Awww… Godzilla! What a fitting name. Thanks for (briefly) sharing her story.I got 5 ex batts at 16 months old. I had also taken in 5 older hatchery birds from a family member a couple months before. I lost one of the ex batts within the month to some kind of internal issue. She had gone to roost one night looking slightly off and she was dead by morning. I lost another this summer. She had actually taken over as flock leader when the groups were put together and was a feisty figure. The hatchery hens I had gotten were ranging from 4-6 years old and the matriarch of the group was an old Buff Orpington that this ex batt fought brutally to take over from. I didn't have any roosters at the time but I did have some young cockerels and pullets running around and she beat them all into submission as well. She was named Godzilla by a family member of mine as her vocalizations were remarkably similar sounding to her namesake. She was famous for politely mugging small children for their snacks and was always underfoot. My birds are completely free to roam and she simply didn't come to roost one night. I never found any trace of her. I still have the other 3 in my flock of now 37 birds, 19 of which are the hatchery chicks I was given this spring along with some chicks that have hatched out here over the years.
Godzilla, a bit beat up from enforcing her tyrannical rule.
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Godzilla again
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The hen in front here is the first one that died. The other is still around.
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