We experienced an event this week that every parent dreads; the loss of a pet. My ten-year old son was born with a heart of compassion. When he was two and my youngest daughter four we ventured into getting chicks.
The local farm store had the cute, fuzzy little peepers and each child picked out two and we took home 7! Having pets is a lot of work, even at this age children can learn how rewarding it is to take good care of a living creature. Toddlers can hold their little hands out so the chicks can play jumping off and on the hand. The children helped cleaning, feeding and moving the chicks as they grew.
Imagine the wonder that spring when the chicks grown into hens, started making their “I laid an egg!” cackle. We quietly opened the door to the coop and out ran Cluck proudly proclaiming her work of art.
Very carefully, they learned to gather the eggs and keep the nest boxes and coop floor clean.
Time was spent finding worms, bugs and chicken salad. As a result, anytime the children would go outside and play or do chores as soon as the Chicky Girlz heard voices they would run up to the fence!
Cluck really liked people, she would come and hang around hoping for hand outs and let herself be picked up. She would sit on my son’s lap and purr.
I am not a very good farmer, I just can’t bring myself to butcher the Chicky Girlz after two years of production! Some of our Girlz, Cluck included are eight years old and still laying several times a week!
We knew letting them just be that as they age, you never know when they may get ill or not be able to lay any longer.
One morning this week as I let out the Chicky Girlz I noticed that Cluck was walking funny, she went over and ate with the rest and then went over by the coop and just sat there. I knew something was not right. I told my son to get our “time out” cage ready and I was going to get Cluck and see if we could figure out what was wrong.
I picked her up gingerly and noticed it felt like an egg was not passing. I put her down carefully and rushed into the house to check symptoms and treatment options on one of my favorite go to sites:
Unfortunately, it seemed that her illness was life threatening.
We gave her a bath and followed all the recommendations to help her pass the retained egg. Cluck was very sweet and did not seem anxious, even in the bath tub! That was just how she was, very sweet, curious and trusting.
Picking her up tenderly and wrapping her in a towel, we were walking out to put her in the comfy cage we had set up for her to see if our efforts would be successful, she started having a seizure.
My 10-year-old sat down and gently held her and talked to her as she passed away. Tears rolling down his face, he knew she was no longer suffering.
To most, she was Only a chicken. In our family, she had been a friend for over 8 years and will be greatly missed.
Going out to care for the flock this week, I keep thinking I have to look for her. Yesterday, my son whittled and crafted a cross to put on her grave. I told him we could go to the nursery and pick out a tree to plant in her memory.
He cried off and on that night and into the next day, not wanting to eat much and said he was sad.
I consoled him and told him that it was okay to be sad when a friend dies and that it is normal to miss them.
This is the one of the parts of parenting that is hard, the outlook that we share with our children not only helps them learn how to deal with life’s happenings, it can be the beginning of a legacy of love…
We wish to honor the memory of Cluck with this story.
Life on Z Feirme 