I feel as though death has taken up permanent residence in our home….
In the past 6 months I’ve had more deaths than in the past 6 years; 2 grandparents, 1 pregnancy, 1 dog, 1 kitten, several chickens, tons of chicks and lots of fish.
Just this week 3 deaths (1 chicken, 1 kitten, 1 fish – burial by porcelain throne) have died and I’VE had to bury them in our solid-as-a-rock dirt in the back yard. This, in my opinion, is a husband’s duty, but DT always seems to be working these days and can’t. In this heat it can’t wait.
Monday a neighbor dog got into our yard and killed my most prized Black Copper Marans hen (injured 4 others), then last night my brother accidentally ran over a kitten of ours.
And let me just say I am the worst hole digger, burying person ever! Not only do I forget where I buried something just weeks before and thus-ly dig it back up, in the midst of trying to bury a new something dead, ugh…. And/or I bury them too shallow and then I see a wing or foot coming up from the ground. Now that’s a bit gross.
I bet your wondering why I don’t just throw the said dead critter away, but I feel guilty about throwing them away. I feel they deserve a proper dirt burial, that I can not for the life of me give…..
I don’t take death of anything lightly, wish I did, but I don’t. It sits on me, weighs me down and saddens me. Maybe I am more tender than usual, do to all the loss, even of chickens.
Sorry for this weird, morbid, death post, but I just had to get it out, and really hope I have much more life than death around me soon, very soon!
You’ll feel better as soon as you get some sweaty hugs and kisses from the boys!!
sorry for the losses. we’ve lost 4 young pullets and a hen in the past three weeks. makes a total of 7 this year. loss is hard. and i commend you for taking time for proper burial. i just send mine out of sight to go back in the food chain. hope it gets better and hope you’re getting some of that much needed rain
oh ya, we had two beta fish die too. our kids have learned a lot about loss
SO sorry!!! What a week you’ve had!!! I did chuckle a little at the “then I see a wing or foot coming up from the ground…” But you much be picking a very good place to bury them. Maybe you could do a mass burial thing. Especially since you seem to get the same place dug up. I’m not a very good hole digger either. I tried planting our Leyland cypress trees and gave up on the first one when it went into the hole crooked…it’s still growing crooked and it drives me crazy. Anyway…
Poor things! Brings back memories of when a tom cat infected my tamed-ferals many years ago. The adult lady cats barely caught the sniffles for a few days, but the infection was very rough on the babes that followed.
Next time you’re out at a hardware store, look for a shovel that looks similar to this one:
http://www.randmh.com/drain-spade-d-handle-shovel-s604d/landscaping-tools-equip/
I’m middle aged with a bad knee, and can still dig a hole in gumbo with it – use your foot to shove it in a few inches, then rock it back and forth 3-4 times. Keep repeating till you get enough to lift the dirt aside.
Sorry for your losses! I feel the same way about death. The other day my husband knocked down a birds nest that was in our doorway. He did it with a broom and didn’t know there was anything in it. Turns out there were eggs in there. We both felt pretty horrible.
That is difficult! I cried for a week over our guinea pig. For a couple months over our dog. Kids learn a lot from pets – about love and compassion and death.
Funny story though… we buried our guinea pig and the next day my daughter comes running and yelling…Sammy is out of his grave!
An animal dug him up, lol. Had to rebury. Deeper. LOL
I say that if your brother runs over a kitten, HE should dig the hole.
And if your neighbor’s dog kills a chicken? The neighbor digs the hole. That’ll teach him/her to contain the stupid dog.
You might want to consider donating your unfortunate chickens to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Most centers have educational animals who are non-releasable for one reason or another. These birds and mammals often just get fed rats or mice but they love variety. You wouldn’t have to dig holes and some lucky hawk, eagle, owl etc. would get a nice chicken dinner. Be sure to ask that they only be fed to NON-RELEASIBLE birds… we don’t want to do anything to encourage wild birds to eat chickens.