Lucy is still with us. She’s getting around fairly well and eating lots of snacks. We had to remove her from the flock. She now hangs out during the day on our side of the fence and sleeps at night in a crate stacked on top of Ruby’s crate with babies. We have chicken apartments in our garage.
We had to move her away from the flock, even though she really wanted to stay at first. Rooster (who I am sad to report is getting a little senile) tried to mate with her, causing her to cry and collapse. After the second time, we could see this was going to be an issue, so Lucy moved out and hangs out with us and Ruby and her babies all day now. She has adjusted well and seems to be doing great despite being at her end.
She still seems to have a good quality of life overall. I hope this continues because it has been so great getting to know her again. Lucy is not a people-person and prefers her own people to people-people. She has always blended in with the flock, except for when she raised babies, which she did for several years. I got to know her very well during those years. She was my first mama hen after all. But that was years ago. She’s 9 years old now, and the last time she raised babies, she was 4 years old.
I have been able to spoil her, and it is fantastic. She is eating a lot of strawberries from the raised beds and loves fresh lettuce if I hold it for her to eat. She lets me hold her a bit and comes to me immediately when I walk outside in case I have something delicious. I try to make sure I usually do.
I am going to miss that hen. She marks the end of an era, the last one of my original Rhode Island Reds. Tonight, when I got her fresh food and water and put her in her crate/chicken apartment for the evening, I told her her how much I love her.
I’m pretty sure she knows though. She just has to.
