My beloved Tyner is gone

For those of you who have ever lost a beloved pet, you know that it creates an empty feeling in your heart. I know it must sound strange that a chicken held that place, but she did.


Tyner was one of my golden eagle girls, one of the four Ameraucanas that rats attacked when they were babies. Two of her sisters were killed and Tyner sustained injuries to her beak that later compromised her life. She ended up with a scissor beak which made it almost impossible for her to eat normal food. For the last 3 years she has been fed a mash version of her feed out of a dish, licking up every morsel.

She was always quite persistent in telling me when she was hungry and would chirp out a special call for me that sounded like she was saying, "lert, lert..." I always knew where to find Tyner because of that call. On the days when we would let them run around the yard, Tyner would chase me down to tell me she wanted her food, following me all the way up to the back door.

Tyner is one of the two chickens I tattooed on myself. I knew she was special when she was a baby and will always be with me. Bye, Sweetheart.