In a change from the scheduled post I bring sad news that ‘Thing Two’ has died.
Now the serious chicken keepers may pour scorn on such sentimentality; but I have to admit I was rather fond of the old bird. She has been living out a comfortable retirement from egg production, getting a bit slower and detached from the rest of the flock as the weeks passed, but never the less she seemed to be happy. I had been making sure she got her fair share of food, chickens can be ruthless about ‘pecking orders’ and getting the biggest share of the nosh.
I miss her about the place, she had taken to spending her day near the house, in the herb bed, basking in the sun by the rosemary bush if the weather was fair or seeking shelter under a conifer if it rained. I think Moss the dog misses her, Thing Two’s favourite position was just out of the reach of Moss, but not out of her sight, it drove Moss mad that she couldn’t get past the gate to round her up, Thing Two was indifferent to Moss’s frantic barking, however I don’t think the neighbours will miss Moss barking so much.
Thing Two failed to turn up at the hen house at dusk on Wednesday night, I searched around for her but couldn’t find her I thought she must have ben picked off by a fox, but eventually I found her on Thursday, down by the compost heap, it seems to have been a case of death by ‘natural causes’ rather than the fox, I am relieved about that, and very relived that she hadn’t got to the stage where she became ill rather than old and we had to humanely kill her.
