Elizabeth died yesterday.
Hatched by us in 2018, she was one of three we kept that year: Violet, Elizabeth and Bott. Violet died two years ago, Bott is still with us.
She was, like all the Welsh Blacks and their descendants, an absolutely beautiful girl. Her black feathers shimmered with purple and green iridescence. She was, we think, the daughter of Annie, a very particular Welsh Black with a very small pea comb,. Her father was Bertie, the Vorwerk. She didn't have any obvious Vorwerk traits, unlike her sister, Bot, who inherited his flat comb.
She had amazing eyes. One side was completely back, from the Australorp side of the Welsh Back heritage the other eye was orange and black, from the Indian Game part of her Welsh Black heritage.
She was an interesting girl. While living on the allotment (when all our hatches went to the allotment once the boys started crowing), she disappeared. The allotment had Heras fencing all round and was accessed through a locked gate. We had netting over the top. We looked everywhere, under everything, in everything. We couldn't find her. We assumed she must have been left out one evening, and got taken by a fox
She reappeared weeks later, she was just suddenly in the gang again - and we have no idea what happened to her in between.
She had absolutely zero tolerance for being picked up, even if treats were on offergh she did do "jumpy uppy" when she was a baby). She would take treats from our hands, if there was no other option, but that was it. Despite that, she was a mostly good natured girl, and I will miss her very much.
I noticed that her comb was a bit dark yesterday, but it was dark red not purple (purple is an indicator if imminent heart failure). . She was eating fine, and showed no sign of being unwell.
She was up and about first thing, when DH opened the run and let them out. When I went to shut them in at 16.10, she was dead in the middle of the run. The run camera wasn't recording (of course we've only just discovered that). The view from the other two cameras to where she died was obscured, so I've no idea what happened. There's a bit of noise on one of the mid morning recordings from one of the cameras, and I'm guessing that was it. We didn't see anyhing because I was on my way to a routine hospital appointment, and DH had to come and get me as I wasn't allowed to drive afterwards. I wasn't feeling great when I got back, so neither of us had been in the garden until I went out to shut them away.
She was 8 years old, which is a good age, and she had a quick death which I am very grateful for.
Most of the photos of her are as part of a flock, and none show her well. Even this one only shows her "game" eye rather than the gorgeous black "australorp" eye.
I'm down to 6 hens now. 3 of those are golden oldies (who could go at any time), and one is a youngster who doesn't look like she'll be long lived. Mind you, I thought Fleur was going to go at any moment during most of her amost 9 years.
I've got to consider at what point I should wind things up.
