R.I.P. Chicken Lou

In Memorium

Our dear matriarch of our flock, Louise, has passed away.  I am unsure of the exact cause of her demise.  All I can say is she was treasured during her time here with us and we hated to see her go.  She was one of our original three hens that we brought in a card board box from Fort Worth.  One of my kids' first pets, we named her after a spirited hen in the children's book, "Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken" by Kate DiCamillo & Harry Bliss.  She was a superb egg layer and was the Alpha Hen of our flock.  We will miss her dearly.

***I noticed about 12 days ago that Louise seemed weird, but you know...chickens are weird, and she's a chicken, so I went on about my business.  A few days later I noticed she wasn't jumping up onto the roost in the evening any more.  Instead, she was sleeping in the nesting boxes.  I thought maybe she had gone broody and that's why she was hanging out in the nest so much, but she was only spending her nights there, so that blew my theory.  During the day she would go outside with the other hens.  After a few days of this, I noticed she seemed sort of mis-shapen.  She really didn't even look like the same chicken any more, so I decided I better get a closer look.  I scared the poop out of her when I tried to catch her and it was like clear liquid.  I lifted her wings and realized that she was just a little bag of bones and feathers:(  I could have chopped wood with her breast bone.  I knew then that something was definitely WRONG.  I went to my computer and started trying to diagnose her while watching her out of my kitchen window.  When I saw her just standing there, not eating, not scratching around, eyes glazed over, neck swooning like she could fall over at any moment, I made a difficult decision.  She was suffering and probably had been for days without me knowing.  What if she had some illness that was contagious?  I could lose my entire flock.  It was time to put her out of her misery.

Roger was out of town, but luckily one of the guys who works for the ranch was near, so I asked him to take care of her.  I ordered the hit and didn't ask any questions.  I only requested that he dispose of her in a way that would not cause her to end up back on our front door step for the kids and I to find later.  Our dog, Maisy, brings any dead thing she finds around the ranch and puts it on the front door step, or in the front yard.  The other day, she brought a deer leg into the kitchen!  Now that's COUNTRY!  More country than I can handle!

In half an hour, I got word that the job had been done and I felt a huge wave of relief knowing that Louise was in a much better place and her suffering was over.  I contemplated whether or not to tell the kids how she died (they already knew she was sick). I decided to tell them exactly what happened.  Life sometimes presents difficult decisions and I think they need all the practice they can get with their parent's guidance before they have to someday make those decisions themselves.  That is one of the beautiful things about growing up on a farm and ranch.  There are lots of opportunities to learn life's lessons!  We said a little prayer for Chicken Louise that night and imagined her in Heaven laying golden eggs for God.  The kids were understanding and peaceful throughout the whole experience.

Louise taught us many lessons in her short time with us.  She taught us that it IS possible to haul a chicken in a cardboard box five hours across the state and she'll even lay an egg for you on the way!  She taught us about the social hierarchy of chickens and what happens when another hen gets out of line.  She introduced us to the joy and satisfaction of having your own fresh eggs that, by God's perfect design, are the most complete and nutritious single-item meal you can consume.  And those same eggs, if fertilized, can become fuzzy yellow chicks in 21 days time.  Amazing!  She taught us about the responsibility of owning a pet or farm animal and the joy of watching a chicken just being a chicken.  They are truly entertaining little creatures!  And finally, but most importantly, she taught us about the circle of life and the tough decisions we may encounter along the way.

Rest in peace, sweet Louise.

Chicken's New Digs

Well, we finally made it to the ranch at 8:45 this evening. The chickens ended up having to stay an extra night in our garage because Emerson has had a high fever and needed to see the doctor before we could leave town.  Sounds like she has a virus and it probably has nothing to do with the tubes she just got in her ears.  I hope that is really the case. 

The transfer from the raccoon trap to the cardboard box was seriously tricky.  If Dominica, our housekeeper, who now is also fondly known to me as Dominica the Great Chicken Wrangler, had not have been at our house to help me, Louise, Henrietta, and Clucky would have had to fly to Hunt in the raccoon trap strapped to the roof of my Suburban.  Luckily Dominica is lightening fast and sly as a fox.  I basically dumped them toward her and she snatched them out and stuck them into the box.  Emerson was sitting in her stroller and Harrison was keeping an eye on the lid of the box to make sure no one escaped.  Well...Clucky made a break for it between the trap and the box and flew right over our heads around my garage!  Emerson and Harrison were freaked out, screaming, running, panicked...I was laughing hard and trying to unstrap Em from the stroller so Clucky didn't perch on her head, scarring her for life.  Dominica on the other hand was as cool as a cucumber.  She had Clucky caught and in the box in seconds.  She's good.  Makes me wonder if maybe she, too, has chickens in her garage.  Something to think about.  

Anyway, our sweet hens made the six hour drive with no problems!  Louise even laid an egg in the cardboard box we transported them in.  Good thing she did since I didn't want to add another hour onto our trip by going to the grocery store when I got into town and Harrison was STARVING when we got home later that night.  I was able to cook up Miss Louise's egg for a great late night snack.  He said it was the best egg he ever had!   He really digs this chicken thing.  Here he is below in the chicken coop waiting for me to free the girls from their box.  We put some hay in each of their boxes and filled their feeder and waterer and then set them free.  You'll notice there are no pics of Emerson below.  That's because every one I had of her looked so sad.  She didn't feel good at all, but still managed to squeak out a "chick, chick, chick" every now and then.  Poor, sweet baby girl:(

Harrison and Emerson's pretty head

The nesting boxes Lynda gave us are perfect.

Henrietta

Louise protecting Harrison's late night snack.

Clucky

Harrison, the proud little chicken man wishing the girls a good first night in their new home!  

Scratching around in the sand, eating,  and checking out their new digs!      

Chicken Louise Lays an Egg

We got a BIG surprise today after lunch.  Dylan came running into the house squealing, "Lisa, I think they laid an egg!" We ran outside and sure enough, we had our first egg!  It is big and white and sure to be really tasty.  We named our white, egg laying girl, Louise.  Louise the white Leghorn chicken! 

This is what it's all about!  Turns out that Harrison is a great pet owner.  He is very protective and attentive of his chickys.  He named the black one, Clucky.  Em broke and ran to make it out the door when Harrison would go out to check on them.  She finds them very funny and wants to pet them really bad.  Poor baby had fever all day today, so we delayed our trip so she can see her doctor tomorrow.  I think her ears, which just got tubes, are infected:(  She felt terrible all day, but the chickens cheered her up!

Loiuse stands guard over her perfect egg.

It was such a beautiful afternoon, we took the girls out for some sunshine and tender, green winter grass.

They were very happy and hungry.  We now have Louise the white Leghorn, Clucky the black Austrolorp, and Henrietta the Rhode Island Red AND an egg to eat for breakfast in the morning!  Great day!