Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

He closed his eyes and dozed instead for about ten minutes.:love


He did go out with Mow and Tull, even mated Mow who crouched for him a couple of times. Mow going to start laying again.

I hope he's looking better tomorrow.:fl
Awe, Sweet Henry! "I don't like being handled, but is it ok if I just snuggle up while I am here?"

Are you going to let her or Fret sit this year? (Mow eggs fertilized by Henry would be quite a prize!)

Fingers crossed that he got it all out of his system and napping on a warm lap made him feel better!
 
Two hours today. Not much above freezing with some sunshine.
Henry wasn't looking well when I arrived. He didn't stand at the gate waitng to come out and he didn't eat any of the food along with the others. The hens know he's not well. Sylph kept him company while the others went foraging. Fret didn't go far from Henry the entire afternoon.
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Henry's dropping are usually very regular even when the hens droppings don't lok great. This is what I found when I looked.
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That wet patch is Henry's droppings. Not at all like his usual.
Henry doesn't really like being handled and I very rarely pick him up. Today was an exception because I wanted to check him over for any vent, crop and problems and to look in his mouth. Absolutly no fuss when I picked him up and put him on my lap. Vent looked fine, good colour and condition. No external parasites apart from the leg mites which he's had most of his life it seems. Clean throat and inside beak although he does have a very small chip on his upper beak which I hadn't noticed before.
The inspection didn't take long and I thought once I had done he would stand up and jump off my lap. He closed his eyes and dozed instead for about ten minutes.:love
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He did go out with Mow and Tull, even mated Mow who crouched for him a couple of times. Mow going to start laying again (?)
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He ate a little froom the tray and some more from my hand later and ate a decent amount of the cooked rice and Brazil nut I took for them.
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I hope he's looking better tomorrow.:fl
Poor old man 😔 :hugs
 
Here's hoping Henry feels better soon.

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Joel, my first roo.

He's about 10 weeks old here.
 
I hope so too. I know he is an old gent now but he always looks so splendidly healthy it is easy to forget that.
Hoping for the best for him.


Henry lap naps :love
Feel good, better, best, Henry!

I hope Henry feels better soon.

Awe, Sweet Henry! "I don't like being handled, but is it ok if I just snuggle up while I am here?"

Are you going to let her or Fret sit this year? (Mow eggs fertilized by Henry would be quite a prize!)

Fingers crossed that he got it all out of his system and napping on a warm lap made him feel better!
Every day for at least the last fifteen years of trying to look after chickens I have had in my mind the thought that one or all may be dead, injured or sick every day. The more chickens one has the more likely the above is. Lots of chickens over a long period of time has meant for me, lots of dead chickens, lots of injuries but thankfully not a lot of sickness unless one includes whatever problem it was a hen died of after an average or better expected life span.
Henry is getting on. Ten years is what one should expect for a Light Sussex rooster or hen according the lifespan for the breed estimates I've read. Henry is probably nine years old so he is an old gent and as such, things that a younger rooster might shake off, a nine year old rooster may struggle with, or die of.
Why I'm particulalry concerend, apar t from it being Henry of course, is the less than usual interest in food. He's a large chap and in the current tempeatures (1C to -2C forcasted at night) he needs the calories to keep warm. Sick and cold at his age is dangerous as it is with humans.
 

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