Help! Found a poor chicken that fell off a poultry truck

[FrostRanger]

Wonderful example.
But my point was that no roo is untamable. Just need patience/kindness
Also, are you into dog training?

I disagree, there very much are roos that are untameable or the very least will never be reliable around anyone else besides the owner if they do manage to get them to stop attacking them. I personally will not rehab an aggressive roo for a few reasons

1. He will still be a danger to others even if I somehow manage to get him to leave me alone. Roosters can do a surprising amount of damage and people are very much sue happy these days
2. He will pass down his bad attitude to his chicks which means more problem birds
3. If others get chicks sired by said roo, it goes from just one person's problem to many people's problem and if someone new gets one and especially if they have kids the results could be really bad. Mean roosters have ruined raising chickens for many people

Totally fine if you want to rehab roosters, I personally just think that while it benefits the individual rooster, it's detrimental to the hobby overall if said rooster is allowed to father chicks

 

[AidKD]

I was driving and found poor chicken on the side of the road on some grass. It looks like she’s wounded but it’s not infected. I have chickens of my own and want to take her home. I know I’ll have to keep her separated from the flock for a while but any other tips. Do you guys think she’ll make it?

Even if does make it, it would be wrong to let it continue living, as cornish crosses are not meant to live long lives. They have been bred and bred again to produce a large amount of meat in an unnaturally short amount of time. Meaning they are an unnatural bird, and live unnatural lives. They are not designed to live past 6 weeks. That doesn't mean they can't, but it does mean that the longer it's allowed to live past its time frame the more health issues it's going to have, until it eventually will die of a heart condition. It doesn't matter what you feed it or how little you feed it, it is going to have an excess amount of fat that will kill it sooner rather than later. Not to mention the joint issues it will have simply from living longer than what it should. It's great that you found him. Chicken is expensive to buy. And that is the only thing he's gonna be good for. You won't be able to successfully breed him to any of your chickens. And if you try introducing him into the flock the chances are very high that he will get picked on and bullied, because cornish crosses aren't smart enough to defend themselves, and they're too slow to protect themselves. I would butcher him sooner rather than later if I were you.

 

[AidKD]

Even if does make it, it would be wrong to let it continue living, as cornish crosses are not meant to live long lives. They have been bred and bred again to produce a large amount of meat in an unnaturally short amount of time. Meaning they are an unnatural bird, and live unnatural lives. They are not designed to live past 6 weeks. That doesn't mean they can't, but it does mean that the longer it's allowed to live past its time frame the more health issues it's going to have, until it eventually will die of a heart condition. It doesn't matter what you feed it or how little you feed it, it is going to have an excess amount of fat that will kill it sooner rather than later. Not to mention the joint issues it will have simply from living longer than what it should. It's great that you found him. Chicken is expensive to buy. And that is the only thing he's gonna be good for. You won't be able to successfully breed him to any of your chickens. And if you try introducing him into the flock the chances are very high that he will get picked on and bullied, because cornish crosses aren't smart enough to defend themselves, and they're too slow to protect themselves. I would butcher him sooner rather than later if I were you.

And I would also like to add that no cornish cross male is going to prove a threat to you in being mean. As I said before, they're too slow and stupid.

 

[Twilia]

That still does not explain why I would be attacked by one rooster but not by any of the other six that lived in the same pen at the same time, all raised together, all sharing their space with 40-something hens. Or various other ratios in other years.

Nor does it explain why the water boots and everything else were fine every day for months, then at some point the rooster started attacking me regularly. Sure, his hormones could have kicked in, but why would he decide there was danger in something he saw every day of his life?

I am positive that some roosters react differently than others to identical environmental conditions. Breed is not the only difference. Environment is not the only difference. It's not as simple as finding the right breed, or the right raising techniques, and never having problems again.



Hah. Walk in, refill feeder, dump and refill water, dump bowl of kitchen scraps, walk out. Attack by one rooster, not by other roosters. I say the problem was with the rooster, not with me. But he's long gone (several decades by now.)

I am sorry @Cjcyndi for taking up so much of your thread...

