15 replies to this topic

[skaterava]

It was awful. I've had him for two years now, and he was always so full of life, always running around, making noise, violently raping his hens, attacking everyone. If you whistled to him at a certain frequency, he would respond with a very loud cluck that could be heard from a long way away. His crowing was so loud i swore i once heard it from my place of work, half a kilometre down the road. The colour of shoe you wore also made him react in different ways, dark colours would leave him calm whilst whites, reds and yellows would set him off, and he'd run straight for you and try and attack. He was a very stressed and angry chicken, but he'd always put a smile on the face of everyone who watched him, because he was such a character. At about 4 o clock, i heard him crowing. Ten minutes later, i got called outside by my mum, and he was lying dead in the middle of the front garden. Nothing had attacked him, he hadn't been ill, he had just dropped dead. What made it sadder was the littlest of the hens were gathered around him when we discovered him, his usual puffed up plumage was now flat and lifeless.

We named him Chip, because a) he had golden brown feathers, the same colour as oven chips, but also because he always had a chip on his shoulder...

It seems strange to mourn for a chicken, usually one would react in such a way if the family dog or cat passed away. I just thought i'd post a little something about him, this rooster really was something special.

Edited by skaterava, 30 June 2010 - 11:59 PM.

[OliConcept37]

Sorry to hear of your loss. That's some mighty strange circumstances though ay!

Never had a rooster, but had chickens about a year or so (since I found one at the side of a main road with it's wings clipped to within an inch of it life). Mum decided that as we couldn't find it's home we should get it some company, that made three. They're far more intelligent than people give them credit for, shed-loads of character too!

Commiserations

Oli

[sweetser]

My chickens got eaten by a fox.. i was looking forward to eating them

now we got 4 new ones but there boring, but lay some huge eggs! lol

[davidv]

Sorry to read about your Pet.Could have been the hot wheather.

[olds_kool_lews]

when you raise something, feed it, look after it for a long period of time, u get attatched, be it a rooster, a cat or a dog, its always sad to lose them! especially when they have so much character!

sorry for your loss!

[Teapot]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Obviously Chip was part of your life and he's left a void. Must have been quick. They do just pop off suddenly. I have a share (1) in 3 rescued battery hens. We got 5 but 1 managed to drown in a tiny pond in midwinter and the other just fell over one day and never got up. The other 3 watched me bury it and tried to get at the worms while I was digging. C'est la vie. Mourn awhile, then get another rooster.

What do the neighbours think?

[Heather&Henrietta]

Hello there.

Very sorry to hear you've lost your cockeral My mum and I have about 38 chickens altogether, my mum breeds them.

Sounds to me like it could be the heat of the day, possible dehydration. Unfortunately cockerals often neglect their own physical needs, purely because their purpose in life to mate hens and look after them, which often means they don't drink or eat enough. I'm sure you've given your chickens feed, bread or whatever, and he's taken some, and put it down infront of his girls, etc.

The only other thing I can think of is, a possible heart attack. Chickens are spooked easily, could be something in the trees/hedges or something, or if he had a bad circulation anyway. Was his comb a natural bright red, or was it discoloured at all? And was his face pale?

[mattdc2r]

Seems odd getting attached to a chicken, but................ My little bro had to do a survival course with the Army, he spent a week looking after and feeding a chicken for it's eggs etc. On the final day he had to wring it's neck for lunch. He went hungry that day. As he said to my mum, i just looked into it's big eyes and i couldn't do it lol.
He's not in the Army anymore.

[skaterava]

Sounds to me like it could be the heat of the day, possible dehydration

The only other thing I can think of is, a possible heart attack

These are the two possible causes of death we had in mind. He'd always let the hens eat and drink first, and my dad noted that the day before he died, and the morning of the day he died, he refused to eat or drink anything.

His comb was always bright red, but he was a very stressed-out chicken. In the first year we had him, a ferret managed to enter the coop and kill a hen during the night (fortunately at the time, we only had one hen). He survived with some minor injuries, but he was never the same. He went from being fairly calm and docile to being extremely aggressive and paranoid. I've got a fair few cuts on me, courtesy of his beak and talons. We reckon this constant stressing, coupled with the heat of the day and his refusal to eat or drink, killed him.

Edited by skaterava, 01 July 2010 - 03:37 PM.

[skaterava]

A hen has already gone missing. Great.

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

RIP Chip It could be a number of things really mate.

I know how easy it is to get attatched to animals of all kinds. Sure, it's just a Rooster, but a special one, and once they're in your heart thats it. In my line of work i've had to deal with a lot, and i've only worked for the RSPCA for two months. When i first started we had 2 ducklings, and i got so attatched to them, they made a very good recovery. Only to find on their final check-up that one had a tumor that would soon put too much pressure on his brain and make it cave in on itself. I cried over that for hours, you get to know them, and their personalities and traits when you see them everyday. Then you take them for granted, next thing you know they're gone. You never truely let go of them i don't think, you just come to terms with the fact that they are gone, and you don't even have to 'move on' like some people say, because they will always be with you in spirit

I'm sure he's gone to the big animal farm in the sky and is looking down on you in his active chippy like characteristics that you know and love right now

Edited by Mini-Mad-Craig, 01 July 2010 - 11:12 PM.

[Sam14]

He's giving the big man some hell i bet, Good old Chip

Most humans have a really protective and caring attitude over animals

Its natural to feel that way

Get a Chip 2?

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Most humans have a really protective and caring attitude over animals

And unfortunately some think it's okay to leave their pets with no food or water when they go away on holiday, and dump rabbits on the side of the road, and guinea pig's in bins Let me at people that are cruel to animals, i'd be locked up in no time.

[syholl]

I bet your neighbours are celebrating though. Our neighbours have a rooster and the damn thing never shuts up...!!!

[skaterava]

Possibly.

I think that hen i said went missing has been stolen. She was last seen close to the road, and after scouring the whole area (including the road), we've found no chicken, and no signs of her being attacked or hit by a car (feathers, blood etc).

She was very friendly, so picking her up wouldn't have been a problem. I think she was down by the roadside in the evening, and someone (e.g. "travellers", or people who already own chickens) may have pulled up, picked her up, and driven off.

Wow, these are bad times for my flock.

Edited by skaterava, 02 July 2010 - 10:59 PM.