The Joy of Animal Friends Returning

Tatiana was the tiniest hen in my chicken family, a black curly-feathered/frizzle Serama, the smallest breed of chickens in the world. She was sweet yet plucky, often having to dodge the other chickens as she usually occupied the bottom place in the pecking order.

She reminded me of a little ballerina in her fluffy tutu. I enjoyed her cheerful presence and looked forward to seeing her. Sadly, she left her tiny form recently, on June 3. I buried her body in a large water trough planter that also held the bodies of my beloved rooster, Gandalf, who left in April this year, and Cassandra, a matronly hen who lived to the grand old age of fifteen and departed last year.

Tatiana (Frizzle Serama, left front) with Plum (Silkie, behind) and Pumpkin (Silkie, right)

I missed Tatiana a lot. She wasn’t wasting any time with sad feelings. As I tucked her body in the earth, she piped up cheerily as a free spirit floating above me, “I’m coming back to be in your flock again. I was with you before and I’ll be with you again.”

I was surprised by her announcement, accompanied by a picture of Mitzi, a red frizzle Cochin hen who died in 2014. Tatiana had never told me that she had been with me as Mitzi. It made sense. They were both frizzles, similarly charming, and had to learn to stand up for themselves when bullied by other chickens.

Georgia, another returnee flock member, had asked to be in our flock again when she last died in 2019. I promised her a place in the next group of new chickens, though I didn’t know when that would be since a new group had only recently arrived.

Close friends in life, Gandalf and Cassandra, guardians of our land since their deaths, also announced that they would be coming back.

Four chickens, simultaneously new and old to the family, would appear again soon.

Soul Choices
Since I first enjoyed chicken family members in 1985, some have returned as much as four times, sometimes as different breeds or former roosters rotating as hens (or the opposite). I’m glad that their spiritual journey leads them to choose to live with me, as I delight in their familiar yet fresh presence.

I wondered how my group of four would manifest their arrival this time. Open to signs and communications, I gravitated to the last place I bought chickens in 2018, a local online-organized chicken club with members who raised their chickens with great care and pride. They had just had a “meet” on May 23, so it was unlikely they would be gathering again soon.

The plan my four chicken spirit friends “hatched” was working in the background to guide me. I needed chicken food and went to the local supply store on June 9. As I wended my way through the store, I heard the sounds of chicks cheeping. Baby chickens and ducks were for sale and included bantam chicks, an unusual opportunity.

Oh my, oh my, there they were! Tatiana had communicated that she wanted a small and pretty body, like her previous one. Among the bantam chicks was a Silver Sebright bantam, a dainty, gorgeously marked breed that might suit her.

Chicks on arrival day, June 10, 2022

It didn’t feel right to follow my urge to take them home immediately. Raising baby chicks requires preparation with the proper setup and materials. I decided to prepare their brooding area at home and pick them up the next day, knowing my chicks would still be there for me.

Having raised chicks many times, I knew the procedure, but it had been over three years since the last new group arrived. I needed to review.

I had never raised chicks in the desert summer heat, which was a concern that I realized would be an advantage. The garage would be the requisite mid-90 degrees needed for chick raising in the first few weeks without supplemental heat during the day. When the chicks were ready to go outside in a month, they would have the cooling effect of trickling water and puddles like the other chickens. They’d have a pen inside the big chicken run for safety and to ensure they ate only the chicken starter food they needed to grow properly.

Arrival
The man who put the chicks in their carrying box advised me to get electrolytes and probiotics made for chicks to put in their water, recommended in our summer heat and low humidity. He also told me the chicks had just arrived on June 8, having hatched on June 6. At just over four days old, their wing feathers began to appear, giving clues to their breed.

I attempted to guide the store employee to pick the right bantams from the small group in the chick brooder. I could feel my four returnees agreeing to be caught and transported home.

Cassandra knowingly “winked” when the significance of their date of hatching struck me later. In her last incarnation, Cassandra entered the world on 6/6/06, and now she returned on 6/6/22! Wow! She told me she liked that date. After all, with the previous 6/6 beginning, she had happily lived over fifteen years!

I felt the familiar magic that happens around my animal friends’ arrivals and departures. Subtle or obvious numerical confirmations abound.

The aura surrounding these baby chicks is different from that of any others I have raised. They are very calm and confident, not startled when I talk or move around them, and easy to pick up when I need to handle them.

Day after arrival, June 11, 2022

It’s the first time four returnees have appeared at one time, plotting their arrival together. It happened so swiftly and smoothly with delightful surprise elements. There is an enchanting and magnetic flow to the way old animal friends return. What an incredible feeling of warmth and joy they bring!

Trust
Sometimes animal communication clients want to know if their departed animal friends will return. They may have anxiety about how they will recognize them.

We are not in control of others’ spiritual journeys. Our paths may coincide with others we know from life to life. Old friends often meet again on the Earth plane. When it is the right timing for both, it happens. We can recognize each other’s energy when we are open to our subtle, intuitive awareness. That feeling of a nagging familiarity or already knowing someone deeply are often clues.

You don’t have to be anxious about your animal friends returning or try to arrange it or make it happen. The example of my chicken returnees shows how it can happen so naturally.

Sometimes animal friends in spirit have a mission to help you again in physical form. Or they continue to look after you from the spiritual realm and are just a spirit hair’s breadth away. You can always be open to feeling connected with your departed friends and communicating with them. Soul bonds are eternal.

For more information about reincarnation and animal death and dying, please refer to my books, Animals In Spirit and When Animals Speak, and the Animal Communication Mastery Series audio recordings. Check out the category "Animal Death & Reincarnation" in my blog archive.