Since you folks want such explicit answers from me though I have no idea what other factors were in play when you raise these birds, I will try to answer as well as I can give the information, I have...
(Should I start a thread for people to tell me their issues and options or what?).

It is not about never having problems. You will ALWAYS have issues, but you need to deal this them well, to consider them solved.

Roos are all individuals; thus, one cannot predict the behavior from age, breed, etc. But, from my thoughtful experience, I believe that your cocks were probably youngish, like 6+ months old, that's when the male hormones kick in. Now, the aggression; It could have been that the pen was obviously his turf; You were the outsider, a threat. The dominate cocks will take care of the threats. You need TO SHOW HIM YOU MEAN NO HARM for him to stop attacking his perceived threat. No matter what freaking humdrum chores you did, something in his view of you changed. I assume you did not change that perception, only continued with your business. Therefore, he did not change his perception of you as a threat.

As for everything else, REREAD my post more closely, I believe I explained that clearly.

 

[Twilia]

Even if does make it, it would be wrong to let it continue living, as cornish crosses are not meant to live long lives. They have been bred and bred again to produce a large amount of meat in an unnaturally short amount of time. Meaning they are an unnatural bird, and live unnatural lives. They are not designed to live past 6 weeks. That doesn't mean they can't, but it does mean that the longer it's allowed to live past its time frame the more health issues it's going to have, until it eventually will die of a heart condition. It doesn't matter what you feed it or how little you feed it, it is going to have an excess amount of fat that will kill it sooner rather than later. Not to mention the joint issues it will have simply from living longer than what it should. It's great that you found him. Chicken is expensive to buy. And that is the only thing he's gonna be good for. You won't be able to successfully breed him to any of your chickens. And if you try introducing him into the flock the chances are very high that he will get picked on and bullied, because cornish crosses aren't smart enough to defend themselves, and they're too slow to protect themselves. I would butcher him sooner rather than later if I were you.

@AidKD, please read the beginning of this thread, page two, where I said I rescued three of these commercial type chickens and a turkey to the age of five years old, just fine, and they actually thrive.

What exactly is wrong with allowing an animal that had no control over her unnaturally engineered body, to have the chance at life? That science was wrong on our part, so reversing the "trend" would be right thing in this situation to do.

Since you do not have the experience raising these breeds past slaughter age, stop discouraging her when you do not know what you are talking about.
Read that would you? So that I do not have to repeat myself?

And excuse my frankness, but I find your unhelpful comments disgusting, and disturbing.

 

[Cjcyndi]

Even if does make it, it would be wrong to let it continue living, as cornish crosses are not meant to live long lives. They have been bred and bred again to produce a large amount of meat in an unnaturally short amount of time. Meaning they are an unnatural bird, and live unnatural lives. They are not designed to live past 6 weeks. That doesn't mean they can't, but it does mean that the longer it's allowed to live past its time frame the more health issues it's going to have, until it eventually will die of a heart condition. It doesn't matter what you feed it or how little you feed it, it is going to have an excess amount of fat that will kill it sooner rather than later. Not to mention the joint issues it will have simply from living longer than what it should. It's great that you found him. Chicken is expensive to buy. And that is the only thing he's gonna be good for. You won't be able to successfully breed him to any of your chickens. And if you try introducing him into the flock the chances are very high that he will get picked on and bullied, because cornish crosses aren't smart enough to defend themselves, and they're too slow to protect themselves. I would butcher him sooner rather than later if I were you.

Yes I did think about that and read somewhere else where what you said is explained. Therefore I was determined for my husband or father in law to humanely put him to sleep as described in my chicken chick book but the more I took care of it and how lively it has been has changed my mind. I will try my best to give it another chance. When it does decide to pass away I will bury it next to my one chick that didn’t make it past a week last year . I know eating it would be most convenient but I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it and I would probably be crying the whole time. Of course, if anybody else would decide to do that I wouldn’t judge. But now I have a greater appreciation for the poor meat birds and now I will be more considerate in not wasting food.

