Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

If you have a psychological disorder, you are not alone. Apart from my son and my grandfather, the human losses that I have faced don't hit me particularly hard, recently, my dad died just before Thanksgiving last year, but he did it to himself and was mean, my Grandmother, who was just cruel and manipulative.

I still have the ashes of Angus and Ribbies by my bed, I can't bring myself to bury them, because if we do move, I can't bear leaving them behind.

I cried like a baby reading this thread with the losses of all the original chickens, then Carbon and Henry too and I was sobbing over Fret or when @no fly zone lost Skeksis.

I cried for the turkeys we had to harvest, because they were trying to kill Major Tom and Alfie, I have cried over Blue and Pip, whom I loved despite their repeated attacks on The Egg Thief (Blue) and myself (Pip), Toots, the wild gosling abandoned by his flock, whom I managed to save his foot only to have him develop severe rye neck, which I was treating, with some success only for him to drown.

I don't officially know why, but I think it is because animals are innocents, anything "bad" that they do is out of survival and genetic instinct, whereas most humans make a conscious decision to be cruel and greedy.

Exactly. I can mourn what might have been with family members, but I can’t mourn what actually was. Regret, maybe.

 

[Ribh]

Three and a half hours today. 29C at mid afternoon and everyone was showing it with spread wings and open beaks.
Fret came out with a bit of encouragement and settled close to my chair or on my plot. I found she'll drink from the container in the picture above. She drank a lot today compared to yesterday. Two container fulls minus spillage so at least one. No force involved. She managed the ramp when going to roost and got on the perch. She didn't manage to join Tull and Sylph on the extension roost bar and sat on the ground half under the coop. It's cool there.
View attachment 4162694View attachment 4162695View attachment 4162696View attachment 4162698View attachment 4162699View attachment 4162700View attachment 4162701View attachment 4162702

I have always been very fond of Fret. I am sorry she is poorly but she is in good hands with you.

 

[no fly zone]

I have to be honest and it probably means I have some kind of psychological problem or other, I've grieved far longer and far harder for chickens I have known than I have for any human and that includes my mother and father.
There's more, one might have thought after so many deaths one would become hardened off to them. I don't seem to have got there. It hasn't got any easier.
View attachment 4162668

The death of Skeksis affected me far greater than the death of any human I've ever known, so I understand.

 

[Perris]

The summer birthday parties continue here: Fforest, Killay, Uppsala and Ystrad are 3 today

During the last year the other hatch-mates, the SFH sisters Frida and Quenelle, passed quickly and in quick succession, of illness unknown, but thankfully no-one else in the flock suffered it, including their sister Uppsala and their mother Venka.

I'll try to get a nice photo of Fforest and Uppsala today; I think I've posted some of Killay and Ystrad recently.

 

[Perris]

Here they are, enjoying a freshly exposed compost heap as a birthday treat this morning

 

[BDutch]

I've been watching chickens die for close to 25 years. I've seen hundreds die, some culled at end of maximum productivity, others for meat, the sick and the old and the injured.
Some I have grieved for more than others much as one might for the people one makes contact with in ones life. I have to be honest and it probably means I have some kind of psychological problem or other, I've grieved far longer and far harder for chickens I have known than I have for any human and that includes my mother and father.
There's more, one might have thought after so many deaths one would become hardened off to them. I don't seem to have got there. It hasn't got any easier.

I understand, grieving is a strange thing. But somehow, at least until now, I didn't grieve very much after the losses of chickens or other pets I had. I got over these losses rather quick. But I do feel a constant sadness for the millions of chickens and other farm animals in the meat, milk and egg industry. And I really don't understand the people who eat huge amounts of meat at a BBQ or in a restaurant.

There were a few losses of human that hit me harder than others who were not so very close to me. The loss of my older sister at the age of 43 hit me most. And loosing my dad a year later made it hard to coop with my own life for a while.

Mourning and grieving is part of live. So do enjoy the beautiful and lucky moments you get to the full! Enjoy the lives of Mow, Sylph and Tull who exist bc of you and have a beautiful chicken live.

Maybe a new rooster to tame, might make you and the young ladies happy. Or even a feather duster from an established flock with a first class CV. Unless you are thinking of quitting traveling to the allotment almost every day for many more years. I would understand this perfectly too. Rehoming 3 hens to is so much easier than a flock with a rooster.

How is your own health at te moment. Do the shingles still hurt?

 

[BDutch]

The summer birthday parties continue here: Fforest, Killay, Uppsala and Ystrad are 3 today

During the last year the other hatch-mates, the SFH sisters Frida and Quenelle, passed quickly and in quick succession, of illness unknown, but thankfully no-one else in the flock suffered it, including their sister Uppsala and their mother Venka.

I'll try to get a nice photo of Fforest and Uppsala today; I think I've posted some of Killay and Ystrad recently.

Congrats again!
If you let your broodies do as they please and don't cull any older hens, we need to congratulate you constantly, or at least every week, every spring and summer.

 

[BDutch]

Sad chickens

My youngest grandson loves chicken, but he loves animals as well. Obviously he struggled with this dilemma when he told the caretaker of the petting zoo, he was visiting with his father and brother, when he said:” I feel very sorry for the chickens because they are so tasty.”

(photo from NRC newspaper)

 

[Shadrach]

How is your own health at te moment. Do the shingles still hurt?

My health? I'll try not to be too facetious.
For someone with Shingles, yes it's still there,COPD and now Parkinson's Disease, apparently, I'm the picture of health according to the doctors.

 

[no fly zone]

My health? I'll try not to be too facetious.
For someone with Shingles, yes it's still there,COPD and now Parkinson's Disease, apparently, I'm the picture of health according to the doctors.

Damn- that sucks. Any course of action to remedy all that?