Hen or Roo?

[bbRedMom]

Hello all!

I have a chicken boarder coming to stay with me for the winter. "Buddy" literally fell off the back of a Tyson chicken truck near Fayetteville, AR.

His owner says Buddy crows a little, but I know that some of my hen occasionally crow. I just wonder if Buddy isn't a hen b/c chicken plants would want the great meat that comes on a female bird.

What do you think?

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v80/katikate/?action=view&current=buddy.jpg

 

[derby]

I can't get the photo to open. Maybe you should try again.

 

[bbRedMom]

Got it working!

 

[SterlingAcres]

Rooster.

 

[palomino777902]

Definatley looks like a roo to me!

 

[vfem]

Rooster!

(and I though meat plants really go for Roos anyways, just because they are the most often culled birds? No one wants a bird that doesn't lay it seems.

)

 

[bbRedMom]

Alrightly then, now I need some hens, ASAP!

Or Buddy will be one lonely rooster....

 

[Smartie_Pants]

Don't bother getting him any hens. He won't live past 6 months of age, and if he does count it as a miracle. I had a hen fall off the truck in front of my house. Her wing was broken and sticking through the skin so I had to get it amputated. She only lived to be about 7 months old (they are about 3 months when they move them) and then she had to be put to sleep. They are meat birds who are not meant to have a life longer than three months. My Henriettas heart and lungs litterally began to shut down and she couldn't walk, eat, or drink. It was terrible to watch and you'll just end up heartbroken if you get attached. The vet I took her too also had a rescue and his died a few weeks before mine did.

Here's a pic of her, taken just a few weeks before she died. :

 

[bbRedMom]

I picked him up today.

Oh god, it makes me want to never buy commercial chicken again.

Smartie Pants is right, he can hardly walk. The feathers on his belly are almost gone from having to lay down so much, and his legs are splayed. His tailfeathers are nasty with diareeah. Part of that though is that she gives him fruit every day.

I feel bad because his owner obviously loves him, and I dont know how to tell her he will have a very short life.

Is there anything I can do for him is regards to his weight?

He looks just like Henrietta.

 

[Smartie_Pants]

All you can do is make sure he runs around in the yard alot. Limit is food intake and make sure it is a low-protein food. That will slow the weight growth and prolong quality life a little, but there's really nothing you can do.

These birds are specially bred and have been developed over 50 years to get the way they are. All they are bred for is huge meat quick.

The feather are always going to have some poop in them, no matter if he is getting fruit or not, its just their nature. Just clean him up and make sure it doesn't dry to where he can't go. The feathers all along his underside are going to look scraggly too, they can't preen them because they are too big.

Just show him lots of love while he is alive and keep an eye out for any bad signs. Henrietta's symptoms that something were wrong were:

1. She layed around and would take forever to go down and get in her coop.

2. Her comb and face began to turn a weird purple shade (because her lungs were failing and her heart wasn't pumping blood. At the end, she had absolutly no circulation.)

3. She stopped eating

4. She just flopped over and couldn't set up or move.


If he goes down in his legs, its probably time too. Take a look at this page:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Broil/BRKMeat.html

It has a pic of what that will look like.