Well, today started off a little sad.... Aeon passed away. She had been here since January 2012 when she was saved from the highway after falling off a chicken truck. I had the day off already because I was out of town until late last night/ early this morning - and I am sooooo glad I was able to have a later start at the farm or I may not have even noticed Aeon was feeling bad..... If you have been following my Instagram at all, you probably already know I recently had been working with her and trying to get her to be able to walk up the ramp into the coop - all by herself. Well, she had been making great progress...but then this morning, she did not appear to be feeling well..... she didn't even want to come out of the coop. I went in and got her and took her to the barn thinking that I would just let her hang out in the barn today....then I saw that she really didn't feel well at all. I knew that it was very possible that my goofy girl might not make it very much longer. She was breathing funny and shivering. I put Baby in the car and then put Aeon on my lap to take her to the house and see if I could make her feel better. She stopped shivering and seemed to be going to sleep, but then just arched her back and ... just... died. She has always been a very heavy, wheezing breather due to her massive everything (heart, lungs, etc) from how these chickens are produced. She made loud barking noises every night when she would eat, but she was happy. Here are a few pics from her very first days at the farm. She was only six weeks old in these...
I love Baby's ears in the pic below.... the wind was whipping my hair and her ears big time!
So sad for Aeon, her passing. She sure was a cutie! Makes me smile to see how beautiful she was, how much she was loved and to know her life went on the be much better than what was planned for her in the beginning. You did good by her, all the way to the end. I know she'll be dearly missed. <3
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debbie! She brought me much laughter and was definitely a one-of-a-kind gal. When I first got her, it was difficult because even though she was the size of my older chickens, I had to keep her away from them because she chirped like a baby chick - because she WAS one. After a few months of her growing, I introduced her to the rest of the flock and she would play during the day with them, but she slept in the barn with the goats at night just because I was afraid the others might mess with her being a newbie and all... after a few more months, when she was the biggest chicken out there, I started letting her roost with the rest of the girls. At first she could make it up the ramp, but then she got bigger and bigger and would fall over a lot when attempting to go up, so that's when I started just putting her up every night. Recently, I had been putting her on the ramp and calming her down (her uncertainty would turn into anxiety and she'd start freaking out and fall over) and the last few weeks she had been going in the coop herself after I coaxed her up the ramp with some calming petting and encouraging words ;) I will miss her - last night was the first night of just closing the door on the coop without having to help her in. She taught me a lot of patience!
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