In Memory of Cracker

Cracker helping Little Ace hatch the eggs

Having a mini farm brings new understandings and observations, but too often sadness.   Sunday morning when I went to the chicken coops, I did not see my Sultan hen, Cracker.  I opened the nesting box to see if she was busy laying one of her small white eggs and found her in the nesting box dead.  She also had a lot of fire ants on her.  So of course my question is, "Did she die before the fire ants got on her or after?"  As always I googled to find the answer, but not really satisfied with anything I read.  Seems like most believe that the chickens will eat the ants and there were not thousands of them.  There is not a mound in their coop.  But I spent a lot of time Sunday digging out about 5 inches off the top in their run until I did not see any ants.  I did find the most ants under their water container.  In this drought the ants are looking for water.  Then I put down some organic insect killer and let all the little chicks out so they would not eat it.  After several hours I added back 2 bags of sand to the chicken run.

Cracker was such a perfect pet chicken.  She looked like a tiny white Big Bird from Sesame Street.  The boys loved carrying her around.  They even took her for rides in the wagon.

Sultans are fancy ornamental chickens and one of the more unique breeds of poultry. They originated from southeast Europe and became known in Turkey as Seral-Taook ("fowl of the sultan"). Sultans were, most likely because of their appearance, the preferred breed of Turkish rulers. Sultans were imported to England from Istanbul in 1854.


The research says they are not hardy and the heat is getting to everyone around here, so did she succumb to the 107 degree temperatures? Also, is it just a coincidence that Saturday night after all the chickens were asleep, that I moved Sunny II from the other coop into the one with Cracker and the 4 adolescent chicks.  Did Sunny II have anything to do with Cracker's demise?  I will likely never know why Cracker died.  I ordered Cracker, Little Ace and Big Foot from My Pet Chicken wesite.  I have not seen Sultan chicks for sell since then; which was well over a year. Hopefully I will be able to get another in the future.
Of all the chickens, Cracker will be missed the most.