 

[AidKD]

Yes I did think about that and read somewhere else where what you said is explained. Therefore I was determined for my husband or father in law to humanely put him to sleep as described in my chicken chick book but the more I took care of it and how lively it has been has changed my mind. I will try my best to give it another chance. When it does decide to pass away I will bury it next to my one chick that didn’t make it past a week last year . I know eating it would be most convenient but I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it and I would probably be crying the whole time. Of course, if anybody else would decide to do that I wouldn’t judge. But now I have a greater appreciation for the poor meat birds and now I will be more considerate in not wasting food.

That's entirely up to you. Just be aware of of his health issues, and bullying from flock members.

 

[Twilia]

And I would also like to add that no cornish cross male is going to prove a threat to you in being mean. As I said before, they're too slow and stupid

I disagree, there very much are roos that are untameable or the very least will never be reliable around anyone else besides the owner if they do manage to get them to stop attacking them. I personally will not rehab an aggressive roo for a few reasons

1. He will still be a danger to others even if I somehow manage to get him to leave me alone. Roosters can do a surprising amount of damage and people are very much sue happy these days
2. He will pass down his bad attitude to his chicks which means more problem birds
3. If others get chicks sired by said roo, it goes from just one person's problem to many people's problem and if someone new gets one and especially if they have kids the results could be really bad. Mean roosters have ruined raising chickens for many people

Totally fine if you want to rehab roosters, I personally just think that while it benefits the individual rooster, it's detrimental to the hobby overall if said rooster is allowed to father chicks

Somedays I ask myself "Why not just agree?".
Like I said I am open to criticism, but I do not agree. And we all have our opinions, I just want to share what I have learned, not necessarily argue with anyone unless I have to explain.

Therefore, still believe based on my experience that aggression in cocks is only natural, AND that no cock is untamable.
Now back yourself. Give me an example of your experience of an "untamable" roo. Because I do not know of any and have "tamed" the mean breeds as well.

My purpose is to educate others who have cocks, because the people who spread the "Dominate him method" are ill-advised and cause more harm in that it is dangerous to do that to a roo.
My rehab cocks were mostly dealt with that way by well-meaning folks who were told the wrong advice.

As for siring, unless a cock has excellent conformation or a good standard for his breed, they do not breed. Aggression is usually only temporary, to test or defend against perceived threats. And if a roo that displays these excellent traits does breed, and his attitude does pass on (BTW, scientists are still gathering facts that determine how much of these "moods" are, in fact, passed on, and not learned behavior), then after some generations, if the aggression were being passed on, that could be another strain of that breed.
If you do not want that strain, then do not get that strain.
Also, I am not a breeder

 

[Bolfreak]

Yes I did think about that and read somewhere else where what you said is explained. Therefore I was determined for my husband or father in law to humanely put him to sleep as described in my chicken chick book but the more I took care of it and how lively it has been has changed my mind. I will try my best to give it another chance. When it does decide to pass away I will bury it next to my one chick that didn’t make it past a week last year . I know eating it would be most convenient but I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it and I would probably be crying the whole time. Of course, if anybody else would decide to do that I wouldn’t judge. But now I have a greater appreciation for the poor meat birds and now I will be more considerate in not wasting food.

This.
You’ve done above and beyond what most people would do already, especially the business that created and perpetuated these kinds of animals.
When I went thru PT testing training, we practiced on battery chickens from the egg business (Leghorns). I was aghast at the condition they were in - plastic crates they couldn’t stand up in, long toenails, greasy feathers and poor things were still laying eggs. I asked what would happen to them and the response was, humane euthanasia with CO gas.
I have heritage turkeys that free range all day and am impressed with their intelligence and unique personalities. But the business side created BB turkeys that like Cornish X are meant to live short, miserable lives so we can have Thanksgiving.
I don’t have any advice to give other than, you’ll know. You’ll know when too much is too much, if it’s a mean roo, if it’ll be a quirky rescue that defies the odds, you’ll know. It’ll be ok.
Thanks for having compassion on this little creature

 

[Cjcyndi]

That's entirely up to you. Just be aware of of his health issues, and bullying from flock members.

I think I’m going to keep it next to my flock in its own separate area and hopefully have him/her roost at night with them in a separate section I have that’s not being used. And of course if I see that it’s suffering I will not prolong its suffering.