My brother wrote a eulogy, my sons picked flowers for her grave… and Darryn dug it.

Sadly, despite a week of antibiotics and being hand fed mashed banana, apple and porridge… Robot (the chook), didn’t make it.  I will miss her fluffy feathers, in soft greys and charcoals, bustling around the chook pen.

One of the important things, I think, about children growing up with animals is learning about life… and death through them. So we didn’t hide anything… we told the boys what had happened, they wanted to see her body and we let them choose where she should be buried. I’m not sure how much they really understood… when Josh heard she’d died over night he suggested tonight we feed her during the night to see if that will help. There was a little confused pause when we tried to explain it was too late, you don’t get a second chance with death… I later heard Josh telling Tara and Zuli (the remaining chooks) to make sure they ate all their vegetables!!! But it is amazing how much even Tomas (1) understands… he later pointed at the bowl which I had fed Robot with and said “Ro… gone… sad”… And it is.