McFly Passed Away Today…
She arrived at Tranquillity in a small cardboard carton just after Easter in 2010, fresh from the poultry farm as a pullet and quickly captivated our hearts, along with her two sisters.

I spent hours nurturing them, protecting them, feeding them, teaching them and eventually letting them roam free on our section, to explore, dig, cluck and scurry. Something we discovered was very new for them as they had come from a poultry farm and had never seen grass, sand, rain or snow.

Becky (aged 3) and Josh (aged 10) came to stay not long after the chickens arrived and we asked the two children if they would like to name the new hens.

Becky decided to call her assigned chicken “One” and Josh (having just watched “Back to the future” on DVD with Keith), called his chicken “McFly”.

The last chicken was named Dorothy (after the Wizard of Oz) and the three feathered friends quickly became an integral part of our lives and handy garden assistants when weeding.

Over the last twelve months, the RedBubble community has witnessed the adventures, marveled at the eggs and laughed at the antics of Dorothy, One and McFly through the lens of our Lumix DFC-FZ35 camera.

McFly has been featured on more than one occasion and her images have become immortal thanks to Red Bubble supporters and friends.

She was the smaller of the three hens, yet she became the team leader, she laid the biggest eggs (we still do not know how) and every day she proudly led the noisy troupes under the bushes, around the trees, down the paths and eventually into the chicken coop to sleep at night.

Yesterday she suddenly lost her spark, refused to come out of the chicken coop and only ate morsels of food I lovingly tried to feed to her.

Today I carried McFly into the house, made her a cardboard box bed near the fire, placed a hot water bottle beneath her blankets, chatted to her softly and stroked her soft brown feathers.

At 18.00 tonight our special little friend twitched and flinched one last time, then closed her eyes, never to scratch in our dirt again, never to cuddle on our laps or come over for a hug and never to graciously offer us her lovingly created eggs.

We have no idea why she passed away and we pray that she is happy and spiritually scratching about in a heavenly garden covered with an eternity of dirt, insects and worms.

It has been a sad day at Tranquillity…and I will miss her terribly….she always followed me around the garden.

We will find a special place in our garden tomorrow morning to lay her in the dirt she loved to scratch and bathe in….

Panasonic lumix DMC-FZ35 Gore Southland New Zealand

McFly – 5th April 2010 – 31st May 2011

Featured 1st June 2011

Featured 6th June 2011

Dust bathing