Sad news. We came home to one less chicken. It was a tragic accident. Apparently, sweet Rocky tried to fly over the fence into the chicken run and didn’t quite get the lift anticipated. Her neck was caught between the pickets and she hung herself. Jack and Poppy found poor Rocky, dangling from the fence, stone cold.
Maggie, to whom Rocky belonged, was at a sleep over and didn’t know of Rocky’s untimely death until the following afternoon. Our house was rocked with grief. Rocky was well-loved and will be very much missed. The children each pray for our pets and even now pray for Rocky to be in chicken-heaven (where did they get this?)
Poppy helped to gather up Rocky’s body and place her in a box to await burial. She cried as if her heart was broken and when asked, she cried for Maggie. It makes me choke to think of this little person caring so much for a sister’s sadness to come. She required so much and love and comfort because of her overwhelming empathy- a gift from God. Full of compassion and love. My children amaze me.
Maggie, as expected, was in anguish upon hearing of Rocky’s death and insisted on seeing her little chicken in the box. She spent much of the day on her bed weeping. I encouraged each of the kids to write a farewell letter to Rocky to be placed inside the burial box. Incidentally, we went through several boxes trying to find just the right one, Maggie being convinced that Rocky would need room and preferred white over brown- with decorations, of course. In my mind, all I could think of was the size of the hole I was going to need to dig in order to get the ever-increasing box size into the ground.
Included in this post are a few pictures of Poppy’s little letter for Rocky. Maggie’s had already been sealed and placed inside the box by the time I thought to take a picture of their sweet letters.
I love how it shows daddy digging the hole when in actuality, it was me. But apparently, I was too distraught to attempt hard labor.
This is Maggie later in the day, with her new chicken. Meet Rosanne, another Rhode Island Red. As you can see, having a new girl to love has helped to ease the loss of Rocky. Always loved, ever missed.
Rocky was buried underneath
her “favorite spot”, the beautiful
White Quince just off our back patio.
Since her burial, Frank, our dog,
has disinterred her body twice,
scattering bits of Rocky all over the
yard. The tragedy continues….