The Baynhams

We got two chickens back in 2011. For the past three years we have had either an abundance of eggs or none for weeks on end. Some weeks we have had to find creative ways to use a mountain of them up and some weeks we have reverted back to buying eggs in the supermarket. Betty and Wilma have been a part of our back yard, following us busily around the garden, pecking our feet and generally making themselves known to us. 

Last month Betty became quieter and quieter. She watched us from the comfort of the shady bushes. We got one egg a day but never two. One day she hardly moved from the shade, not to eat or drink. We brought the food to her but she turned her head away. The next day she was sat further back under the hedges. I worried that Wilma was bothering her, pecking at her to get her to move when she clearly didn't want to. I picked her up and lay her in a shoe box full of wood-shavings. I moved her to the veggie patch and sat her in the shade of the strawberry plants. She was now safely in the out-of-bounds area that was fenced off from Wilma. I checked on her on and off until I found her with her head tucked under her wing. No longer breathing. She looked peaceful. 

Wilma paced. She sat and looked out of sorts, she ignored us and refused to chase us around the garden. There were no more eggs. She was pining. It took her a couple of weeks to get her swagger back. And finally to lay an egg. Things will never quite be the same without Betty but at least we have Wilma the invincible back to her cheeky self.