Lucy

As some of you know, this weekend we lost our pet chicken, Lucy.

We had just come back from a morning errand and breakfast run, and I walked out to the coop to bring Lucy a treat (some leftover fruit and veggies from our breakfast). Since she wasn't out in her run, I called out to her as I approached the coop, to get her to come outside.

"Brrrrr....chick chick chick chick!" "Brrrr....c'mon girl! C'mon down, Lucy, I've got some nice treats for you!"

She didn't come down, and a quick inspection of the coop revealed that she wasn't there. She was simply gone.

So there I was, just holding this bowl and realizing that she was gone, and likely never coming back. I thought about when the last time was that I saw her, and realized that maybe she had flown away (yeah, I could say 'flown the coop') and was hiding in the bushes somewhere. I looked around a bit more as I walked back to the house.

What would I say to my daughter?

What would I say to everyone? I had no thoughts other than I needed to tell my family. I broke it to them as gently as I could and then tried to push on with my day.

We had made plans the night before to finally go to the store and get Lucy some company. The local Tractor Supply store had just gotten some new chicks, and we were thinking about going the next day to pick up a few babies to raise. Now we had to decide - should we get some chicks now, or wait until we've had a chance to mourn?

After some thought, we decided to go get some chicks the following day. The coop would remain empty for a little while (they would be too small to go outside for a few weeks) and it would help us, and the kids, move past this quickly.

That didn't stop me from feeling pretty sad. She was a joy to have around, and I loved looking into her bright eyes and seeing peace. I will miss Lucy, but now we've got Rosie, Jenna and Sunshine to think about and take care of.

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After some searching around the property, we did find a few torn feathers. Based on some books I've read, that usually means an early morning coyote or fox had gotten her, and dragged her away to be eaten. They are most active in the morning. Dogs (like the one that got her sister, Kooky) apparently are more likely to just kill a chicken and leave it; they hunt for sport.

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Part of having a pet chicken is the understanding that many, many creatures (including some humans) find chickens to be an easy, tasty meal. I accept this fact and know that although they *could* live as long as 10 years on their own, the fact that she only lived 2 is not so unusual. That doesn't stop me from being pretty broken up about it, and now every time I look at the coop standing their empty I get sad again.

Rest in peace Lucy.

Janet

Pets in Winter - questions and answers

Sometimes, I get the question 'what happens to your chicken in wintertime'.

Chickens, like many birds that do not migrate, have small feathers that grow in close to the skin, keeping them warm through the winter. Like a blanket they have a layer of warm and cushy air pockets built into each feather. As long as they have a place to roost that's out of the wind, they are warm enough even on the really cold nights when it drops below freezing. Which is really good, since it's supposed to get cold around here this week! Brrrr.

We also chose a very hardy breed to keep, Rhode Island Reds, and they are very cold tolerant. Some other breeds have difficulties in the cold weather with their combs or wattles (the red parts around their faces) getting frostbite. The Reds only have one, fairly short comb, and they can put their heads under their wings if they need to get warm.

We were concerned that the water would freeze, so we bought a heat lamp and a sensor. The lamp gives heat inside the coop, keeping the water from freezing. The sensor makes sure that the lamp only goes on when it drops below 35 degrees F, and then shuts off in warmer temps. We don't want to make it too hot, either!

Here are a few photos of Lucy by the coop in wintertime.

It's hard to get her to come outside when there is snow on the ground (it hurts her toes, I think) but a treat can sometimes encourage her down. Today's treats were two rold gold pretzels. She managed to pick one up in her beak, which I've never seen before (usually she pecks it apart on the ground).

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The coop has survived some pretty bad stormy weather - like blizzards and superstorms. I'm sure it wouldn't survive an actual tornado, but it's a pretty sturdy structure. My husband built the A-frame in our basement from an online photo of a similar coop.

Another question I get is 'once she stops laying, will you eat her?' and the answer is definitely NO. I wouldn't eat her in any case (I chose to stop eating meat many years ago) but to our family, she's a pet, not food. Once she stops laying we'll just keep taking care of her as long as she's alive.

How do you keep your pets warm in winter? Do you let them go outside?

I'm just a girl

If you don't want to read anything negative, stop reading now and go back to one of my other posts. But before you go, here's a picture of some cute fuzzy tiger babies.

