I had to have one of my chickens culled today. I didn't do it. I took her to a friend who knows what he is doing. She was very ill and definately suffering and unlikely to get better. I was very sad though as, since we have had the chickens, this is the first time we have had to do this and I am very attached to them. :(
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/4528_04_02_12_1_04_40.jpg)
Sorry to hear that Caroline has departed.
Ah Sparkly. What a shame. It sad when we have to do that but in another way its good that we can when animals are suffering
What a shame, but at least you did the right thing for her. She looked beautiful, what breed was she?
She was a Speckedly, which is a Rhode Island Red crossed with a Maran. Very friendly and nice soft feathers, but she was a nightmare for being broody. Would make an excellent mother I suppose, but Caroline only laid about 6 eggs last summer as she was broody most of the time!
We have 2 Speckeldy's. Really good layers & friendly. The other 4 are Plymouth Rocks, Mother & her 3 daughters. Mother was horrendous the first year we had her. You would have thought we only had 3 chickens as she was indoors most of the Summer. We got the Speckeldy's because the others were/are such poor layers. The eggs are worth waiting for though ;D, just not enough of them ;).
I don't know if broodiness is specific to the breed or just Caroline, but it did reach the ridiculous point last year! Anyhow our other chickens are really good layers (6 of them) and we usually get 5 or 6 eggs a day.