Death

I am trying to come to terms with the fact that I am going to have to put Ole down. The problem of course stems from the fact that although his legs are bad - the rest of him seems fine. He is eating and drinking and even crowing. And of course he is such a good rooster. If there was a prize for roosters he would get it. He is good to his girls (well not Ripple - but even with her he isn't totally terrible); he crows in the morning but not excessively; he is not aggressive. and he is beautiful too.


Ole and the girls 

I had him out on the lawn last night near his girls and he was very happy - trying to scratch and giving them his "I've got something good to eat!" clucks. Other than not being able to walk he seems so good. He can get going and actually run when he flaps his wings - so I am tempted to see what we can do with chicken physical therapy - basically get him out every evening and let him move around - see if he can build up strength again. How long I should do that before I give up - I don't know.

I am trying to figure out if I am being too selfish here in my hesitation to put him down - but there is that element of uncertainty - he might get better and then it would be a shame to put him down. As far as I can tell he isn't hurting and he doesn't seem mentally miserable either. Next Tuesday will be 2 weeks. I think I will give him till then.

In the meantime I am going to order some hatching eggs from Ideal and get those started. Was trying to hatch eggs anyway to see if I could get a son out of him - he just has the best disposition. Unfortunately none of them were fertile.