RIp little hen. You had a great life.

[LadyA]

Seems like one of my girls just went to sleep, all cosy and tucked up in the "nest" she made for herself every night, on the floor in a corner of the henhouse (she took to floor sleeping during the heatwave, away from the others, and never broke the habit) and just never woke up. She was fine last evening, running around, making sure she got her share of the evening corn. So, she had lived a very healthy, happy life, and died a peaceful death. Who could ask for more?

 

[Tweetypie]

Ahhh, RIP. Best way to go, snuggled up and cosy. No suffering. ?

 

[LadyA]

Ahhh, RIP. Best way to go, snuggled up and cosy. No suffering. ?

Indeed. In all the years I've kept chickens, this is only the second time a hen has just died a natural death! All the rest have had to be culled because of illness (often peritonitis as they got older) or, one time, some sort of hemorrhage. This batch of hens are two years old now, so problems are almost inevitable from now on.

 

[valeriebutterley]

So sorry, Lady A.

A nice way to go though, was she a hybrid?

All of my girls, apart from my growers for next year, are between 2 and 6 years. My Pekins must be now well over 6, although my Pekin babies from
last year fell like flies at about three months, absolute little beauties no sign of illness, no warning and then dead on the cage floor.

 

[LadyA]

So sorry, Lady A.

A nice way to go though, was she a hybrid?

All of my girls, apart from my growers for next year, are between 2 and 6 years. My Pekins must be now well over 6, although my Pekin babies from
last year fell like flies at about three months, absolute little beauties no sign of illness, no warning and then dead on the cage floor.

Yes. I've only ever kept hybrids, although I had some speckledys and one cuckoo maran at one stage. The oldest one of the hybrids lived to about 2 1/2 to 3 I think. But they generally started having problems, one after the other, from around 2 1/2, if they hadn't before then. One of the speckledys lived to be 5 1/2.

I've said from when I got this batch that I was going to have an "all in/all out" policy, and that this lot were going to be despatched at the end of this year. But, they have remained healthy and are laying fairly well (2 or 3 eggs each day from the 4 who were laying,which is great for their age and time of year), so I've been putting it off. But I do want to have a break, get the house and run thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and give the ground a chance for a break, before putting new hens in there.

 

[Marigold]

2 or 3 eggs each day is spectacular from middle aged hens, I would hang on to them!

 

[bigyetiman]

Sorry to hear that, but it's a nice way to go rather than the usual dispatching methods we have to use.
We lost a big hybrid Light Sussex on Saturday, a real diva, always kept herself spotless, hated rain and any sort of mud , fine in the morning and then went into the smaller coop and dies as quietly and serenely as she lived her life, at 5 and a half years old you cant ask for any more.
Our stroppy Bluebell, Misty, aka Darth Vader is now 6

 

[LadyA]

Sorry to hear that, but it's a nice way to go rather than the usual dispatching methods we have to use.
We lost a big hybrid Light Sussex on Saturday, a real diva, always kept herself spotless, hated rain and any sort of mud , fine in the morning and then went into the smaller coop and dies as quietly and serenely as she lived her life, at 5 and a half years old you cant ask for any more.
Our stroppy Bluebell, Misty, aka Darth Vader is now 6

It's the little brown girls I have. I've found they aren't generally long lived. You'll get an odd one that will defy the odds, usually one that stopped laying early, and goes on living for a few years. The one that died actually felt a decent weight, for a hybrid. I'm actually not sure if the one that died was the one that had stopped laying recently when moulting. She was fully feathered again, whichever one it was! There's just one, the boss hen, which is a slightly darker colour, and I know she's moulting at the moment, and she's always looked slightly thinner than the others anyway. So, I suppose I'll know in a few days whether the one that died was still laying or not.

 

[LadyA]

2 or 3 eggs each day is spectacular from middle aged hens, I would hang on to them!

That's why they're still here! And the fact that this batch have had absolutely no health issues at all, so far! Usually, by this age, I'm starting to see soft shells, or thin shells, or evidence of peritonitis in at least one, or at the very least, eggs would be a rarity!

 

[Marigold]

I thought you meant two or three a day EACH!

 

[bigyetiman]

Same here LadyA our little brown Rhode island white tails don't have a long life either.

 

[LadyA]

I thought you meant two or three a day EACH!

:lol: :lol: Never known a hen lay two or three eggs in one day! No, two to three eggs between them. It's still not bad, considering it's so very dark here these days, and dark as night by about 4.30, and given the hens' age.