Hello sister, what is wrong with your chicken?

 One of my chickens is acting sick. All hunkered down in the coop. Unfortunately, it is one that I was keeping for my sister who is living in Mexico at the moment. So I shot off an email asking her what could possibly be wrong with the chicken . I had also dug out the issues of my Backyard Poultry magazine cause I remember reading somewhere that eggs can get stuck and not be able to be passed through or sometimes they have problems with their craws etc. etc. etc. But since my sister is a connoisseur of chicken diseases, I thought maybe she would know.

Here's her response to my excited email of "Janet, one of your chickens is sick and I don't know what is wrong. Any ideas?"

Immediately came back her reply, " Is it the older black chicken and not the young black and white chicken? If it is it's called death. She is old and that is what they do just about 24 hours before they die. Any other questions?"

My reply was " Yes, it is the older chicken. YOU THINK SHE IS JUST DYING??? I thought maybe she had a egg stuck or something wrong with her craw or some exotic disease or ......"

My sister..." Joyce, Joyce....what am I going to do with you....Do not overthink the equation....she is old.....she is hunkering down. She is dying. We will all face this process if we live long enough. This time tomorrow when you walk out there, she will be two feet in the air. Pick her up and feed the coyotes on your way to town....aka ...throw her into a ditch as you drive off...just don't do like Edna did (her elderly neighbor) and have the door open, drive through the ditch and fall out of the truck...."

Good golly!!! A dying chicken!!!! I have never heard of a chicken EVER, EVER dying of old age. All our chickens got ate before they died of OLD AGE!!!!


I'll keep you posted....
     Follow up:

Well, the hen in question in my previous post has passed to her final reward in that great chicken yard in the hereafter....or something like that. May she happily cluck away in that place all good chickens go! Shall we bow our heads for a moment of silence in her honor?

And no, for those of you who wonder but don't want to ask. We did not have chicken for dinner that night!! And I didn't ask the boy's Poppy  what kind of funeral he gave her either. Some things are best not known if you know what I mean...

Guess what was on my desk when I arrived at work today????

A little gift bag. And a "thinking of you" card to go with it! And inside it read " Dear Joyce, As you look at these hens, may your remember fond memories of your dear sweet old hen who is now dancing in heaven. Thinking of you (and your old hen). Peggy and Susan "

And look at these adorable dancing chickens!!! There are actually 4 of them but two didn't want to stand up and have their picture taken!!!

Peggy and Susan, you're the best!!! And oh yes, I got the latest issue of the "Backyard Poultry" magazine just so you all would know there really is such a thing for us "chicken lovers" out there.

So, now what kind of chicken shall I buy now to keep the rest of the "little flock" from grieving so much? Hmmmm.....excuse me while I browse through my magazine. I'm shopping......