Death on the Homestead

I always knew that death was something I would have to deal with while homesteading. I guess I just always hoped I wouldn't have to deal with it this soon.

Today is a sad day on the homestead, I found my chicken had passed away sometime during the night. This is the same chicken that had been pecked badly by the other chickens and was being quarantined.

A week ago I walked into my chicken coop to find one of my Leghorn hens cowering in the corner with her head covered in blood. I immediately scooped her up and got her into a separate coop where I could monitor her and get her healed up. Over the past week I have done exactly that. I've gone out multiple times each day to apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wounds, hand-fed her and made sure she was doing well. And every day she seemed to be doing a little bit better than the day before. Until yesterday, when I noticed she wasn't eating and drinking. So I offered her some yellow squash, as a treat and she wouldn't touch it, and some water with electrolytes in it. But nothing, I knew it wasn't going to be long, but I never expected it to be this soon.

I've gone over it in my head all day, and honestly, there's nothing more I could have done for her. I did everything for her that could be done for her short of taking her to a vet. Which, is kind of dumb because, well, she's a chicken. And veterinarians are expensive, I'm not spending that kind of money on a chicken. So, instead she was buried on the property.

Death is inevitable, especially on a farm or homestead, but that doesn't make it any easier.