Elderly Hen - saying goodbye
Our beautiful brown red Pekin hen Selene
has not recovered from her winter moult this spring. Usually her comb shrinks
and loses its red, waxy sheen and she drops weight and energy from around May –
September. Just when we begin to worry
about her, suddenly a spark ignites into a massive production of weight gain
and good health. Her comb doubles in
size, it reddens and glows shiny and new and her dominating behaviours triple as
she brings the flocks into line for the laying season. However this year there was no new life,
there was only the beginning of some seriously concerning signs of ill health. From early October we noticed that Selene
seemed to be unsteady on her feet. She
needed to be lifted out of the sleeping hutch or else she would be the last to
leave and would struggle painfully down the ramp to the ground. I initially removed the roosts from the
sleeping hutch as I found that making her way over these was the biggest
problem in getting up and out in the morning.
However when I found her unable to step down less than 2 inches off a
slightly puffy pillow, I knew she was in real trouble. She also had begun to need regular cleaning
(washing in the laundry trough) of her rear as her droppings were accumulating
there within two days. She could not
preen herself or scratch her face as she was so unsteady on her feet. The Vet found no sign of cancer in her belly and
so we started by treating her sore legs with anti-inflammatories. By the end of that weekend I knew that she
was making no improvement and considering she had not been sick even one day in
the seven years we had her, I knew the signs that our girl was finally
succumbing to her long life. So we
arranged an afternoon appointment for her.
She was so good, so trusting and gentle as
the Vet slipped a gas mask over her little face and we held her close whilst
she succumbed to the anaesthetic. It was
a quiet and graceful end to our beautiful lady.
The other girls cooed over her little body at home and she took her
place next to Rosie, our recently departed Wyandotte under the rose bush in our
back garden.
This leaves us with three hens. Alice our wheaten Pekin, Farrah the black
Silkie and Jewel our oversized, black Pekin bantam. I was always worried that Jewel would go
totally feral if Selene passed away and she was left in charge. The truth is with such a small flock in such
a large pen, that competition is virtually nil, so Jewel has in fact not
bothered to exert herself over either of her hen sisters. So we’ve smoothly moved to a three hen flock
without a hitch. The only problem being
that we hate to see so few girls in our garden, especially as we can not
restock the flock under the current cloud of the ILT virus. It’s been a heck of a year with so much loss
and so much sickness. We thank our lucky
stars for the ladies we have left but I worry every day as to who will be next
and what we will do when we have only
one girl left with no one to give her the company that hens absolutely must
have to ensure their happiness.
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| Selene - October 2013. Seven wonderful years as our top girl. |
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