Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Anya the hen is no more

Jeff just found Anya, our favorite laying hen, in the bottom of the chicken coop dead. There were no signs of trauma. We're not sure what happened. She seemed fine yesterday, so her death is quite a shock.
Anya (May 1, 2010 - May 29, 2013)
Anya was actually our biggest troublemaker because she was always trying to get out of the yard and find a better place to lay her eggs or look for better greenery to munch on, but she was also the most attached to Jeff and she would follow him around the backyard. It was always cute to see her running when Jeff called them for their daily scratch.

It's a sad day here and a day of fond remembrances.

Here is her story.
Anya getting her first wing clip
Our girls, on their first day with us
Where is Anya hiding?
Anya, in the foreground, Willow behind

Time for a sun bath
Striking a pose
Anya, all grown up
Ready, set, ...
When they were babies, they used to sleep together
even though there were two nest boxes and a perch
Anya was always trying to hide her eggs in the yard
But we would eventually find them
The girls work hard to keep weeds and bugs down
She loved to scratch through the leaf pile during the winter
Going deep under cover, leading the charge
Trying out an impromptu nest box
Strutting for the camera at a photo shoot
Taking a dust bath
Anya liked to keep us company and find ways to "help"
Anya's molt in Oct 2011
Snow day!
Hello?  Let us in. It's cold out here
So long, and thanks for all the scratch

9 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear this. What a terrible shock.

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  2. I don't know how I missed that you have chickens. She was a beautiful bird! I especially like the leaf pile picture. I'm so sorry she's gone.

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  3. I am so sorry!
    I lost 3 of my hens this past winter to hawks. I know how terrible it is to lose one!

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  4. So sorry to hear this. I know how much you enjoy your chickens.

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  5. So what can be done to find out why? Do they have chicken doctors that can do an autopsy? Would that even be affordable? Terrible to have your favorite laying chicken fine one day, and the next, poof!

    Kate H.
    www.sowsearhouse.blogspot.com

    PS: Didn't there used to be a name/URL option in the "Comment as" drop down?

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    1. I turned off anonymous comments because I was so tired of deleting spammy comments trying to embed links in comments. I didn't realize it would affect my regular followers. I can turn them back on.

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  6. I'm so sorry you lost Anya. She was a beautiful hen, and such a character. It's hard to lose our animal friends. Hugs.

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