RiP Buttercup, Nugget, Peeps, and Shake N Bake.

by Danielle
(VIRGINIA)

A fox got four of our five beloved hens yesterday. We are heartbroken and will miss them terribly.

They would greet us at the car when we came home and try to follow us into the house looking for extra treats.

Friendly to pet and beautiful to look at, you will all be missed very much!

Little disabled hen

She was my chicken, we had her since she was a chick. But she had an internal leg deformity. She passed yesterday and I was heartbroken.

We knew she might not live as long as the others, but I was never expecting her to die so suddenly. She showed no signs of illness and was only going to be 4 this year.

We spoiled her a lot due to her leg troubles and she was very special to me, almost as much as my Cuckoo Marans.

Sweetest Taco girl

Our sweet hen named Taco passed into chicken heaven today-for no seeming reason.

She was the queen chicken of our little flock of four in our suburban backyard. She loves finding bugs at the base of the bamboo and digging up my flower beds:)

She was only 11 months old and my 2 year old named her ☺️ We will miss her cuteness waddling around.

Sweet Peach

by Cristina
(Boston, MA)

Peachy was my favorite chicken. She was a beautiful Speckled Sussex, only a year and a half old.

No, her egg laying was not good, but her personality more than made up for this. She would chase me around the yard, pecking at my feet, always needing to know what I was doing and hoping I'd overturn a rock so she could eat worms.

If I wasn't paying her enough attention, she'd hop in the air and peck at my rings.

Unfortunately, she was a free spirit and refused to be confined in her run, always finding a way to get through the fence, so it wasn't surprising when she was killed by a hawk.

But still so sad. I loved that chicken.

Lisa Lisa

by Paloozaparty
(Colorado)

She was a bantam brown Leghorn. Beautiful and so sweet. She had 3 sisters and a brother, and four human sisters and their parents, family friends--all caring deeply for her.

We found her dead tonight, when trying to put away our flock. We don't know what happened. I held her for almost an hour while my husband dug a plot in our back yard.

She was still warm but I couldn't find anything wrong with her (no marks, no distressed comb--still all plump red, didn't appear egg bound--she laid an egg even today).

The devastation is so overwhelming--like always, when animals die. Thank you for hosting memorials--it's providing some closure to me right now...

Our beloved Cosmo

by Bonnie
(Scituate, MA)

We had to say good bye to our beloved Plymouth Rock hen Cosmo today. This is my first experience with owning hens and I simply fell in love the minute I received my baby chicks from the hatchery. To my surprise, I ordered only 4 chicks and when I opened the box, I saw five little chirping chicks looking up at me.

Cosmo was the “extra free-bee” hen. She was an adorable little black chick with a white spot on her head as a baby. She grew up to be the beautiful black and white hen with a boss attitude to match.

Cosmo was always first to the treats and to the fresh feed. She always ran over and started knocking the fresh feed out of the bowl the minute she heard it being poured in. It was like a game to her. My daughter and I would laugh so hard. It was just what Cosmo loved to do.

Cosmo had such a long decline. About a month ago I noticed poor Cosmo had a prolapsed vent. I brought her inside and started frantically looking up what I do to help this. I tried it all: baths, ointments, physically pushing her vent back. We eventually brought her to the vet.

After xrays, it was determined she had a lot of inflammation present. Antibiotics, anti inflammatory meds, calcium injection and continued efforts on my part to push poor Cosmos vent back into place 3 times a day.

After about two weeks I was so happy when her vent retracted! But my poor girl never stopped having diarrhea, weight loss and a subsequent enlarged crop. Whatever her internal issue was, I was fearing I could not fix.

Weeks went on, she had perky days and quiet days. Today, though, she lost all perkiness and she could barely stand. I made the decision to re-visit the vet and have my Cosmo go to her final resting place.

My heart is broken and what makes it so hard is that not many people can even begin to understand how a person can actually love a chicken.

So I sit alone, writing here and remembering my beautiful, funny, sweet Cosmo. I pray, most of all, that she has no more pain and has traded her chicken wings for angel wings. We love you Cosmo.

Lucy the Buff Orpington

by Trish
(Pibble Hill NC)

I got Lucy last spring, with her sister Ethel. They were tiny little chicks, and they didn’t know what grass or freedom was. They grew into beautiful hens, laying perfect brown eggs and trying to brood them into their own chicks, which wasn’t going to happen as I don’t have a rooster.

Lucy was a friendly hen, she and Ethel were both very social and enjoyed marching into the house if I left the door open, sitting on the sofa with the dogs, and packing crumbs off the floor.

Anytime I tried to train my dogs in agility, these two would be in the middle of everything, trying to grab dropped treats. I taught them both to hop through a hoop.

This evening, I came home and Lucy was sitting by herself under a bare bush. She was lethargic and didn’t want to walk.

I thought maybe she was egg bound, so I brought her into the house and brought down my soaking tank. Before I could fill it up, she fell on her side, flapped a few times and died right in front of me. She was only one year old, so much life in front of her still.

We didn’t have you long, Lucy, but we will miss you forever.

Pearl the Silkie chicken.

by Debbie
(Clibton ma)

It was cold out. I thought she was cold.

