RIP Coriander Hen

Coriander Hen died :-(

She had been poorly  since Sat, and had been living inside in a cosy box in our kitchen. She seemed to have improved a lot yesterday and I was quite hopeful she would recover. But then she died this morning.

I am very sad :-( But I am mainly sad because I thought I had managed to get her well again, only to have her die, which is the really sad bit - after all she would have been dead 2 years ago if I had not got hold of her
f rom the free range egg farm.

She was an ex commercial ginger hybrid hen who, because I took her on, had nearly 2 more years of a good life, so really it is not too sad that her life has finally come to a natural end iyswim

She was not an ex battery hen, no...but an ex commercial free range hen ( oh yes, THEY need the same rescue plan as well as ex battery hens - they get killed at 12 -18 months as well...but sadly are often overlooked because of the even worse plight of their ex battery hen sisters.) 

And actually ex free range hens don't neccessarily have that much better a life! OK they are not imprisoned in an A4 sized cage, but still can have had a very limited life and indeed Coriander was in a terrible state when we got her.

But...what a 2 years of extra life she got! Living with us,  in a wood, life of riley ( who WAS he?) , petted, loved and pampered....chasing cats and squirrels, dust bathing, raids into the house, raids into the veg patch - what a great life...

She has been buried on the edge of the wood in a place she used to like to dustbathe.

RIP Coriander hen - much missed, never forgotten

Poor Coriander Hen

Coriander hen is an ex commercial flock rescue hen I have looked after for nearly two years now - she came to us at the end of her "productive" commercial life, aged about 18 months old.

She has been a very robustly heathly, delightful companion hen, a good egg layer and ( as often with generic
"ginger" commercial hybrids) a real character and a very sweet personality.

She has been seriously moulty for the last 5 weeks or so, and resistant to being picked up or checked over, but I have managed to catch her a few times and check she was ok .

However this morning when Compostman went to let the hens out into the wood, she was obviously not ok - she could hardly walk and was very slow on her feet.

He brought her in to me ( the fact he could catch her shows how poorly she was as she previously has only ever let me catch her!) and when I examined her she had a very distended abdomen and was very thin and also very cold.

I gave her a warm bath with lavender essential oil added - to help ease any egg bound issues -  and then put her in a box in the kitchen with cat food, water and a comfy dark straw nest to settle down int at one end of the box. She has eaten a little and drunk a little but has not passed an egg (  I hoped the warm water would stimulate this as it has worked in the past with other hens) or done the huge poo I hoped to see ( from previous experience this sometimes is also the problem!)

I fear she has egg peritonitis or a tumour, which every other commercial " ginger" hybrid I have owned has eventually died from     :-(

At the moment she is asleep in her comfy box, in the kitchen, but it is not a natural looking sleep and from her general demeanor I fear she will slip quietly into a deeper, terminal sleep in the night. But she might recover and, as she seems in no distress, I am prepared to leave her overnight to see what will happen.

I have gentled her and stroked her and told her what a very good hen she is - and she crooned a little at me and nibbled my finger.

I will leave her tonight and if she is still in the same state tomorrow morning I will (very sadly and regretfully) of course kill her quickly and painlessly.

I HATE this aspect of keeping livestock  - BUT if I want to keep animals I have to accept the responsibility of ending their lives "when it is time". That means if they are ill, injured OR ready to be killed for eating.

Doesn't mean I have to like doing it, though!

And I think, if I ever get to the point where I no longer feel sad enough to care about doing it - that is the point I should give up keeping livestock.

(Oh and from bitter experience I know the vet can't help her - I have now seen enough of these hens (sadly) to know that they will either pass an egg or die very quickly - and the vet is not available until Mon. If she is ok until Mon I will take her to the vet  :-)

One Big Chore for Sunday

Today my OBC was to continue to clear out the Polytunnel and clean up posts, trays etc ready for the new growing season.

I had, as always, feathery lady help! This is Coriander she is an ex commercial flock hen and is always very interested in what I am up to and keen to peck around!

Here are Queenie and Nutmeg, both have recently undergone a full moult and all their feathers fell out. What a daft time of year to do so! They now look splendid in their new clothes though.

Here is Vanilla Cream Legbar, looking very smart indeed.

All the hens are on the alert in these pictures because I was also being "helped" by Cassiopea Cat.

For some reason the hens are very bothered by her presence; I wonder if they think she is a Mink?

Cassi investigating the hutch where Peter Rabbit and Crystal  live.