Death Struggle
I am clueless whether Mister Tom is a gender appropriate name for the one remaining turkey of the misbegotten turkey trial. "Gender appropriate" means allot more to humans than it does to any of the she/he/its we name, especially in the languages which have no neuter pronouns. When he was in HS, YS interrupted one of my rambling puzzlements over where I could find the pill farms which produce all natural pills with the theory that you get all-natural tablets by introducing German tables (masc) to Spanish tables (fem) and let nature take its course and. . . Bingo! ! ! All-natural tablets.
Whether the name is gender appropriate or not, Mister Tom is in serious trouble this morning. I thought he was dead when I found him this morning and spent the morning nursing him in between getting the human children ready for school. Big Sis was crushed that she didn't get to play with the baby chickens after she was ready and waiting on the departure of the school train, but there wasnae room in the small space for her and the babies to play while I nursed the adolescant turkey. She/he isnae fully grown yet, but she is already the biggest bird I have ever nursed. The room I am brooding the chicks in is smaller than many apartment closets.
As of the take off of the school train, the situation was contained, but only contained. Mister Tom isnae able to stand and falling over every time she trys to move. Part of me says I need to put her out of her misery for the sake of the other birds as much as for her. That hurdle in flock tending remains to be jumped. For all my warrior bravado, running a knife across a throat remains a daunting task for me. For now, the current flock is less than a year old, but two years is an average chicken life. Flocks need to be culled. Chicken dinner does more than fill the belly of the flock keeper in flock tending.
Works in progress. . .
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Oh dear.... I wonder if the flock had something go through them that was contagious Arf??…. I'm afraid I know nothing about them but I wanted to give you a big hug... I am sorry that you've lost so many and Tom is so ill.... Big hug for you sweetie....xo
Growing up in Uruguay, every winter I had 3 weeks off from school to ride in the annual sheep herding of sheep from summer to winter pastures on a ranch owned by a member of my missionary dad's church. Riding on horseback with cowboys known there as "gauchos" like that for 3 weeks and camping nights in the cold prairie of the pampas was a boy's dream come true. It was a dream all but for dinner time every night, though. At dinner time we turned from shepherds caring for our flock to butchers because dinner every night was lamb roasted over an open fire. I witnessed the sacrificial lamb's slaughter every night on those 3 week roundups. It was eat lamb or eat nothing, a reality that was quite sobering. So I get what you say about running a knife across a throat quite literally, arfie.
Didn't know chickens had such short lives. Poor Tom.
In the midst of all this other chaos, I have done poorly with confirmation, et al, but the malady which hit the turkey flock is an avian disease called, "Blackhead." It is extremely common among birds but affects some birds more than others. Chickens are virtually immune and natural carriers while turkeys are especially vulnerable. There is no known cure nor treatment. I kept the flocks separate but suspect I carried the virus between the two flocks in the tending of both flocks. I was advised against mixing chickens and turkeys for this very reason. I promise to listen better next time.
Yup, 3 years is quite a long life for a chicken. By 4 they are suffering mightily from the pains of old age. If the flock keeper doesn't cull the old chickens, the flock will do it on its own. Watching a sick or disabled chicken get pecked to death by its flockmates is even more brutal than watching a gaucho slaughter a lamb.
That sounds harsh
Nature can be a brutal mistress and nothing bears finer proof than watching a chicken flock police its own members. Dressing the bird for the dinner table is far more humane. I reckon everybody has heard the dietary axiom, "You are what you eat." I've often wondered if, conversely, you become what eats you. I could swear I've heard chickens old enough to feel the flock pecking frenzy coming come clucking around me asking, "Hey, hey, ain't you hungry? Doncha wanna make me part of you?"
Just wondering. . . Sh-h-h-h. . . Don't tell my shrinks.
Poor Tom isnae looking any better. I been looking closer at my meat cleaver.
Im sorry its looking more like a mercy for poor Tom. My coworker has chickens for eggs, and i still didnt know they only live a couple of years. Triple hugs arfie.
The longest lived chicken in known history lived for six years. She was part of a husband/wife magic show and they put heroic efforts into prolonging her life. A feathery Methuselah? Frankenstein? Cher?
Tom is still hanging on and I haven't been able to do the do. Poor bubby's looking miserable. I had to move him away from the chicks. They were flock pecking and, little as they are, it didn't look like a fair fight.
Awwww poor tom. I hear ya, i couldnt do the deed either. Wow six years huh.not Cher, Im going to see her in concert on Saturday, if I dont have a panic attack this time. Last time, i spent a fortune and then couldnt go because of panic, ugh. So , um, yeah, not Cher, please lol. :)
Widow I’ve known people that have kept a chicken alive 20 years. Must have been a freak. Mine used to last longer than usual too. Maybe it depends on the breed? Support to you Arfie while you go through this. They can be such pets.
Um it was supposed to be wow not widow lol.
Re chooks, are we talking about productive life? Best egg laying years are over by 2 years and commercial enterprises then dispose of commercial breeds by then though they will still lay at a lesser rate. Heritage breeds last longer though they are not as prolific. I was always too soft for that, plus in permaculture the manure and insect control was just as valuable so a reprieve was justified..I guess I just loved them. You never realise how affectionate and full of character a chook is til you make pets of them.
I had to look up, "Chook." Google tells me that in Australia and New Zealand it is a cooked chicken, but sometimes used as a term of endearment for children and elders. In North Ireland, it is, "Atherina presbyter, called the Portaferry chicken."
Tom is precisely where I left him last night. It is not usual for chickens to stay still for even a few minutes. I didn't learn anywhere near as much about turkeys as I had hoped to during this experiment. For sure, turkeys are far less skittish than chickens, but a healthy turkey poult still move around allot more than your average mammal. Tom isnae any longer a poult, but at less than 4 months old, he is still an adolescent. The watch continues.