Remember, remember…
Lucia, our head chicken. Boss lady. We called her the Mary Poppins of hens; practically perfect in every way. I always said I’d build her a monument when she went.
Well, she went. I found her dead in the nest box this afternoon, not a mark on her. Heart attack, I guess. She was three and a half; we were expecting her to make five or six. I think she just awesomed herself to death, like a comet streaking across the sky.
I am sad. I shall drink now.
Posted: November 5th, 2013 under animals, birds, personal.
Comments: 50
Comments
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: November 5, 2013, 8:52 pm
Here she is in color. That pattern is called mille fleur.
Comment from chkdir ..
Time: November 5, 2013, 9:03 pm
Full mount taxidermy or embalming fluid?
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: November 5, 2013, 9:06 pm
Oh. Mmm. No. We’ve buried her already. I hope that paving slab is enough to keep the fox out.
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: November 5, 2013, 10:06 pm
Drink, and fondly remember…
Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: November 5, 2013, 10:33 pm
Pets hate fireworks.
Comment from Deborah
Time: November 5, 2013, 10:55 pm
Very sad news. I hope you saved a few of her feathers to frame with one of her portraits.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: November 5, 2013, 11:10 pm
I have a whole bag of Lucia feathers. When my girls molt, I keep all the nice examples. Damme if I know what I think I’m going to do with them.
Comment from Mrs Compton
Time: November 5, 2013, 11:24 pm
I’m so sorry.
Feathers = fascinator.
Hugs.
Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: November 5, 2013, 11:28 pm
If she was the head chicken, then your mourning is going to be punctuated by the “Great Sweasel Chicken Coop Power Struggle”. Real pecking order stuff. The Game of Roosts.
Subotai Bahadur
Comment from Pupster
Time: November 5, 2013, 11:32 pm
Oh, how sad. Sorry Sweasey.
Some beads and feathers, a little string and a stick make a nice cat toy I’ve heard.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: November 5, 2013, 11:48 pm
You’re absolutely right, Subotai. We have no idea who will emerge new head chicken. Except, probably not Vita. And certainly not Maggie (who is, by the way, still crippled but doing fine).
Comment from dissent555
Time: November 6, 2013, 12:00 am
Sorry to hear. A beautiful bird – amazing plumage.
Comment from QuasiModo
Time: November 6, 2013, 12:21 am
Aww…sorry to hear about your chicken.
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: November 6, 2013, 12:38 am
The death of beauty is always a tragedy.
Sic transit pullus mundi
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: November 6, 2013, 12:55 am
Thank you everyone. Lucia wasn’t an ‘easy’ chicken but she was a remarkable one.
There is a deep depression hovering over the old Mustelid Place tonight.
Mortality is the very devil. Perhaps literally.
Comment from Spad 13
Time: November 6, 2013, 1:14 am
Sorry to hear about Lucia.
I hope Jack does something extra cute to help you and Uncle B feel a little better tomorrow.
Comment from La Poularde est mort
Time: November 6, 2013, 1:17 am
Vive la Poularde!
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: November 6, 2013, 1:34 am
What? No fricassee? No ala King? No au vin? For such a noble chicken, a fine meal of her would have been the last full measure of love and respect.
Comment from EZnSF
Time: November 6, 2013, 2:11 am
Sorry to hear. She indeed is a beautiful bird.
Comment from Nina
Time: November 6, 2013, 2:19 am
This is what I hate about pets…eventually you lose ’em. Sorry to hear about Lucia, Stoaty and Uncle B.
With that said I am interested in who makes top dog once the pecking order has been reestablished. Until then, a tip o’ the oil’ chapeau for Lucia the chicken, and a glass lifted In tribute for the good hen that she was.
Okay, it’s a can of Diet Coke. The sentiment remains.
Comment from Davem123
Time: November 6, 2013, 3:19 am
Condolences to you for your loss, Stoaty. Reflect on the thought that Lucia’s fame has extended far beyond that of lesser chickens. Requiescat in pace.
Comment from catnip
Time: November 6, 2013, 3:36 am
@Nina, a chicken/parrot hybrid might be nice–long life and splendid to behold.
Rest in peace, Lucia. May loving memories fill the hearts of the mustelid family and comfort them in this time of sorrow.
Comment from Paula Douglas
Time: November 6, 2013, 4:15 am
I’m so sorry. That picture of her in color is absolutely stunning. Mille fleur: “A thousand flowers.” A beautiful girl and loaded with personality. I’m sorry she’s gone.
