Artemis Fowl

I love the brown shaver breed of hen as they're such friendly souls. When friends bought several pullets from a poultry farm many years ago I took four of these to add to my flock. Over time one by one they went to the big hen house in the sky except one very determined chook I named Artemis Fowl. The friendliest of the four she would follow me everywhere, even inside the house on occasion. Even if she saw me in the driveway she would frantically run up and down the fence in a panic that she might be missing out on something important.

Recently Artemis had become even more affectionate, allowing me to pick her up and tuck her under my arm while she talked to me and pecked at her reflection in my sunglasses. She also began making long treks into the paddocks along with the young chooklettes to see what she could scavenge.

This afternoon I let the chooks out mid afternoon for a brief run as it was so cold and windy. After an hour they asked to be put to bed but Artemis was nowhere to be found. I whistled her (all my animals come to the whistle) and called her name but there was no sign of her brown form wobbling towards me. However when I went into the hen house to pour out the mash I saw her curled up asleep in a nest box. But when I touched her feathers they were cold and I realised Artemis had died in her sleep.

I knew she was very very old (nearly ten I think) but there was no sign of her slowing down. However this is exactly the way to go, no illness or trauma but just an old hen peacefully drifting off to sleep.