This summer, I sold a surplus rooster to an acquaintance who already had chickens. The rooster was young but fully grown, a mix between a Red Sex Link and an Araucana. Out of all the four brothers hatched in that brood, this particular one was the most assertive - he chased his three brothers away from our old hens, and was the only one who deliberately moved away from the chick coop into the adult hen coop. But he was infallibly nice to humans, and so tame that I could just walk up to him and pick him up most days - even though he was hatched naturally.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and his new owner informs me that they'd had to kill the rooster after he'd taken a severe beating after saving his new flock from a hawk. However, before that, he'd managed to actually beat the hawk to death, a feat I've actually never heard of.
Said the new owner (directly translated by me):
"The hawk had broken its neck and was just lying down panting, so we had to end the suffering with our ax. The rooster did a good job. He took the hawk in the air as it was about to lift off with the hen [my note: I don't think a hawk can actually lift off with a hen; my friend had probably only seen the hawk sit on top of the hen and flap its wings], we thought we'd have to kill the hen as well, but she was perfectly fine. I couldn't see much of what was happening, just a blur of feathers and screams that was over in a few seconds. The rooster won, at least; he was still standing afterwards, but had deep gashes all over and two broken toes. The hawk didn't show much damage, besides one wing and the neck hanging limp. I've never seen anything like it. The hens are a little spooked today and the hen is under observation, to make sure she has no internal injuries, but she seems fine, just a few feathers short".
That's quite a story. In a later message, she said that the other roosters on her farm had ran off and hidden when they'd heard the commotion.
I suppose this story itself is thread worthy, but I mainly want to ask a question that's been at the back of my mind for a while: Could that rooster have been saved?
I'm thinking something like this:
- Cleaning of the deep gashes, and taping them together with some strong medical tape.
- The two broken toes are another matter. I would probably fix each of them to some very stiff stick, perhaps short wooden sticks that I'd laid on the toes, after which I'd taped the toes tightly to them with strong tape, such as duct tape, and left it in place for several weeks. I would probably let him go with the chickens immediately, no need to keep him inside a rabbit cage or whatever and stress the hell out of him as long as his wounds are securely patched up.
I mean, what an awesome rooster. How often do you get a rooster that is a perfect gentleman with humans... And cuddly with humans... And nice to the hens... And apparently the chicken equivalent of Rambo at the same time?
I absolutely don't condemn my friend's killing of him; I'm just saying that I'd probably have done everything in my power to save him and his tremendous genetics.
Me and him few weeks before he was sold:
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, and his new owner informs me that they'd had to kill the rooster after he'd taken a severe beating after saving his new flock from a hawk. However, before that, he'd managed to actually beat the hawk to death, a feat I've actually never heard of.
Said the new owner (directly translated by me):
"The hawk had broken its neck and was just lying down panting, so we had to end the suffering with our ax. The rooster did a good job. He took the hawk in the air as it was about to lift off with the hen [my note: I don't think a hawk can actually lift off with a hen; my friend had probably only seen the hawk sit on top of the hen and flap its wings], we thought we'd have to kill the hen as well, but she was perfectly fine. I couldn't see much of what was happening, just a blur of feathers and screams that was over in a few seconds. The rooster won, at least; he was still standing afterwards, but had deep gashes all over and two broken toes. The hawk didn't show much damage, besides one wing and the neck hanging limp. I've never seen anything like it. The hens are a little spooked today and the hen is under observation, to make sure she has no internal injuries, but she seems fine, just a few feathers short".
That's quite a story. In a later message, she said that the other roosters on her farm had ran off and hidden when they'd heard the commotion.
I suppose this story itself is thread worthy, but I mainly want to ask a question that's been at the back of my mind for a while: Could that rooster have been saved?
I'm thinking something like this:
- Cleaning of the deep gashes, and taping them together with some strong medical tape.
- The two broken toes are another matter. I would probably fix each of them to some very stiff stick, perhaps short wooden sticks that I'd laid on the toes, after which I'd taped the toes tightly to them with strong tape, such as duct tape, and left it in place for several weeks. I would probably let him go with the chickens immediately, no need to keep him inside a rabbit cage or whatever and stress the hell out of him as long as his wounds are securely patched up.
I mean, what an awesome rooster. How often do you get a rooster that is a perfect gentleman with humans... And cuddly with humans... And nice to the hens... And apparently the chicken equivalent of Rambo at the same time?
I absolutely don't condemn my friend's killing of him; I'm just saying that I'd probably have done everything in my power to save him and his tremendous genetics.
Me and him few weeks before he was sold:
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