Farewell to Henrietta

 

Last Monday morning, I found Henrietta had passed away.  Her symptoms started as lack of balance. She walked like she was drunk.  She still had plenty of energy and the rest of per personality was normal.  I saw no other symptoms.  No runny nose, sneezing or irregular droopings.  The last week she began being listless and her comb became quite dark.  I separated her from the other girls and gave her food and water with antibiotic in it but she passed within two days.

Hen was a white leghorn.  She was flighty and didn't like to be held but would still eat from my hand.  She was a prolific layer as other leghorns are.  We had her for many years.  Because of the personality, I am not sure I would get another leghorn.  There are others I would like to have.

Henrietta would often jump up on the railing to our back stairs when she would hear us in the kitchen hoping to see what was going on inside. 

 

Resources

For anyone who is looking for information on what breeds of chickens to get, look to the right under RESOURCES and look for "Henderson's Handy Dandy Chicken Chart".  This is a great resource that lists over 60 breeds alphabetically and tells you information like egg size, quantity, weather hardiness, and behavior.  It also has links to give you more information.

The direct link is http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html  For 12 years this information was available from Ithaca college.  They have decided to let someone else act as repository and maintainer of this info and so it is now at the link above.

Community Meeting at Brigham City Library

I was excited to find out that there would be a backyard chicken class held at the Brigham City library this week.  I went tonight and was even happier to see a full room and my friend Dan Fox teaching the class!

Dan gave lots of great information from brooding chicks to harvesting meat and everything in between.  Dan knows his stuff and his information is very reliable and shows not only the book smarts but real world experience.  Some things you just don't learn until you go through them!

I was excited to see so many people interested in having their own chickens.  The benefits are plentiful.  From delicious eggs to companionship of a great pet, chickens can't be beat.  Obviously, I am partial and their are drawbacks at times.  It can be a low cost, low work experience and you can find out if this is for you.

This is the time of year when chicks are easy to come by at South Fork Hardware, IFA, Bear River Valley Coop or other places.  Just do some research ahead of time to know how to take care of the chicks...they are a bit more work when they are young.  But there is plenty of resources available.

Now, if you are reading this blog, don't hesitate to leave comments.   If we chat about our experiences we can learn from each other!  This blog has a corresponding Facebook page...some people enjoy communicating that way so if you do, head on over to Facebook and look up BrighamCityChickens and I'll add you.  The direct link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/brighamcitychickens/.

I recently acquired three additional hens.  Someone who is part of the Facebook group needed to get rid of them.  I knew there would be some transitional stress as the new girls were assimilated into my existing flock.  What I anticipates was that the three younger (pullets) would be picked on and at the bottom of the pecking order by the existing older flock.  Boy, that was not the case.  They came in like they were in charge and were pushing the other hens around.  I was shocked.  It took a month or two  but things have settled, no one is picked on anymore...at least not in excess.  I just needed to provide some supervision initially to make sure no one got hurt.