Our white hen, one of the first and perhaps the most imperious hens, disappeared this week. We haven’t seen her for several days. She was 11 years old and getting wobbly and confused, so we assume she went off into the pasture to die in peace. Cats do that, and so do other animals.
There were no signs of an attack or a predator – we stopped naming our hands because hawks got many of them – and we knew she wouldn’t last much longer. Eleven years is a long time for a hen, even an imperious one. As I often write, the farm is a wonderful place. Life on a farm mixes life and death in ways that are hidden from most people, but it is vivid here.
It is excellent to watch chickens march around a farm and pick off worms and bugs. White Hen had 11 excellent years. The chickens are lucky to have Maria feeding them gourmet food at least once daily. She also sings songs to them most mornings. I’ll miss the White Hen and Maria meeting on the grass to share food.
White Hen was a fantastic hen, industrious, vocal, independent, and courteous. Maria fed her out of her hand. I don’t cry for hens or mourn them; they are too detached to attach to. But I admire them and loved seeing White Hen huff around the farm, pose for good photos, and cluck a bit when annoyed or frightened. She wasn’t happy when Zip showed up to raid her roost, but they got over it. We will miss her. Maria is thinking about another hen or two, so I’ll leave it to her.
Photo By Maria
Oh, RIP White Hen! Sorry to hear this but she did live a good, long and happy life…No animal could ask for more than to be a part of Bedlam Farm……. White Hen will be missed….but celebrated for her good life, not mourned
Susan M
Sorry to hear that, but I do love the photo of her. 0ne of yours, I assume. Love your work.
Thanks it was Maria’s Photo
So sorry to hear about White Hen. Here we do mourn the loss of our hens; we’ve had several that would jump up into our laps and croon to us. Others would get visually happy when we’d get home from work and come hang around us. The loss of any, detached or not, is painful.
Sorry about White hen.. 11 is a very respectable age for a chicken. I had lots of hens over the years and some had names due to their personality. Rooster too. While roosters often turn mean but I had a few that were very friendly and protected his girls and broke up fights amongst his ladies. I miss seeing them walk around looking for worms and bugs..AND I sorely miss those fresh eggs.
Sorry to learn of White Hen’s apparent passing. I shall miss the photos of the three of them in their roost.
We still have two many more photos