On the Nineteenth Day of Christmas, look what came to Rikki’s,
nineteen rebellious roosters,
Yes, just like the male turkeys, the roosters (male chickens) can be very aggressive. They will fight to the death over females. They will attack and fight animals other than roosters if they feel their territory is threatened, like a hooman who comes to “their” chosen area of the refuge, in their run with them. And one rooster is not happy with one hen, he demands to have at least 10 or 12 a day. And if they aren’t available, he will horribly torment the few he has. Several roosters with hens can seriously harm, or even kill them.
This is why people get rid of roosters. They usually want to keep the hens for the eggs they lay. But the roosters have little use, unless they want to eat them.
How sad is that?
In the egg industry many hens are kept for breeders, pumping out eggs (babies) in the hopes they will be good egg layers. Hoomans have breed chickens to have bigger and better parts for different reasons. Just let me tell you the two categories most are divided into if you want to be sick – layers and broilers. Yup, just what you’re thinking. Good for nothing but laying eggs or being broiled. Isn’t that horrible? I can’t imagine eating any living (or dead) soul.
Oh, I was going to tell you what they do to tiny little baby boy chicks, the go down the conveyor belt to the grinder and are torn to bits and tossed out. How horrible is that?
Hens tend to get along wonderfully in groups. So we can usually house those in need. They’re sweet and form loving bonds and they like other species, they just don’t have a competitive bone in their bodies. Why do hens need safe homes? Most of the ones that come to us are older and no longer laying eggs very fast, and so most people find them useless. Worse than useless, cus they have to pay to feed them. We welcome those hens for their long retirement years where they can eat, they can scratch around looking for bugs, they can have friends, and they can love life in the sunshine.
But those boys, the roosters, we can’t house as many of them. If we could neuter them it would help a lot. But due to their anatomy (internal testicles with a huge blood flow, more than to their brain, seriously) the mortality rate for general anesthesia and neutering is terribly high. I don’t know a vet who’ll do it.
Did you know a capon is a neutered chicken? It’s done cus it changes their taste. As google tells me, “the process is done on chicks and involves cutting between the last two ribs and spreading them apart to remove testicles. Due to potential complications, this process is carried out on conscious birds, without antibiotics or painkillers, and the incisions are not sutured. The testicles are also located right next to the kidneys and a vital artery, so a simple slip kills the bird.”
I’d been a vegetarian before Rikki’s Refuge came into being in 1998. Nonetheless the more I’ve learned about what people do to animals they want to eat the more it horrifies me. How about YOU?
But back to the roosters at Rikki’s story. Though we have a lot of roosters, we have to separate many, some can live as the only bird in an enclosure, and some we hoomans spend the rooster’s life time being attacked and kicked and torn bloody. They jump at you at a very high rate speed and, at the least, leave huge foot shaped bruise marks, at the worst, tear holes in you. We’ve had roosters tear holes thru work boots!!
So we can’t just add another rooster to the group. We’re limited on when and how many we can possibly house. I wish there was a better solution. Cock (rooster) fighters keep each rooster tied on a short chain or in tiny 3’x3’ pens, that seems like a horrible life, and we won’t do that. It’s a horrible dilemma because I so wish we could save so many more.
With your donations we care for our existing residents. When there are more donations that the daily needs, we are able to expand our housing areas, and save more animals, like the many roosters begging for safe homes every day. Want to help: Please make your tax deductible contribution by going to our website
https://RikkisRefuge.org/donate
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Rikki’s Refuge, PO Box 1357, Orange VA 22960
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