Thursday, April 16, 2015

Farewell Madam Black

When we moved the chickens over the yard, one of them, a a Jersey Giant, refused to lay her eggs in the new house. Every other day she'd fly over the wire, make her way to the old hen house, lay one, then saunter back. We started to call her Madam Black because she was so proud and independent. For some reason she could never fly back to the hen run. She used to hang around the gate until someone let her back in.


Then she stopped going to the old chicken house. She had a nest somewhere among the hay bales and she'd access it by the scrubby trees behind the shed. We'd have to go in there, catch her and return her to the run. The odd night she stayed in the barn. It wasn't going to end well. She was missing this morning and this is all that was left of her. Foxy and the cubs will have had a very good meal.


Poor Madam Black. I'm going to miss her proud ways. But we won't miss her eggs as we never did find her nest. As the bales come out it will reveal itself and those eggs will be stinking.

To Flickr, on the 16th of April. No interesting photograph today as it was here before. This is the 16th most viewed, clematis florida "Sieboldii". Ain't it pretty? 924 views. I don't think there are any in stock these days.

4 comments:

ganching said...

Vale Madam Black as the Australians say.

Leitrim Sister said...

she was a free spirit indeed

Nelly said...

I like to think of there being Chicken Heaven. After all, isn't HEAVEN an anagram of AVE HEN? She'll be there, pecking and scratching and laying her sneaky eggs where even God can't find them.

Brig said...

Like the idea of Chicken Heaven. I know Maude is there, cause she sends me old hen insights from time to time...