ANOTHER CANDLE IN THE WIND...

My perfect little all white Bantam Cochin, aptly named Marilyn, died on Sunday morning.  It was the saddest thing ever.  I cried all day.  I know she was just a chicken, however, she was my favorite and I adored her completely.   
Not certain what happened, only to say she wasn't herself for a while….blaming that on the testosterone addition to the pen.

Unbeknownst to me, when I picked out my three Bantam Cochins this past Spring, they all ended up becoming Roosters…not what I was hoping for.  One I was able to spot fairly quickly and thought, no worries, he's cool after all, and I really enjoy the idea of cockadoodledoo…even though most of our neighbors did not.  Anyway, I kept him and changed his name from Pear, aptly named because she was a Partridge Bantam…well, she became a he and I named him Elvis and called him E a lot of the time.  Then a month later I realized the other gal whom I called Miss. M…after the Divine herself, was actually a Mr. Kotter, and found a new home for him quickly, he was gorgeous, a Gold laced.  Little did I know that the little Red gal I had, named Gilda, both for the Red headed bombshell played by Rita Hayworth and SNL favorite, Gilda Radner…alas, another Rooster whom I called Red for the time being.  He was removed immediately as the sparring had begun.  This is when I believe my little girl had too much going on.  After all, even though none of us knew they were roosters, she did.

So giving him away I now had one cock of the walk as it were, E…and poor little Marilyn got all his attention as they were the same size.  As a Bantam he looks like a little dwarf compared to the big standard gals.  That's the only thing I can think happened.  She stared going off into little corners by herself and not running out to eat with the others…so so sad.

She was super super fluffy and white and I miss her terribly!!  The pen is not the same without her.  It's really taken the joy out of greeting them every morning the past two days.  All the other gals are darker and big, and she was like a poof ball of white that just lit up the yard.  She and I talked back and forth to each other all the time and she let me schnuggie her. (that would be snuggle).

So now I believe we are going to find a home for Elvis as a Bantam and the others are Standards, it can get pretty aggressive and hens get hurt badly…so enough of that experiment…no more Roosters!