I hope this is the proper category for this particular topic.
I have read a chicken could live up to 20 years in pristine conditions.
Never would have believed it. Sounds a little absurd.
Anyway, death and disease on a farm will desensitize you after awhile. You still have a small emotional attachment but the element of surprise diminishes. Especially from breeding swine and goats as well as poultry.
We have a designated graveyard for the less fortunate needless to say.
Family Pets are marked graves as well as or favorite animals we have taking a shining too!
WE LOST our LAST GREEN BAND HEN today.. The last of a legacy.
We have used tiny cable ties on all of our birds for about 15 years now. Colors are indicated on a chart for age, breeding, introduction, medicated etc.
Green Bands were the first color we started using 15 years ago.
She was a healthy, sturdy and beautiful full feathered Barred Rock. She became slow and isolated from the flock lately. Almost like a granny sitting on the front porch watching the grandkids play.
She was over a year old when we put the first green band on her right leg.
I buried her this morning in one of my old and worn out 4-H T-shirts dated back to the days we started with poultry.
Others when they pass I can usually handle it. This one watered my eyes.
She was never named all those years but we marked her grave "Green Girl". RIP.
One of the few chickens graves marked.
We always buy the cable ties in multi color packs. So we have a million green ties unused.
Green will now be used for another color code. An end of a legacy and a farewell to an era!
FC
I have read a chicken could live up to 20 years in pristine conditions.
Never would have believed it. Sounds a little absurd.
Anyway, death and disease on a farm will desensitize you after awhile. You still have a small emotional attachment but the element of surprise diminishes. Especially from breeding swine and goats as well as poultry.
We have a designated graveyard for the less fortunate needless to say.
Family Pets are marked graves as well as or favorite animals we have taking a shining too!
WE LOST our LAST GREEN BAND HEN today.. The last of a legacy.
We have used tiny cable ties on all of our birds for about 15 years now. Colors are indicated on a chart for age, breeding, introduction, medicated etc.
Green Bands were the first color we started using 15 years ago.
She was a healthy, sturdy and beautiful full feathered Barred Rock. She became slow and isolated from the flock lately. Almost like a granny sitting on the front porch watching the grandkids play.
She was over a year old when we put the first green band on her right leg.
I buried her this morning in one of my old and worn out 4-H T-shirts dated back to the days we started with poultry.
Others when they pass I can usually handle it. This one watered my eyes.
She was never named all those years but we marked her grave "Green Girl". RIP.
One of the few chickens graves marked.
We always buy the cable ties in multi color packs. So we have a million green ties unused.
Green will now be used for another color code. An end of a legacy and a farewell to an era!
FC
I recently lost my oldest hen, a Belgian Booted Bantam, who was nine or ten years old. She was doing well until recently, and needed to be 'euthed' here. Fifteen is a very old age, good for your girl! Mary