Comment from Solaratov
Time: November 6, 2013, 5:05 am
I’m very sorry to read that. My sincere condolences for your loss.
Comment from Becca
Time: November 6, 2013, 5:28 am
A proper Bluegrass lament is in order. Perhaps you could pen one, Sweasel.
Something along the order of “Old Blue” (“Blue, Blue, you good dog, you.”)
I’m sorry for your loss.
*lifts glass* To Lucia.
Comment from GIL
Time: November 6, 2013, 7:50 am
We’ve read about her for a long time now, and I’m so sorry to hear that she’s gone. She had a good life. I will share a virtual drink with you both.
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: November 6, 2013, 12:04 pm
I uttered a little “ba-gawk!” of lament when I read the news. Damn, she was pretty.
Comment from East Asia
Time: November 6, 2013, 2:19 pm
Sorry for your loss. I have to say, the face-flop dirt nap is the way I want to go–no mouldering away. Hard on you, Stoatie, but easy on Lucia…
Comment from stina
Time: November 6, 2013, 2:55 pm
So sorry to hear about Lucia’s too-early demise; she was a beauty.
Perhaps she’ll stick around in spirit form for a while. I’ve never heard of a chicken ghost before but hey, why not? One evening when you know you’ve tucked everyone safely away in the coop, you’ll hear a soft scritch-flutter-b’GAK and catch a quick glimpse of something multi-colored… once an alpha hen, always an alpha hen.
Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: November 6, 2013, 4:25 pm
We called her the Mary Poppins of hens
She was a witch!
Comment from Can’t Hark My Cry
Time: November 6, 2013, 5:34 pm
Sorry, indeed, to hear it.
Comment from pandelume
Time: November 6, 2013, 5:41 pm
My sympathies.
Comment from Bikeboy
Time: November 6, 2013, 6:19 pm
That’s an awesomely beautiful poultry! Sorry for your loss.
(My first reaction was, “How could somebody get attached to a chicken?” But then I remembered … I shed a tear or two, and delivered an epitaph, when my kids’ rat Humphrey passed to the big treadmill in the sky.)
Comment from Bikeboy
Time: November 6, 2013, 6:22 pm
Steve didn’t pick Lucia in the Celebrity Dead Pool, did he?
:-O
Comment from Bob Mulroy
Time: November 6, 2013, 6:34 pm
Our condolences.
To Lucia! (Raises Glass, drinks)
Comment from Formerly known as Skeptic
Time: November 6, 2013, 7:54 pm
She was a witch!
Did she weigh more than a duck?
Seriously though, a right proper bird and a beauty to behold. Sadness.
Comment from steve
Time: November 6, 2013, 8:10 pm
Condolences to those of Badger House
Toll on thou passing bell!
Comment from Frit
Time: November 6, 2013, 8:46 pm
I’m sorry for your loss. *HUGS*
I’m sure she’ll be waiting for you over the rainbow bridge, happily ruling all the other chickens there.
Comment from Milles Fleurses, pt. Deux
Time: November 6, 2013, 9:46 pm
I have left written instructions to the caretaking crew that on the occasion of me being found pining for the fjords the remains are to be arranged to allow authorities and press a presumption of swashbucklery gone terribly wrong.
Just recall what happened to Elvis, or Lupe Velez.
Comment from BrendaM
Time: November 6, 2013, 10:41 pm
Very sad news. My condolences to you both.
Comment from J.S.Bridges
Time: November 6, 2013, 11:38 pm
So sad, too bad…
Condolences for your loss – it is, of course, partly our loss as well.
So – no taxidermic memorial-mount? No feather-duster flourish to be constructed?
Ah, well…C’est la chook. She will, truly, be missed.
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: November 7, 2013, 1:02 am
Thanks, all.
Comment from Argentium G. Tiger
Time: November 7, 2013, 2:22 am
Oh no.
I know how much those chickens mean to you two, so to lose one… Very sad.
Give each other more hugs than normal for the next little while.
Comment from beasn
Time: November 7, 2013, 5:19 am
I’m so sorry, Uncle B and sweasel. RIP Lucia, you were a right fluffy beauty.
Comment from BrendaK
Time: November 7, 2013, 3:12 pm
So sorry for your loss.
Comment from BJM
Time: November 7, 2013, 8:44 pm
Bummer.
This is why we no longer keep chickens…we just get too attached to them and they aren’t the heartiest of creatures….but I do miss them clucking and fussing about.
Comment from SCOTTtheBADGER
Time: November 8, 2013, 10:55 am
My condolences on the loss of your chicken. The loss of a beloved critter is very hard on one.
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