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| Birchy the Brave |
We lost a young chicken and our rooster Birchy today. A simple mistake of a child not closing a door properly. It was not a beneficial way to start the morning.
We’ve lost chickens before. And we don’t seem to have very good luck keeping roosters. But Birchy was different. We had adopted him from some friends who had nursed him back after he lost all of his hens in a raccoon attack, along with one of his eyes. He was quite a pretty thing too. I remember the day we plopped him down in the middle of all the girls. “Ooooh who are you” They seemed to be clucking and carrying on. Being a bantam he was smaller and having some Cochin in him there were feathers on his feet. And boy could he strut!
I know many people are quite against roosters. They crow. They fly up at you. They mount the hens. Come on these are only natural tendencies. But being in the country, roosters are good to have around. Birchy was a great protector. He watched out for the girls. Would shoo them back inside when he heard the hawks circling. He always sought out the best treats for them and would call and cluckle for them to come and enjoy.
We only found the young chicken. That’s why I feel he went down fighting! Birchy didn’t want what ever got in to get everyone else so he took it on. Outside of the coop. And just never made it back.
So over the past 2+ years that we have been doing this little farm experiment we have had our share of loss. Tally is 5 chickens and one goat. I can’t say that it gets easier. In a way you learn to deal with it quicker. You work through all the emotions faster. You learn from your mistakes but still feel guilty because you weren’t being a good steward of what you were given to watch over.
David and I had to make the girls go in tonight. I don’t blame them for choosing to stay in their outside area. But I just couldn’t stand it if something happend again tonight. On a lighter note it’s hard to catch chickens in the dark.