I’ve known for a couple of months that one of our four Speckled Sussex hens was not doing well, and she finally left us this week. I’m not positive what was wrong with her, but I suspect she may have suffered from internal laying, the same condition that we lost Ruby to last year. With four hens of the same variety that all lay the same size and color eggs, it can be a challenge to figure out who among them is not laying, but I’m fairly certain that this particular hen hasn’t laid any eggs for quite some time. Our sussex hens are not very good layers – they lay small eggs and not very many of them, but I got these chickens for eye candy and they certainly don’t disappoint in that regard. They have beautiful mahogany feathers tipped with white and black. I haven’t named any of the sussex since they haven’t distinguished themselves in any particular way, good or bad. This particular hen was shy, and she could often be seen away from the main flock hanging out with one of the Sweet Peas off in a corner somewhere. Although she didn’t really seem to like the other chickens, she did seem to like a bit of human attention. She would come up to me quite often and hang around next to me whenever I was in with the chickens. She didn’t like to be picked up, and she certainly wouldn’t sit in my lap, but she seemed content to just stand near me and eat the regular ol’ chicken feed out of my hand. Although she didn’t have a name, and I don’t have many pictures of her, I was fond of her, and I was hoping that my suspicions that she was suffering from internal laying would turn out to be wrong. Since there is no treatment for this condition, and I was pretty certain that’s what was wrong with her, this poor little lady did not get taken to the avian vet. Unfortunately, her time with us ran out last week. No one saw her last moments, she was found dead when it was time to put the girls in for the night. We bid you a fond farewell sweet sussex, and just maybe you’ll be reunited with Sweet Pea up in that chicken farm in the sky.