Poor Nellie Grey

Posted By Rosie

Last night when I went to close the chicken house door I couldn't find 4 of the hens - 3 were in the toy shed but Nellie Grey was no-where to be found. I scouted around a few possible hiding places without luck so came in, hoping she had found a safe place for the night. Just after Simon and I had got to bed, Saari really started whimpering at the door so Simon went down and let her out, thinking perhaps she had a dickie tummy. She ran off, disturbed the cat but was back a few moments later - no barking, no rushing across the garden.

This morning, Simon went to start mixing cement and found poor Nellie Grey, the missing chicken, dead on the pile of sand. Our immediate reaction was fox but that idea was quickly dismissed as on closer inspection she appeared completely undamaged; there were no feathers scattered around and no obvious injuries. There was however blood and she seemed to have hemorrhaged internally.

Poor Nellie Grey - she was a lovely chicken - our only grey one, with a funny lopsided comb and beautiful markings. But to be honest she had never been popular with the other girls and if there was any pecking to be done it was Nellie who got it. But lately that had stopped and everyone seemed to have accepted her. We will probably never know why she died. She wasn't egg bound but perhaps a fox could have been around and she died of fright? Unlikely though, as Saari neither barked nor made chase and a fox would surely have come back and taken Nellie. She was quite fat (Nellie was always first out of the door in the morning and last to leave the feeding area) - fat birds can die of a heart attack but that would not really explain why the dog was whimpering so much (if that had anything to do with her death anyway).

Quel mystère.