Sometimes I have these AHA moment observations and don't know where to put them but feel they need to go somewhere.
It mostly has to do with the difficult moments around bridging the gap and living closer to nature.
So here is one of those stories:
One of my (around 4 year old) hens fell ill about 2 days ago.
It is most likely pox, as that seems to be going around at the moment.
Although it is strange as one would think that after 3+ years in the garden they would have picked up immunity.
It could very well have been something else. I did not autopsy the bird to find out.
Sometimes I just don't have the
energy to do that.
It was looking quite anaemic and a little yellow, so it could have possibly been liver related.
Anyhow. I had remarked just last week that she was probably looking the best that I had seen her look in all time.
I treated the
chicken, but with little hope... I think we intuitively sense when death is near.
Tried to give her some food and
water and put her out in the garden.
As dusk arrived I had a slight panic because the bird was nowhere to be found in the garden.
My
chickens put themselves to bed in the coop after a afternoon stroll in the garden, so went t o check the coop and found the sickly hen there.
I didn't think that she would have the energy to make it up the mountain, but somehow she did.
I find it quite remarkable that with almost no energy or life in her, the last thing that she wanted was the safety and familiarity of her flock.
I found her dead in the coop the next morning.
So that was my observation about companionship at life end.
Whether it is instinctual or a matter of routine I cannot tell.
It did make me wonder about the human
experience of life end.
Maybe it is important to witness the expression of the full pattern.
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