CHANGE

Continued from the previous post: CHICKENS AND A TERRIER 


Hatsy.

She was our little dynamo.

Curious, energetic.
She was the undisputed and beloved leader.

Hatsy was quite the adventurer.

She was.......flexible.
(I love this picture.)

She was Lucy's dear, dear friend.


I'm so sad still.


Sad because to observe their beautiful friendship was to understand that we're really all the same.


I will miss witnessing the support and compassion these two showed each other.


Hatsy had suffered on and off from some sort of illness for several months, but she'd always perked right back up. I wrote about her symptoms in the post, MEET THE GIRLS: HATSY.
But this time Hatsy had been sick for a week, and I felt that she might be on her way  out. The morning before she died, Hatsy stood in the corner of the coop, face toward the wall.


I was watching the flock from the kitchen window, and noticed that something was different.  
Lucy and Lil'White stood close to Hatsy.  Roosterman in his little cage outside the coop was just standing too.  He didn't crow or strut. Lucy and Lil'White weren't scratching around, weren't doing anything.


The flock knew.   
This little vigil lasted an hour or two.   
Then they left Hatsy alone and resumed their business, quietly scratching around, looking for bits of corn...


Hatsy died the next day.  


I wrapped her beautiful little body in a blue and white dishtowel.  Lucy and Lil'White helped me bury her.
...well, I dug the hole while they ate the worms.    They showed no sentiment, didn't stop to look at Hatsy's body wrapped in its little shroud.   Lucy and Lil'White had already paid their respects the day before.  When they'd enjoyed the last worm at the graveside, they moved on.  


The next morning I moved on too.  


Two hens do not make a flock.  The girls needed a third.  And I needed to stop crying.
I hopped into the car and drove off in search of a hen.  
Returned an hour later with a little box tied shut with twine.  

Next blog entry: PIGEON THE CHICKEN