Sugar was our longest lived and our last serama. She had virtually every chicken problem our flocks have ever had and yet she came through every thing, she was very resilient. Despite being one of our smallest girls Sugar had been top girl for a very long time.
Although Sugar was top girl she had a lovely nature. She was able to put her flock mates in their place with a look or the peck that doesn’t quite land. She was also friendly and very easy to handle. When we had to clip her nails she would let me do so without flinching.
Sugar was also a serial broody. We have had loads of broody girls but Sugar would only ever lay a clutch of eggs each month before going broody and if left would sit for long past the time it would take to hatch eggs. She therefore had to spend time in the broody crate for her own good.
Sugar had egg laying problems in her last years and we knew something was adrift with her because for her last couple of years she spent a lot of time sitting. Despite this she still had quality of life. She dust bathed, sun bathed and loved any treats.
Sugar has seen a lot of girls come and go in her time with us. She has remained with us while we lost five seramas. They were in order of their going – Marmite, Shadow, Smoke, Spangle and Salmon. Sugar has also seen ten other girls go in her time with us making it fifteen in total that have gone during her time. They were – Speckles, Ebony, Spot, Flame, Saffron, Snowflake, Diamond, Dot, Star and Autumn.
I have picked photos of her that show her from chick to adult but also show her broodiness and her eventual decline as they sum up her life completely.
Sugar was an amazing character and has left a huge hole in the flock. She has been a joy to have in our flock. She is very much missed and I am sure we will never have a girl quite like her again. Goodbye to our beautiful Sugar.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Some fantastic photos, a fitting tribute to a well-loved little hen.
I remember Cinnamon very clearly, a real character with outsize feet for her size, if I’m right – when did you lose her?
We lost Cinnamon at three years old on 3/10/19 and she was the last girl we lost to myco when we were only given baytril which never saved any of our girls from myco. After Cinnamon we were given tylan and never lost another girl from myco which seems to have left the flock after losing Salmon. I always felt a bit let down that we lost Cinnamon because once we were given tylan it was a game changer and it ended that awful battle with myco. She did indeed have the digger feet and Red rather reminds me of that as she is our current digger making huge holes all over the run. Sugar came through myco with tylan and after that came through so many other problems but egg laying problems caused so many losses of our seramas which is why I decided that I can’t have seramas any more. I think the egg laying problems probably caused Sugar her ongoing problem too. I have loved our seramas dearly but they are so delicate and prone to these problems and Sugar was the most resilient one of all but sadly with her loss our journey with seramas has ended. It feels a bit like the end of an era for our chicken keeping but our seramas will never be forgotten.
Lovely tribute, for a lovely girl. Lots of great pictures.
She was such a lovely girl.
Thanks for contextualising Cinnamon for me.
No problem. I keep records of arriving and leaving so could look up the date but everything else I remember well. I am always impressed by how much you remember, such as Cinnamon’s digger feet. She was a character.