•2 min read•from chickens
my rooster is all alone
Our take
At just 15 years old, the journey of your rooster has been a rollercoaster of love and heartache. Rescuing him from a cat's clutches was an act of bravery, but keeping him in a small cage alone for so long weighs heavily on your heart. The joy of finally bringing home hens quickly turned to sorrow with their untimely losses, leaving your feathered friend lonely once again. It’s clear how deeply you care for him, but the struggle to convince your parents to find him companionship is both frustrating and painful. With options feeling limited and the thought of slaughter looming over you, it’s understandable to feel lost.
I am 15 years old. Last year in Feb, I saved one of those easter baby chicks from a cat's mouth and brought it home.
Since I lived in a small city apartment, and knew absolutely nothing about chickens, I kept him in a small cage alone. I would occasionally let him roam freely, but since my mother hated the mess, I could only release him from his cage when she wasn't home.
He spent the first 7 months of his life in a cage, all alone. (I'm not proud of this).. I'd try to sit next to his cage, to maybe make him feel less alone.
Until we shifted to a house and, Finally convinced my parents to get 2 hens for him, and a way bigger cage. The first hen died just a month later.
Rest of the two remained happily til 5 months until the other hen fell ill and died. It's been two weeks since, and the rooster has been alone ever since. I keep trying to convince my parents to do something, get a new hen..but they keep postponing it and shit...it's like they don't care about him at all. I've taken care of this rooster his whole life myself.
I feel so horrible for the rooster, he's been spending so much time alone in a cage..I've been crying thinking about him.
I don't know what to do...nobody around me wants to take him, and I don't want to bring a hen for him because she'll also have to live in these conditions..
The other option left for me is to give him to get slaughtered. It's the easiest, yet it's very heavy on me as I've grown an emotional bond with him over the year. I love him so much, but I can't imagine him getting slaughtered...I genuinely don't know what to do. I can't find anybody to take him either. Is slaughtering really the only option left?
[link] [comments]
Read on the original site
Open the publisher's page for the full experience
Related Articles
- Abandoned Chickens and my worst nightmare for themI placed this as NSFW bc it involves the death of a chicken. I just need to vent... I'm so sad. History Around October, some asshole abandoned an entire flock of chickens near our house. The chickens took up residence around the neighborhood, spending nights in trees and days in our yards. Initially, I did not clock that they were abandoned.... I thought they were just adventurous with a poor excuse of an owner not keeping them properly. I did not understand they were alone until I saw them retreat into my own trees. That's when I contacted animal services... At the time, there were around 9 chickens, 2 of them roosters. I put out feed for them in one location to try to help keep them in a predictable area. The city managed to catch 4 before they gave up the case. And I don't blame the city for giving up; these chickens are fast and agile. But how dare someone just leave them like this???? Anyway. Since it became accepted here that they would just be the neighborhood chickens, similar to the insane amount of stray cats in our area, I accepted one day, I would likely be the one to find them dead when they die of natural or otherwise causes. (They really like our evergreen trees.) I do not have the resources to care for these guys, but I do watch over them. I count myself as a "chicken lady" vs all the other "cat ladies" on our street. I have even spoken with my dog's vet about these little ones. She is equally as upset at their abandonment. They are a resilient, dedicated, and loyal bunch. There is 1 rooster and 4 chickens now. 2 of the chickens are black, 2 are tan. The tan ones would come up to me when I used to feed them... it was so sweet. I never pet them, and I stopped feeding them when the city gave up. They graze and are healthy on their own. Today: Anyway... Today, a chicken found her way into my yard severely injured. She was the smallest and sweetest. I saw her from my window in my backyard for the first time in a month. She couldn't walk straight. Couldn't fly. She couldn't lift her head. It was obvious she'd been attacked by something around the neck. I could see it clearly from inside before I rushed to her. Once I was with her, it was evident she also had a serious head injury; it was not scabbed or bleeding, but it was a goopy black. For every step she tried to take forward, she would take several backwards. She was also swarmed with flies, which she would peck at periodically to no avail. Her state was grim. I tried to give her water, and she was so thirsty... she tried to drink, but couldn't reach the water no matter how she tried and how i tried to help her. So I found an exotic er vet to take her to, and they were wonderful given the situation. I spent about an hour in the yard with her before I collected her into a carrier. During that time, she would come to me every so often, eventually sitting beneath me in my chair. She had the most curious brown eyes. She let me place her in the carrier without any hesitation, and i was devastated to see how she relaxed immediately upon being inside... She'd been alone for so long. She hadn't felt safe enough to rest in idk how long. This little girl trusted me enough to know she would be safe at my house and with me to pass. I'm honored to be a safe space, but I'm also incredibly angry. I just cannot fathom doing this to any animal, much less so many. I know I did the right thing for her, keeping her company and giving her a peaceful death.. I stayed with her till they put her to sleep. She seemed to take comfort in my presence, and I didn't want her to be alone.. and she's not my chicken, never was. But goddammit. Watching this happen and knowing it's only a matter of time for the others... idk what to do. I feel powerless. Thanks for letting me vent. I am open to suggestions on how I could capture the remaining flock, but I have tried many strategies over the months. None have been successful. submitted by /u/xprincessmuffin [link] [comments]
