Thursday 1 September 2016

Farewell Sally!

Some of my readers who have been reading this blog for a few months or so would have heard about Sally the chook whose antics have entertained me since she came to live here just after Christmas last year. She was at the top of the pecking order in her previous home and upset my friend so much that she asked us to take her as she didn't have room to separate her from the other chooks. Of course when she arrived here she wasn't taken to kindly by our chooks who started pecking her in turn so we had to remove her from the others and she became my little pet in a way.


 For a few days I haven't been able to find her eggs and had started writing a little story for my grandchildren about Sally tricking me by laying her eggs in yet another new place and had taken photos for the story.




Sally was able to free range during the day so sometimes I felt silly when I would follow her on tippy toe trying to find her latest nest and hope that she wouldn't see me. First she laid her eggs in her coop. Then we found eggs under the lemon grass bush.




All of a sudden I found an empty nest under the bush and after a few days realised she was laying her eggs elsewhere. So once again I did the tippy toe procedure and saw her go in amongst the cliveas which were growing underneath the camellia tree. I couldn't even imagine how she could get in there as it was really hard to access but she managed it and for a few weeks the neighbours would have wondered what on earth I was doing when they saw my bottom in the air as I struggled to get under the tree and through the cliveas to pick up her eggs...mumbling all the time I might add!



So I really didn't take too much notice when I hadn't found any eggs there since Monday but did take notice when I went to let her out of her coop yesterday and she didn't fly out as she normally did but was obviously having difficulty getting out which was quite odd and out of character. Then she wouldn't eat and just stood in one spot for quite a while which I found very worrying. I asked the CEO if he knew what was wrong and he wondered if she had worms. I had read a little about chooks being egg bound and how dangerous it was but really didn't twig at that stage that she may have had that problem. 

I had to go out in the morning and when I came home she had rallied and I was relieved when she started following me around the garden and scoffing down worms when I lifted up a pot plant which had become our routine the last couple of days. However, when it came time for her to go into her coop for the night she did something she has never done before and she went to her nest under the camellia tree as it got dark. I knew then that something was seriously wrong.




I wondered if she had something wrong internally as she had produced this strange egg a few months ago and did a little reading about the symptoms of an egg bound chook on a few sites including Egg Binding in Hens on Backyard Chickens and she did have a couple of those symptoms but not all. The CEO picked her up after dark and put her in her coop and this morning I hoped that all would be well once again and she would fly out as usual when I let her out.

 Unfortunately she didn't make it till the morning and I felt so very sad that we had lost her. 

I know she was just a chook but she used to follow me around the yard like a little puppy. The other chooks used to peck her when they were let out and wouldn't let her join them so I felt a little sorry for her even though I realised she could quite possibly have done the same thing to them and I didn't know how she would ever be able to integrate with them until the CEO got the 'I will do it one day' bigger chicken coop built. My grandchildren don't know at this stage but I will still finish off the story I started writing for them as I fondly remember the fun Sally brought into my daily life...even if she was just a chook. I can't believe I got so attached. I think I need to get a life....or a dog!

If you have had an egg bound hen I would really like to know what symptoms yours had if you wouldn't mind sharing. Were you able to save yours?


26 comments:

  1. awww..I feel so sad for you. I love my girls , they are my first experience with chooks and we hatched them from an incubator so they are really our pets so I am not looking forward to losing any of them. The only problems we have had is Gertie is constantly broody and a real pain!

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    1. Meg, I never thought I would get attached to a chook but I really miss her antics.

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  2. Oh Chel, I'm so sorry to hear about your little chook. We too have a chook that stands out to us so far as friendliness. The boys adore her and her them. I think they do have personalities and a chook is as much of a pet as anything. Take care chel, sending lots of love. xx

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    1. Emma, of course we know dying is part of life but it is never easy is it?

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  3. That's so sad! I'm sorry for you. The older I get the more emotional I get over these things. We are getting ready to sell out here. It's been a rough year for these type of things and I am done.!

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    1. Monica, perhaps the feeling of loss has something to do with getting older as you say.

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  4. No funnies today, i feel quite sad. RIP Sally.

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  5. Sorry to hear this Chel, I feel we have one going the same way. Hopefully I can get hold of her today and have a good look at her. I agree with you, chookies do provide such entertainment around the place.

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    1. I did read that you can try and remove the egg but it sounded too difficult to do it without breaking the egg and doing further harm, Barb. I hope your chook fares better than Sally.

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  6. Sorry to hear of poor little Sally's demise, chickens do provide great entertainment & they all have different personalities. Sometimes when I have a really stressful day at work, I'll take a chair into the chicken run when I get home & just sit & watch them for a while until I feel calmer.

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    1. Karen, I guess I felt sorry for her because she just didn't fit in and also feel a bit silly for becoming so attached. I do miss her following me around though.

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  7. Read a blog, The art of doing stuff. Karen keeps chickens and has written about all the problems and joys she has with them.

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  8. Sorry to hear of the loss of your Sally. It is funny how attached we can get to an animal who touches our hearts! I know it is the 'circle of life' but I find myself more likely to tear up than I used to as well!

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    1. Thanks Kathy. Perhaps we get more emotional as we get older for some reason.

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  9. I think I just felt my heart break just a bit reading this. That 3rd picture of Sally is a great one.....so quintessentially chooky.

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    1. She was quite a character, Mr.HM. At least she didn't go missing like one of yours :-)

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  10. Sorry to hear about Sally, its really hard to loose a friend (regardless of the external packaging they come in). Take care, Guida.

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  11. Oh Chel, so sorry about Sally. I felt just the same when I had my girls at Palmwoods, and lost one to a dog attack. The older I get, the harder it is for me to cope with animal loss and suffering...I can't watch anything on television that deals with this topic. I try and enjoy my Smudge every day as he is 13 and a half now, which is old for a corgi. Maybe in a little while you can think about another hen or even two.

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    1. Hutchy, I won't let myself get attached to any of the other chooks after this. Yes, enjoy your Smudge while you have him.

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  12. I'm sorry for you Chel. Sally looked to be a white Leghorn, and a real character to boot. I know you will miss seeing her around the yard. I have no advice about egg bound chooks, but I find it's so hard to tell, as there are several different ailments which share similar symptoms.

    She is probably buried, but I always check for ticks on a deceased bird now, especially as the warmer weather approaches. I've had a tractor full of chickens taken out by ticks before, and didn't even realise it. They just seemed to wane over a few days and then fell asleep, one by one. When one chicken survived, I knew it couldn't be viral. She was the only one who didn't free range with the rest, down to the lower gully.

    While I didn't check for ticks then, my daughter said she saw bumps over her favourite rooster when she was hoping to nurse him back to health. Then I heard the neighbours lost their goats, by suddenly dying the same way. They also free ranged down in the gully. We had a lot of rain that summer.

    Anyway, it's always a mystery with chickens. I'm sorry I can't offer any more advice. Take care. :)

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    1. Chris, we have never had ticks here so I don't think that was the problem. She was sick just for one day but I have read that if a chook is eggbound they can deteriorate very quickly. I guess we will never know if that was the problem.

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  13. I know it's a bit late, but I was doing some internet research, and may have found an answer to why Sally had a misshapen egg.

    See here: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html

    You need to scroll down a bit to see the one which applies to Sally's egg.

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  14. Thanks Chris. The egg certainly looks the same as Sally's did. I just wish I knew exactly what the problem was and whether it could be avoided in the future with other chooks.

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