I brought her in the home. Within an hour her wings started flopping and she died instantly. My heart is broken.

Those we have lost

Sadness, wondering why, what could I have done better, wishing for them back.

My disabled ladies who never got a fair chance at life. They improved but then passed suddenly, too soon. I pray they all have a new life full of sunshine and insects, where they can run and fly with the others.

Stephanie and Hawkings, and all the others who died but at least were able to run and jump, I wish you have a good life and that we meet again in time and space, forgive me for losing you who we loved.

Pheonix's story

by Michelle
(Georgia)

Pheonix was as Pheonix-like as a chicken can get, except for one thing - she was so afraid of everything.

Finally her fear came true, she was eaten by a hawk. My other chicken was grabbed and managed to escape. Now she lives with survivor's guilt.

As I said earlier, Pheonix was so much like a Pheonix. Well she looked and flew like one too!

I miss her so much and will always remember that day when she died, Feb 3 2020.

The legend that was La La

by Kelly
(Australia)

On the 3/3/2020 we had to say goodbye to the legend that was Chooky La La, the little bird with a very BIG personality.

It was a year a go she literally walked into our lives and decided to share our home with us.

She was afraid of nothing, boss of everything but friends with everyone. Her antics drove me bat shit crazy while making me smile til my face hurt.

She was a social butterfly that loved hanging out with her humans and we all loved hanging out with her.

I have loved all my chookins, Mrs Chooksworth (December 2018), Chook Chookington (December 2019), and Yolko Uh Oh.

But La La was special, and there will never be another like her

Dear Sweet Josephine

by Mary Monk
(Abita Springs, La,l United States)

Josephine was just shy of three years old. She is the first chicken that I have lost. She was my first favorite hen.

She was different from all of the other chickens. She was sold to me as a Rhode Island Red but she had a lot of orange feathers so I'm not sure.

She was at the bottom of the pecking order and was always small. Because of that I always paid attention to her when I was in the garden or feeding them. I always made sure she got goodies too.

I really think she knew her name. She would often sleep in the nest box. I think she felt safer so I let her stay there when she slept there. I went out of town for my son's graduation from boot camp and on my first morning back home (this morning)...I came out to feed the chickens and found her in the coop where the hens dust bathe.

She was laying on her side with her leg stretched out like they do when they are sun bathing. I was so shocked and upset. I'm still crying as I write this. I miss her so much already!

She was named Josephine after the Fats Domino song "Josephine". It was my mother's favorite song, she passed away when I was very young. The name was very special just like her.

There were no signs of pecking or damage or illness of any kind. None of my family had noticed any out of the norm behavior while I was gone. I immediately thought maybe she would have lived if I had been here. Maybe I would have noticed some subtle change in her behavior. She was still warm and soft when I found her. She must have just passed away.

I am so devastated. I was trying to find some kind of article on mysterious chicken death and hopefully find some answers...when I ran across this page.

It made me feel less alone as I grieved for Sweet Josephine. Thank you for making this little tribute to my sweet girl possible.

Kiki

by Elvia Delgado
(Houston, Texas, USA)

We buy her when she was a baby. She and her sisters where always happy and loved food, actually she was always letting her sister to eat first.

She was very active, I loved to see her feathers around her face. They where puffy and giving her an appearance like she was a boy with a beard. Her face was black and her body was brown and her tail was black.

When she started to give us eggs I was so surprised to see her eggs where blue. It was amazing thing to see.

She always allowed us to carry her in our arms. She was such a cute hen and lovely.

But yesterday my Dad saw her a bit odd , she was just standing near her nest so calm. My Dad touched her then she become almost normal, then he said maybe I'm wrong thinking she is sick.

And just a few minutes ago, I found that she already died. I am so sad to loose Kiki, to me she was more than a simple hen.

I am going to miss her a lot.

Tracey 2015 - 2020

by A W
(Ireland)

Tracey was a phenomenal pal of mine. She ruled the roost but rarely caused any trouble. Full of curiosity and loved to sit on a lap. I'll miss giving her blueberry treats but will think of her every time I eat them! A pal.

In Loving Memory Of Sweet Snowball

by Amanda
(New York)

I have an animal sanctuary. Sweet Snowball, who was a Silkie, I had received as a baby with another, a male, called Christmas.

Snowball grew up in a very happy and precious pen with other friends who were all rescues. However she grew up to be a very small chicken, unusually small.

But she was happy. She had clean water, and plenty of good food including organic veggies.

Snowball appeared healthy. She was running around yesterday - even this morning. I went down to the pen tonight to change their water and tuck them in and Snowball was missing.

I noticed Christmas was by himself. I looked behind one of the tubs on the ground I have for them to play in. There she was, lifeless.

I grabbed her almost in disbelief. You see I took Snowball in as a baby last April while my husband was in a rehab since January when he suffered a traumatic brain injury. So Snowball was special. I took her in at a time where I needed comforting myself.

This death was sudden, shocking, and there was no signs of trauma. Christmas is already looking for her. My heart breaks.

We love you Snowball. You will be deeply missed.

She was so special to me and everyone who got to see videos of her. She made many people laugh and smile while on earth and I am so grateful for the time I had with her.