In Memoriam
Chickens have shorter lives than the people who love them. Over the years, we've lost
members of the flock — to age, to illness, to the things that happen on a real working coop.
This page is
for them. Each was an individual. Each is remembered.
Peeper Peep Poppins
"Peeper" — August 25, 2020 – December 6, 2023
Peeper arrived on August 25, 2020, one day old, as part of the founding flock. She was a White Leghorn, and
from very early on it was clear she would be in charge.
She held the top of the pecking order for the entirety of her life. She did not contest it; she simply
occupied it. The other hens accepted this the way the other hens always do — by organizing themselves around
her.
For a full year, she laid an egg every single day. After that, the pace tapered, as it does, but the position
did not. She was the founding queen of Hennsylvania, and there has not really been another like her since.
She passed on December 6, 2023, of respiratory failure. She was three years old.
The line of Poppins continues, in a quieter form, with Mary Peepins.
The line of White Leghorns at Hennsylvania continues with Sonny.
The !peeper chat command on stream still pulls up her memorial.
Lil Blue
"Blue" — passed summer 2023
Lil Blue was a Blue Ameraucana, and the smallest hen in the flock. She had two toes on one foot — the kind of
thing you noticed once and then could never un-notice — and she moved through the coop with the exact
unbothered confidence of a chicken who had decided long ago not to let it be a problem.
Her eggs were a soft, remarkable blue. The kind of blue you don't quite believe came out of a chicken until
you've seen it yourself. She laid them faithfully for as long as she was with us.
She arrived as part of the second flock and lived alongside the originals — a bridge, in her way, between the
founding hens and the rest of what Hennsylvania would become.
She passed in the summer of 2023.
The !lilblue chat command on stream still pulls up her memorial.
Brooks Orpington
"Brooks" — August 25, 2020 – July 15, 2024
Brooks was a Buff Orpington and one of the founding flock — one of the chicks who arrived on August 25, 2020,
and made the coop a coop. She lived nearly four years, longer than many backyard hens manage, and she was
here for almost everything that built Hennsylvania into what it is.
Buff Orpingtons are known for being calm, sturdy, and easy company, and Brooks was all of those things. She
arrived alongside Chicky One, Fluttershy, and Buffy, who are now the
last of the founding flock.
She passed on July 15, 2024.
The !brooks chat command on stream still pulls up her memorial.
Thank you to everyone who watched them, fed them, and made them part of something larger
than a coop.