Have you ever cried over a chicken??

[GingerAndHerChicks]

I never thought that I would bond with my chickens as much as I have. But here I am crying over my silkie rooster I had to give up today because city prohibits roosters here. We ended up choosing for him to stay at a sanctuary as part of the “gentlemen’s club” for roosters. It makes me feel better knowing he can live out his life rather then end up on someone’s dinner plate. He loved to follow me around the yard and was always the first one to run towards me and wait for me at the gate.
How about you? Have you ever cried over a chicken? What were the circumstances?

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

I never thought that I would bond with my chickens as much as I have. But here I am crying over my silkie rooster I had to give up today because city prohibits roosters here. We ended up choosing for him to stay at a sanctuary as part of the “gentlemen’s club” for roosters. It makes me feel better knowing he can live out his life rather then end up on someone’s dinner plate. He loved to follow me around the yard and was always the first one to run towards me and wait for me at the gate.
How about you? Have you ever cried over a chicken? What were the circumstances?

Many times, all of them involving death.
I would most likely cry if I had to give up any of my chickens, though -- all of them are pets to me.
I'm sorry that you had to give up your rooster -- he sounds like such a sweet little thing.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm so sorry. My heart goes out to you. Hopefully you'll be able to visit the sanctuary and see him occasionally. As for your question, yes, I have cried many tears over a few chickens and ducks. I have cried whenever they're sick, deaths, taken by predator, and after a vet recommended euthanasia (didn't take this recommendation but cried many tears while figuring out what to do).

 

[GoatGirl123]

Yes I have cried over a chicken. Once over a death and once because we had to rehome a rooster. So sorry that you couldn’t keep him

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I never thought that I would bond with my chickens as much as I have. But here I am crying over my silkie rooster I had to give up today because city prohibits roosters here. We ended up choosing for him to stay at a sanctuary as part of the “gentlemen’s club” for roosters. It makes me feel better knowing he can live out his life rather then end up on someone’s dinner plate. He loved to follow me around the yard and was always the first one to run towards me and wait for me at the gate.
How about you? Have you ever cried over a chicken? What were the circumstances?

Yes, definitely. I have cried over lots of chickens. The fist chickens I cried over were my neighbor’s hens. I loved those 10 RIR girls so, so dearly. So when I got the call that half of them had been killed by a raccoon, I immediately burst into tears. Soon after they gave the rest away. That invoked more crying on my part.
I cried over my first batch of chicks. The teeeeeniest little Dominique girl was so weak. Wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, wouldn’t look at me. I cried over her. She was okay though.
I cried when my 8 week old EE pullet got a horrible leg injury.
I cried when I saw chicks dying of pasty butt at Wilco.
I cried when one of those pasty Wilco chicks I brought home became super weak and listless.


I cried when one of my EEs became egg bound. I ran around, face streaked with tears, trying to find some way to help the agonized hen gasping in my arms. I could see the blue egg in her vent, but her system was so exhausted from the 115° heat wave we were having that she couldn’t push it out. Her vent was swollen and red and bleeding. She was in so much pain. Her face was white as a sheet, she couldn’t keep her eyes open, her breath came in ragged hiccups, and her whole demeanor screamed “I’m in pain and you need to help me.”

It took her more than an hour to pass that egg. I cried the whole time.
Yeah. I cry a lot.
But it’s for my girls.
And it’s worth it.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Baby Margo when she died in my arms.

 

[EEforMe]

I’ve cried over every chicken I’ve ever owned except for the ones still alive (although if they’ve had I a sickness/disease/injury etc I’ve probably cried over them too)
I cried when I found out Blink was blind:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-story-of-blind-blink--the-story-of-the-three-raccoons.1494923/
I cried when my pullets that would follow me around and call for me when I wasn’t with them got cocci:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicks-and-coccidiosis.1491649/
I cried when one of those same pullets was killed by a hawk
I cried when dear little Cloud the porcelain d’uccle chick died and I only got to know her for less than a day
I’ve cried a lot over chickens but it’s only a sign of how much they mean to me