Adieu Petite Poule.

I don't speak french but didn't want to see it in English.

Tony took the kids to the fair to see the animals a few days after I wrote my story about Pascal. While they were gone I received this news along with a photo of a chicken she found at the fair from Emily via Tony's phone:

Doesn't this hen look exactly like pascal?? Pascal's a female!!!!!!!!! From: emily

We rejoiced!

Then the heartbreak came.

The very next day was Monday and after my morning walk/run thing that I have been doing I checked on Pascalita. As she started to walk through the yard I saw that she was limping badly. Tony wrapped her leg with a bandage and secured it with tape because we thought it was an injury. We were leaving for beach camp that very morning and had to leave her with Tony's mom. It was upsetting but I had hopes that she could rest and recuperate there; Tony's mom is good with birds.

We had a great week at the beach and honestly I didn't think a lot about Pascal. When we returned home and picked her up on Thursday night we were devastated with what we found. She wasn't walking at all. She was very hunched over and not distributing her weight well. Worst of all she was not drinking water and barely trying to eat. We didn't think she would live through the night. She did live though and we were beginning to have hope as she was drinking water through a dropper and appeared to have perked up a bit.

That afternoon my friend Kim came by and helped me find a vet who would see a chicken and we made an appointment for later in the day. We put Pascal in a big shoe box and all four of my kids plus our neighbor Kennedy came along for the trip to the vet. The office was full of people with their dogs and cats and one giant talking red bird. All of the other animal owners wanted to know what we had in the box. When we told them, they wanted to see. I didn't want to be rude but I didn't want to show them my chicken in such a sad state. It was very upsetting.

When it was our turn to go back I took Sarah with me and left the rest in the waiting room. The vet examined Pascal gently and compassionately. Then he explained that it wasn't an injury but a disease that affects the nervous system. That Pascal wouldn't get better. That we could try steroid shots but that it probably wouldn't help. That Pascal probably had only a few days left, possibly less. Sarah cried and I struggled hard not to as I wrote the check and walked out of there with five kids and no chicken.

So that's the end of my once happy little chicken story. Not so sure when or even if we'll have another one at this point. Still have doubts about whether I even gave her a good home and doubts about whether it was something I did and the sudden disease thing. I feel guilty for wanting her eggs so badly now that I know that she never had the chance to make any.