- Saying a painful goodbye to my flockToday is a heavy day. I’m writing this to share a journey that started when I was just a kid. Back then, chickens and roosters were the most exciting thing in the world to me. No matter what was going wrong, watching them made me forget every sorrow. They were my peace. But as life happened—parents' rules, moving, and time—I had to let them go. About 10 years passed. Recently, I found myself at the lowest point in my life. I was struggling with deep anxiety, depression, and a total lack of joy. I felt lost. Then, one day, I was walking through the market and saw him: a massive, blood-red rooster with a perfect rose comb and a shimmering black tail. It felt like an electric current hit my body. For the first time in over a decade, I felt a spark of pure happiness. I didn't have the money or the space at that exact moment, so I begged the seller to hold him for me. When I came back the next day, he was gone. Someone else had bought him. I was devastated, but that moment woke something up in me. I realized that part of why I was so unhappy was because I had lacked this connection for so long. I decided then and there: I’m bringing chickens back into my life. I started with a pair. The hen got sick, so I had to sell her. Then the rooster got sick, and I had to let him go too. But I didn't give up. A month later, I brought home three hens and a rooster, later adding one more hen. They were my world. But reality hit hard yesterday. A predator took my beautiful white rooster. I’ve realized I’ve been forcing this to work in a place where it just can't. I live in an area surrounded by predators, and I don't have the space or the proper setup to keep them 100% safe. Every day is a constant state of fear—for me and for them. I can't bear the thought of watching my hens get taken one by one. So, I’ve made the hardest decision yet. Instead of buying a new rooster, I am going to sell my hens and end my flock. It breaks my heart, but I have to be realistic. I’m choosing to focus on my career and my future now. If life allows it, and if I’m still around 15 or 20 years from now, I promise myself this: I will build my own house on my own land with a secure, predator-proof setup. Only then will I bring my roosters back. Until then, goodbye to my lovely birds. Thank you for bringing color back into my life when everything was grey. submitted by /u/Independent-Gate-541 [link] [comments]
- My rooster is not at the top of the pecking order, what do i do?Ok so i have this beautiful Little bantam/serama rooster, i love him with all my heart, he is the light of my life. He is 5 years old. Well, all his life, he was the Alpha rooster, at the top of the pecking order, always beating the rest of the roosters, either small like him or big big. Well, last week, my parents told me that this nacked neck rooster finally beat him. I find IT strange, because this nacked neck was so afraid of my small roo. Now, after my roo was beat by this big guy, he changed so much. He stopped to eat for a couple of days, my parents thought he would die. Hes ok, thanks god. But now my baby is afraid of eberything, tends to be by himself, doesnt spend time with the other chickens. What do i do to fix this? He is suffering, i see this, he is not the Alpha anymore and i need him to be happy and a leader like he always was. Please be kind, i am very scared for his life, i dont want to lose him, i love him so much, he is my pet and my Best friend! Thank You! submitted by /u/lexandrix [link] [comments]
- Neighbours rooster is very aggressive & attacks me.My neighbours got a rooster recently, he has been coming over to my hens ever since, he basically lives here now and despite many efforts he will not move back to their land. Multiple of their birds have ended up moving into our paddock so this isn’t unusual for us but their rooster is very aggressive, he will stalk me, charge at me from behind, jump at me, aggressively peck me and has made me bleed several times. He mated with our hens and we have fertilised eggs. He also attacks our hens occasionally. My mother is now afraid to go out to our paddock and he is causing a lot of trouble for us since I can barely walk without having him lunge & attack me. I’ve been keeping hens for 13 years but have only had 1 rooster prior, he was perfectly relaxed around humans contrary to this one. I’m not afraid around him but this isn’t okay and I don’t want it to continue. I can’t safely pick him up without gloves because he will go for my hands + he is a large bird. I use sticks to create a barrier between me and him and if he attacks me I walk in towards him to try and assert dominance. It has not been successful. My neighbours do not seem to care much about their chickens, they have an automatic closing system on their coops that often closes far too early. They are frequently killed by foxes and their kids behave abusively towards the birds (stamping, kicking, spraying them with hose pipes on jet-mode). Somebody else in my household has reported the rooster’s behaviour to them and they were dismissive. Any help is appreciated. Edit: my paddock has a public footpath connected to it so he is a risk to the public as well as my family & my hens. submitted by /u/StribrneNebe [link] [comments]
Tagged with
#chickens#fear of chickens#rooster#alone#emotional bond#cage#slaughtered#hen#care#Easter baby chicks#bond#ill#condition#crying#die#city apartment#parents#take care#freely#shifted