Yesterday morning, sadly, I had to take one of my chickens, Pepper Potts, to the vet. She went downhill very quickly and the vet said that she had an abdominal mass and that sadly, there was nothing he could do. It was evident that the kindest thing was to put her to sleep and obviously, I was rather upset. I know she was only a chicken but they all have their own little personalities and I still always get quite emotional when they die. I would be a terrible farmer. All the animals that were supposed to be sent to be slaughtered would end up as pets!
Pepper Potts after diving head first into a plate of yoghurt :-)
Anyway, when I got back home, Amelia Pond, my one remaining chicken was looking bewildered and sad and was clearly looking for her friend .... cue more blubbing. Anyway, I decided that I didn't want her to get lonely and that I needed to get her a new friend. Hey presto, through the incredible power of social media, within seconds, and I mean literally seconds, of putting out a request on a well known social networking site and I had offers of chickens from people all over Cornwall.
I decided to go with a lovely lady, who lives very close to me who offered me one of her flock and this morning, I went to pick her up. She's point of lay, so younger than Amelia Pond by about 2 and a half years and I was quite nervous because I had no idea how to introduce them. The lady told me to just put them in the run together so, that's exactly what I did! There was a bit of clucking and chasing around and a few ruffled feathers for about 2 minutes but after that, although they were a bit wary of each other for about 10 minutes, they are now scratching around happily as if they have always known each other. Amazing!
She's apparently a Buff Orpington cross but she's a feisty little thing and judging by the speed she was tearing around the chicken run while the nice farmers wife was trying to catch her for me, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she was part vulture/part Road Runner!
Anyway, meet Katniss Everdeen
She has a sharp expression on her face!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about Pepper Potts :-( x
ReplyDeleteAlways sad to loss one of your girls to illness. So pleased you have found a mate for Amelia. Love chook names, Katniss Everdeen, that's certainly an interesting one....... Hop she has a long and happy life...:)
ReplyDeleteI'm missing your posts and I hope things are going OK for you? May 2016 be a good year for you with Health, Happiness and (why not?) a little Prosperity!
ReplyDeleteMay the rains soon cease and may sunshine spread warmth all around. xx
Hi Rambler, Happy New Year to you too :-) x I will be back blogging again shortly but things have just been so hectic I simply haven't had the time. Now my work hours have calmed down a bit and Christmas and New Year are done with, I will be back on the old "blogosphere" very shortly
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