The Garden at Old Thatch by Victoria Connelly

Author:Victoria Connelly [Connelly, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-19T23:00:00+00:00

During our first summer at Old Thatch, Portia is broody. She’s a Buff Orpington and we’re aware that this is a trait of the breed. Indeed, we made the very best of this back at Mulberry Cottage, encouraging Portia to hatch some eggs for our farmer friend (photos of her chicks can be seen in Finding Old Thatch). And what a delight it was to see Portia in her natural element. There is something so special about a mother hen fussing around her fluffy offspring, teaching them how to eat, scratch for food and be alert to danger. We loved the experience. But we’re not set up here for chicks and we have no cockerel so the eggs Portia is sitting on – stolen from the other hens – won’t be fertilised.

I watch her closely each day – flat and golden on the deck of the coop, she sits patiently, waiting for eggs that won’t ever hatch. We take her out once or twice a day to make sure she’s eating and drinking and to get some much-needed sunshine on that pale comb of hers. She objects, making herself heavy and unwieldy. Once outside, she eats with gusto, but squawks and clucks and flaps her wings, longing to be back inside on those eggs.

Finally, after weeks, she’s out again of her own accord and it’s so good to see her about in the garden, walking through the flowers, preening and dust bathing with the rest of the flock. I’ve missed her golden presence. And then, without warning, she becomes broody again. It makes me very anxious as she slowly begins to lose condition. Spending so long inside without proper food and sunlight is not good. She’s losing weight and that wonderful golden brightness.

When she comes out of her second bout of broodiness, we notice that she’s having trouble with her balance. Her legs are weak. We do all we can to feed her up, dosing her food with supplements and isolating her momentarily from the other girls so she can eat uninterrupted. But she goes downhill rapidly. I’ve never felt so helpless and distraught. This is my special girl and I love her so much. We have to save her.

We take her to the vets, but it isn’t hopeful. They’ve never seen this before. I contact a friend who’s had Orpingtons in the past. Again, she’s not come across this. She tells us to do all we’ve been doing already, but Portia is becoming weaker. She’s now falling over a lot and doesn’t have the strength to get back up. Several times a day, I’m running out to help her. When she’s down, the others tend to peck at her, spotting her weakness. Nature is cruel and it’s hard to witness. We give it a little more time, but it now seems like cruelty and I know what’s coming although I can hardly bare to face it.

We bring her inside and I kneel down beside her on the kitchen floor, tears blurring my vision as my heart breaks, and then we take her to the vets.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.