I'm Just A Girl

I'm a fan of american football, and I love to watch games and root for my favorite team (the Buffalo Bills, yeah, I know). I realize that I'm not the target audience for most advertisers that use these shows to sell their products. However, it still burns my muffin when I see ads like this one:

Don't you really want a beer, now?  :)

I know that most/all alcohol ads objectify women. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Seriously what does a beer and a woman have in common? The first woman, wearing a brightly colored dress, smiling and laughing,  is being derided for the following traits mentioned in the ad. She's :

friendly
bubbly
(has less) character
(has less) style
less taste (no, wait, I think that last one was just about the beer)
and of course, has blonde hair.

Haven't we had enough of the blonde jokes, folks? Seriously is this the way folks talk about beer to each other?

The fact that both women (actually, all women in the ad) are well-below average weight and well above average height is what I expect from a TV ad. But this ad is laughable, I can almost see Mel Gibson's character from 'What Women Want' writing this ad. I can't find the clip online but it was the bit where he was trying to bluff his way out of a meeting for selling women's products by talking about using a woman showering in the tropics.....

Yeah can I just say ugh.


Any television or movie ads that you've seen that have pushed your buttons the wrong way? What about them?

Cognitive Empathy

According to the video that inspired this blog, cognitive empathy is looking at others and seeing through their eyes. Seeing their "world view, their beliefs, their fears, the experiences that shape how they look at the world and how they look at themselves. "

The Wikipedia page has a few other definitions.

I'm adding my voice to the internet in an effort to view the world through others' eyes. I share with you in the hope that you will share with me, and let me see things as you do.

When I was in grade school a sparrow was hurt in our playground, and some kids were standing around it in a circle. My memory of the day is a bit hazy but I don't think they were teasing it, just not sure what to do with it. I picked it up and, with the help of a teacher, nursed the bird to health. I remember carrying it in a box with a sweater. I remember getting it water to drink. I remember people telling me that it was okay to touch the bird because it wasn't dirty, like a pigeon. I remember it was so light and fragile, and yet, so calm.

I wasn't there the day that my teacher released it. She told me later that the bird flew away quickly, and seemed happy to go.

Often times when I think about the feelings I have about animals I think about that bird, and that day. I definitely felt something toward the bird, but if it wasn't for the help of others and their understanding of why I wanted to help the bird, I wouldn't have been able to do anything to make an impact on it's life.

That's kind of how I think of this blog. The more I know about you, the more easily I can understand and support your decisions, and maybe the more lives I can touch.

Come share the discussion here through the comments, or join us on facebook.

Pets and Animals

We have a pet chicken, her name is Lucy. I've wanted to own chickens for a long time, and about a year ago we took the plunge. She was just a teeny reddish brown chick at first, such a precious little bit of fluff. She also peeped a lot. Here's a photo of Lucy when we first got her, eating out of her food dish.

Here's a link to a video of what reds look like as chicks, so you can see the cuteness and hear the peeps for yourself.

She's got a nice coop and a place to run around in our backyard, here's a picture of her with our other chicken, Kooky.

What I love about having chickens is watching them around the yard. I look out the window and I can see them in their coop or, on some nice days, scratching around the house. They like to scratch and peck at the ground, flap their wings (they can fly short distances, if they need to) and walk. When the leaves are on the ground they push them aside with their beaks and claws to get to the bugs underneath. Watching them do this is funny, you see FLOOF FLOOF the leaves getting tossed in the air and know they are doing their work. Did you know, they eat fly eggs and ticks? When they peck at the ground, their tails move as a balance to the rest of their bodies, which gives their bodies kind of an up-down-up kind of motion.

I love just owning chickens, taking care of them, listening to them coo and cluck, and seeing how happy they are when I give them a treat. It's such a nice, calming, happy feeling.

They are a beautiful breed; we have Rhode Island Reds, which means they have brown feathers with red highlights and white pins. Here's a breed photo so you can see what I mean.

Sad story; a few weeks ago we lost our bigger chicken, Kooky, to a neighborhood dog. The dog was just being a dog, and we don't know which neighbor the dog belongs to. She died pretty quickly but it was still a horrible thing to watch and so sad. I wish I could have stopped the dog, but I know this kind of thing is inevitable. She had a good, happy chicken life, with a nice warm house and plenty of food and drink, and that's comforting.

We've got room in the coop, so we're likely going to get a few more chickens come the springtime. Chickens are social animals, and we know that Lucy is pretty lonely now by herself. Hopefully she makes it through the winter all-right, and then she'll have some more company.

Please tell me about animals that you've connected with.