*Zwarteke="Little Black One" Peizegem=a village in Belgium
A soft spot in my heart for hens is nothing I ever thought I would develop...until I raised my three chicks to henhood last year. They are pets, not just layers of eggs. It's well known among chicken keepers that every chicken has a distinct personality. When people ask what the lifespan of a hen is, I tell them that it varies widely, but seven years would be a long life for one. In the commercial world, laying hens are replaced at about three years of age.
I "met" Karina through my hat shop. She bought a hat that had chicken buttons on it, because she cares for many hens and two young roosters at her home in Peizegem, Belgium. "Chickens are my favorite pets!" she wrote. Of course we exchanged photos of our chickens, and that was when I saw a photo of her lovely black hen named Zwarteke. It was impressive that Zwarteke was eleven years old! Sadly, two weeks ago she began to weaken, and then she breathed her last breath. As a tribute to this lovely pet of Karina's, I did a little sketch of her based on photos sent to me by my new Belgian friend: