Farewell

It is with sadness that I must report that my pet chicken Wanda One-Eye has passed away. As we all know, she was very old. And though I will miss her dearly, I am glad that her life ended in comfort and warmth with no pain.

Her decline began a few weeks ago. She started becoming disoriented and ornery and much less active. Yesterday in the late afternoon I found her in the coop with one wing spread out and face down. She was still alive, but not what I would call conscious. I picked her up and Aaron gave me one of his shoe boxes for her to rest in. I put down shredded paper/cotton bedding to keep her warm and placed her on a high shelf on my porch. I stayed with her and petted her and comforted her as best I could. She was gone by 8:30 PM.

We will be burying her in the yard and eventually I'll create a small memorial headstone for her. She was my friend and she made this first year on the farm really special.

I am very proud to remember that I rescued her from a small cage within the chicken coop and I am grateful to her previous owner (and her namesake) for not killing her because she was a damaged chicken. I will never know why human Wanda saved her, but I am so very glad.

In Wanda One-Eye's last year, she free-ranged all over the farm. She made friends with every human and animal she met. She even started laying eggs again and was an entertaining addition to all gardening activities.

I will miss her.

Best chicken EVER.