Monday, April 8, 2013

Sad News

I knew that this day was coming, and yesterday morning it happened.  Clara died during the night.

Clara turned 10 last month, and from all accounts I've heard, 10 is old for a chicken.  No sign of illness or anything.  She acted perfectly normal the day before.  We buried her under the pine tree, where she always liked to lay in the summer.  Her other favorite spot was on the back step, but we really couldn't bury her under the cement.

I looked through some pictures yesterday, and thought you might enjoy a few.  Unfortunately, I didn't find the one from when she caught the mouse.

Moving into the new chicken coop, 2006.  What this picture doesn't show is that she was trying to get into the coop the entire time we were taking the old one down and moving the new one into place.  It got the Clara seal of appoval!

    Clara and Goldie (long deceased).  Clara would walk right inside the back door if it were open.  It was a running joke for a long time that Clara should have been a dog.  She was a great watch-chicken, and chased a couple of people out of the back yard once.
This was taken in 2010, after the raccoon attack.  She survived the attack but walked around for a few days afterwards almost like she was in shock.  A friend of mine said that had I not been as obnoxious as I was taking care of her, she'd have probably died from being convinced she was going to die. 
OK, so Clara isn't in this picture, but it's still a good one.  How many Rhode Island Reds fit on a garbage can?  Four! 
 
Perching on garbage cans or climbing the fence to get out (thank you, Goldie, for teaching that trick) was not Clara's thing.  She was a good chicken, preferring her back yard (in the fence) to roaming around.  She would let me know when hawks or other predators would come around, and she woke me up a few times during the night, too when oppossoms and raccoons would visit.  Yup, she will be missed, but what a grand life she had!