June 3, 2015
Buffy, the Buff Orpington hen came from a farm west of here. She was housed with a number of hens and without the presence of a rooster, she had adopted the role of the female protector, rather a bossy she rooster as the former owner indicated. He also stopped providing space once they stopped laying eggs.
I was thrilled to get Buffy. She was larger than my normal hens, and very healthy. I placed her in with an elderly blind rooster. It was something to see. The bossy Buffy took care of him, and he stood with an outstretched chest, for the first time in his life, proudly, protecting her. I had housed them both in a large dog kennel with security netting on top. They had a perfect place and enjoyed themselves. In their final week, they were joined somehow by a ring necked pigeon who could apparently enter and exit throughout the edge of the netting at the top.
Sadly, very early one morning I discovered that Buffy had been killed. A predator, likely a fox, had taken her head through the kennel, but been unable to get her body out. Her blind rooster stood despondently by her side. I eventually moved him to a cage system into the barn with other animals, where he presently remains. The ring beck peach pigeon is nowhere to be found. I believe she may have just flown for her life when the commotion began. I am so sorry to have lost Buffy. She was a beautiful, strong and capable bird. Perhaps the lesson here is still that it is better to have loved and lost, even if you are a hen, than never to have loved at all. Perhaps the length of our journey to Earth isn't as important as how we love while we are here.
