Mrs Appleyard

She came from a battery cage egg farm in Pearcedale, Victoria in late 2011. A farm whose sheds where so old they felt like they were haunted with the millions of souls of hens who had been trapped there all the decades past. She was so lucky. She was rescued. She came to Lefty’s Place to live out her life.

She was an incredibly stern hen. She was very dominant and liked to keep everyone else in order. She was at the top of the pecking order and she was a girl who always got her own way.

I named her “Mrs Appleyard” after the school principal in one of my favourite films, “Picnic At Hanging Rock” because her sternness reminded me so much of her.

Mrs Appleyard died one sunny day in November 1.5 years later. She had been ill and I had been treating her for egg yolk peritonitis. She slipped away peacefully one night full of pain killers, oats and happy memories about the second half of her life.

I will never forget her always watching. always stern face trying to keep the other hens in line. She was a sergeant major for sure.

I miss her.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally