of your flock" and got a few pointers.
Such as:


Get on their level, lay or sit on the ground.

Give them treats, this gives them something to do, and it brings them closer to me, because I am giving them food, making it easier to get the right shot.

Give it time.

So here are some better pictures of my flock.