It is only from the scriptures that we can know anything about life and death. While we know a reasonable amount about life after death for people—human beings—we are not told too much about what happens to animals after they die. Will we get to see our pets again? Will I see Susie again? I don’t know, but it is possible, and if I do get to see her alive again, I would recognise her from a distance, even as she runs to me in her clumsy inimitable way.

Here below are excerpts about Susie and her life, from previous Chook posts.

13 June 2017: Giving our pets names is part of the excitement, isn’t it? The Blue Orpington could be Beulah or Opal. The Light Sussex, Susie. I thought Sylvia might suit the Silver-laced Wyandotte, but my daughter Prisy prefers Dot. We have not thought of a name for a Barred Rock. . . Prisy and I disagreed on my choice for the Black Orpington, however. Should it be Orpah or Oprah? See more

3 Sep 2017: We have named the birds. Their first names were decided by Prisy and me. However, the young men in the house, including my son have given the poor things Biriyani names as middle names. Susie Paradise the White Sussex, Oprah Thalapakatti the Black Orpington, Barbara Kairali the Barred Rock, and Little-Dot Anjappar the Gold-laced Wyandotte. Susie is clearly boss. See more

6 Sep 2017: The next evening after dark, it was raining and I found the chooks under the roost house and was disappointed that they had not learned yet. I picked Susie up and shoved her up the ramp and through the internal door into the roost room. Curious to see what Susie would do in there, I lifted the roof of the roost to look in from the top. I was in for a big surprise. There on the perch, good as gold was clever Barbara the Barred Rock. The next evening, they were all in there when I returned, and I just had to slide their door shut. One battle won. See more

12 Nov 2017: Moving away from the topic of eggs, I must say that I am quite taken by the beauty of their plumage. See more

16 Nov 2017: Finally she’s done it. A minuscule egg. Hahaha maybe I was sending the wrong signal with the golf balls. Should I try with tennis balls? Cricket ball? Baseball ball? See more

14 Dec 2017: Susie has hardly given us a dozen eggs, and she’s gone all broody and silly. She wants to sit in the nesting box all day, AND ALL NIGHT. See more

11 Dec 2018: While most of us do not have the education to properly appreciate God’s incredible design in nature, we should to the extent we can understand it. . . Seeing Susie sitting on some fertile eggs I bought from TradeMe is amazing, especially if you have seen what the chook is usually like. The due date is 12 December. Will let you know what happens. I had to get a camera in there to watch without disturbing her. Seeing fidgety Susie sit, all mama-like, is quite something. See more

12 Dec 2018: Three out of the six hatch. We are into Day 23 already and there is no more pipping. See more

December 19, 2018: Watching Susie as a mama hen is amazing. She intuitively protects her chickens. See more

17 Feb 2019: Susie’s teenage chicks. See more

24 Nov 2020: We gave Susie six fertile eggs to sit on. I shut her up in the upper chamber of the old wooden coop, and ensured that she had access to clean water and food close by. . . To cut the long 21+2-days story short, of the six eggs: – two eggs disappeared, probably eaten by Susie – two eggs were duds – one hatched in the early hours of 13 November into a predominantly-black chick, and – one hatched in the afternoon of 13 November into a yellow chick. But sadly, Susie had squashed the yellow chick. I do not know why that happened. It may even have been my fault and may have happened the previous evening when I moved Susie to check under her, who knows. So I moved Susie and her black chick down. I watched Susie for a day to make sure that she was good to her chick. She seemed reasonably kind.

Four days later, on 18 November, I bought two Silkie chicks—a blue one and a white one—from a young structural engineer called Dean who breeds them for a hobby. I put them in the coop with Susie, and they seem to have become a happy family together. See more

12 Dec 2020: This is what my chicks, the silkies and the other one, look like at four weeks. See more

12 Jan 2021: At nine weeks my bantam chicks, the silkies, look quite different from the regular chick, who we call Soup. The silkies are also differently natured, being gentle and dainty. See more

2 Apr 2021: With heavy rain forecast for the night, a couple of days ago, I decided to get Susie and the three chicks into the main henhouse; they had been out in the little wooden coop for months, even from those egg-incubating days. But when I went to the wooden coop, I realised that the “chicks” were by themselves. Susie was not with them. Her role as mama was done. This change would have been pretty recent, as I am sure, I saw her with the chicks in the coop until very recently. See more

12 Feb 2022: As for dear old Susie, she was fine till last week, and was even laying an egg for me once in a while. All of a sudden, she developed a wry neck, which only got worse. As she is not a human being and just a chicken, albeit very loved, and because she is struggling so much unnecessarily, I finally put her out of her misery. See more

Goodbye Susie!