R.I.P Sweet Little Girl

Today, tragedy struck our flock for the first time.

My sweet little Rebecca, or Becky as we sometimes called her, met a horrific and untimely demise some time this afternoon. I last saw her around 11 am, playing in the barnyard with her sisters. DH was moving piles of hay from the top of the barn to the barnyard so he could make room inside for his truck. The chickens LOVE hay piles. They were playing.

We went to town to pick up Little Dude’s friend Phil, and then had lunch. The boys went down to play in the barn and play with the chickens. They came back up freaking out because they couldn’t find Becky. I went down with them to count heads, so sure that she was just hiding somewhere.

She wasn’t.

I found her in the tall grass down by the little fresh water spring and swampy area where they like to roam. Something had tore up her neck, but left the body.

It was starting to get stiff, but still mostly warm.

Rebecca was one of our sexlinks, the first little chicks we brought home in the box from Tractor Supply.  She was the smallest in size, but sassy and never ‘took any lip’ from her bigger brothers.  She had 17 of them growing up, and believe me, she held her own.  I saw her put three of the rowdy boys in their place for messing with her, even though they were bigger in size.

She loved sun bathing, perching in high places and eating apples, pumpkin and spaghetti noodles.

R.I.P, my sweet little Becky.  You will be missed.