Salvadora Sebright
26 April 2010- 2 July 2011
Salvadora was hatched on May 26th, 2010, at the Murray McMurray Hatchery in Webster City, Iowa. When she was a day old, she came to live at Stratheden Farm. Salvadora was a perfect example of a Sebright bantam chicken and then some - she was the only curious, smart, responsive to humans chicken Mr. Fuzzy has ever seen. If the shop door was open, even if the chop saw was whaling away at wood, she would come in and sit to watch what was going on. She was a strong flyer, unlike most chickens, and would effortlessly hop up on Mr. F
uzzy's hand or Mrs. Fuzzy's shoulder for some attention.Sebrights have the reputation of being poor mothers but Sal was far and away the Best Mother in the entire coop. She raised Cheepers from a day old and both was affectionate with him and taught him well. At the time she was killed, she was incubating nine eggs (hers and other hens'). She was at a tremendous disadvantage in a nesting box on eggs, totally unable to maneuver, however, the spread of her feathers outside indicated she put up a valiant fight when dragged from the coop.
She was a truly game bird and not intimidated by much. When an eagle roosted in a tree in front of the shop, the Roosters drove the hens and smaller roosters underneath the shop while they (three large Dominiques) stood in the open, almost wing to wing, loudly challenging the eagle. The only other bird that stood with them was tiny Salvadora.
Early on Saturday morning, July 2nd, a raccoon forced open the door on the chicken coop, attacking the hens on eggs in their nesting boxes as well as all the flightless, frizzled, bantams. Perishing with our little girl in the attack were two roosters, Guido and Horace the Hopeful, and hens Blackie, Squeaky (on eggs for a third try,) and Curly.
She leaves behind her stepson, Cheepers, who began crowing this very day.Two large Cochin hens were also attacked but were not seriously harmed.
Mr. Fuzzy and his friend, Mr. Ruger, hope to greet that raccoon tonight when it comes back for the wee pile of half incubated eggs that it left on Sal's nest. Mrs. Fuzzy has left them as bait outside of the coop door...
Salvadora's empty nesting box
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7 comments:
So sorry for your loss. My daddy kept chickens, he bonded with and loved his bantams the most.
Oh no! So sorry to hear of the loss of Salvadora. What a lovely chicken she was.
Sounds like she was a lovely chicken.
I am so sorry, dear hearts. She sounds like an amazing chicken. What a spirit! Good luck to Mr. Fuzzy and his partner on their hunt.
Sorry to hear about dear Salvadora Seabright's untimely and indecorous demise. Now I will install a better latch on our coop door, thinking about what that raccoon did. Good luck with a 22! Isn't it amazing how attached we get to the creatures in our care....
Well!!! Did you get him or not???
Known anonymous
Damnation! That photo of Sal and the Mr. was a delight to see. What a blow that that fine bird fell to a low predator like a coon. I hope Mr Ruger was able to converse with the fiend.
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