RIP Orion, Our Slow and Steady Barred Rock
Abigail Black/Mindwatering 01/03/2020
Schrodinger's Cat is the supposition that, at its basis, is an animal confined in a closed space with a possible calamity, where it is both alive and dead until the space is opened.

Ever since Pixel and Twinnie died, I've been somewhat operating under Schrodinger's Chicken. When I close the coop at night, I bid my hens safety and sweet dreams, then lock the door. In the morning, I walk up to the door, take out my key, and wonder "What am I going to find today?"

This drizzly morning, the chickens were loud, Not unusual. I unlocked the door and looked on the roost. Schrodinger's Chicken: there was a black body. I knew immediately who it was, as Sally was squawking at my feet and Evie's a molting mess outside.

After some examination of the body, I came to the assumption that, unlike Pixel and Twinnie, she did not die from a broken neck. To all appearances, she seemed to have passed in her sleep some hours before my arrival. I suppose that's the best kind of death a chicken could ask for.

Orion was a very mellow hen. She never went anywhere fast, always keeping both feet on the ground. She never came when called for treats, but would gladly gobble them down if you went to her. It's believed that she had faulty depth perception, because if you held out a raisin, she would accidentally try to eat your knuckle. (I once had the entire tip of my finger go down her throat when she overbit.) Orion was somewhere in the upper echelon with Evie, Sally, and Alpha Twin, but hardly ever excerised her rank unless someone was going for her food.

On January 3rd, 2020, Orion was buried with her sisters. She was 1 year, 7 months old.