RIP Cocoa Rocket

It's been some time since my last blog post...our garden is asleep for the winter and now is 4 times the original size!  Before the last frost we (meaning Craig) tilled up a 30ft x 9 ft section of our yard to be another garden.  The smaller original garden will now be for garlic (which we plated in the fall, 60 cloves!) herbs and potatoes for next season!  That's the good news....

The sad news is that we lost one of our hens, Cocoa Rocket, a barred rock...beautiful, vibrant hen...Never in my wildest dreams would I understand how anyone gets attached to chickens...but alas...it has happened. I love my hens. They are a part of my family and get treated as such.  They eat oatmeal, yogurt, fresh greens.....what ever I think they might like to enjoy daily. 

The other day, Craig went out to close up the hen house and noticed that only 3 of our hens were inside their coop. Cocoa Rocket was not in the coop on the perch....he looked and noticed she was under the coop, in the same position she was in early that day.  There was also one egg next to her...her egg. Her first and last egg.  What had happened???

After an hour researching online about what could of happened, I figured that she was egg bound.  She wasn't showing any symptoms of being sick, no worms, no respiratory infections, no bullying from the other hens...no predators can get them..so this was the logical explanation of what had happened to her.  Egg bound is when the hens have an egg, that is lodged inside of them...sometimes it breaks inside them, which as you can imagine is painful and not a nice way to be....she had the egg, clearly couldn't pass it for a while and then when she did, it took her life.

Now mind you, I know this is just a chicken, but if you've never owned them, its hard to understand that anyone can get attached to them. But we did and still are.  It's been hard to understand how this could happen and clearly her sidekick, Skillet, is upset as well. Today she laid an egg outside on the ground, and not in her nesting box, which is not the norm. 

So, today is Christmas and I'm still thinking about my dear Cocoa Rocket...even after my day has been filled with my 3 sons, my job and my friends, she still remains in the back of my mind. 

So, here's to you Cocoa Rocket...you will be missed and will always be our beloved hen.