Sugar has gone

Sugar was five and a half years old and we had known there was something adrift with her for the last two and a half years as she spent a lot of her time sitting but she just kept going. Last year she started laying at the beginning of May but hadn’t laid this year despite the lovely spring weather.

However over the last week Sugar seemed more active and faster to run to the treats. Over the last few days we both said that Sugar looked much more like her old self. She was sitting less and was dust bathing more.

Yesterday she dust bathed in the afternoon and last night she ran up for the sunflower hearts and was perched at bedtime next to Storm as usual.

This morning Sugar wasn’t out in the run and we found her dead in front of her roost spot. She had gone on my birthday of all days.

We had only said yesterday how good Sugar was looking and I said how much I loved her as we had seen her come through so much in her time with us. It must have been her last hurrah!

At least once more there was no slow decline, vet visit, or decision to be made. It was rather a shock though and so sad that she went on my birthday.

We buried her in the chickens’ strip. Unfortunately it has filled up over the years and we are now having to do a double layer back near the start of the strip. I planted a wall flower over her which I took from another part of the garden.

I will do a tribute to Sugar in a few days time as it will take me a while to go through the many photos of her over the years. Sugar will leave a huge hole in the flock and will be very much missed. Goodbye sweet Sugar.