Rest in peace Moonbeam.

This past Thursday we lost one of our hens: mean ole' Moonbeam. True to her character, she didn't go down without a fight; she hung in for about a week battling a condition that caused fluid to pool up in her abdomen.  Moonbeam earned her name for being the sweetest little chick we'd ever met.  Then somewhere along the way, as she grew up, she developed a bad streak that lent her a depth of character any chicken would envy.  (In the photo below, Moonbeam is the chick on the far left, no stripe.)

This sad loss offers us a reminder of the extent to which hens are givers: they pour so much life and energy into making eggs, nearly one a day, which they must then labor to pass.  With so much of themselves going into their eggs and out into the world, they are truly generous creatures.  Moonbeam, too, was such a saint--albeit with a rough edge all around.  Her quirks, her pecks to the back of our calves, and her unique personality will live on in our memory.  

We'll miss you Moonbeam! The coop just won't be the same without you.