Two roosters live with our hens. They live separately but there is a shared fence. When I brought the second one into the flock the two roosters went at it through the fence and twice the bigger Barred Rock roo FLEW over the fence to fight with our new roo.
It was horrible, there was blood everywhere and combs and wattles needed a lot of Neosporin. These roosters were together for maybe 5-minutes and then I separated them. Luckily this only happened a few times and now they're ok with each other.
I cannot imagine cockfighting as a sport. That is the most inhumane activity and animal cruelty at its worst.
Fast forward to this story about possible cockfighting (clearly) and 114 chickens (hens and roos) found in an abandoned garage in Chicago.
Chicago's CBS Local News reported that 80 roosters were found in a garage and they lived in unsanitary conditions. The smell was almost unbearable according to animal control officers. Residents alerted authorities of possible cockfighting. The owner had run-ins with officers in the past. Animal fighting and animal abuse are growing in Chicago neighborhoods. It's a felony in Illinois to fight animals.
This not a farm but a backyard of someone's home!
BlockClubChicago reported that these roosters are part of a group of 114 chickens.
"The roosters are part of a group of 114 chickens, including hens, rescued from an Englewood home earlier this month. The chickens were living in "inhumane conditions," all inside one garage. Many were missing toes and feathers and had open wounds, according to Animal Control."
Keeping roosters and chickens is legal in Chicago.
Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC) decided to try to rehabilitate and adopt out the chickens! It partnered with several local organizations to get most of the roosters and all of the hens to sanctuaries.
This is the statement on the CACC's Facebook page, great news for those roos!
"UPDATE: THANK YOU CHICAGO! As of now, all of the roosters have adoption or rescue holds! ??. We at CACC have never embarked on rooster adoptions before, but we wanted to do all we could to help give these feathered fellas a second chance to live a good life. We thank our partners for assisting us with adoptions and rescue placement also!
A couple of weeks ago, CACC assisted the Chicago Police Department to confiscate 114 chickens (hens and roosters) that were living in inhumane conditions on the southwest side. We are so grateful to our amazing community including Chicago Animal Save, Chicago Chicken Rescueand Chicago Roo Crew who helped rescued 83 of them! There are 31 roosters left and we'd like nothing more than to see them all find good homes. There is no ordinance against keeping roosters in Chicago, so we are making them available for adoption to well-qualified applicants with the help of our partners. Please share with anyone willing to give a rooster a good home and help them find a new place to roost! "
What a wonderful ending for these chickens.
Raising chickens is a wonderful hobby for my husband and I but there are everyday tasks and responsibilities. Having a chicken coop in a garage sounds like hell for any chicken in my book. Chicken keepers that live in the city and urban chicken keepers get a bad name when stories like this are promoted but I want to do the opposite. It's wonderful that urban chicken keepers are owning chickens for fresh eggs and this should be encouraged!
Only crazy individuals would put 114 chickens in his garage and not think someone would eventually alert the police of the smell alone! I'm glad to see the Windy City makes keeping hens and roos legal since any Chicagoan would be proud to show off their coop!
Know someone who would like to add chickens to their flock? Tell us in the comments below!
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