Toro the Hen Chaser
Toro has a morning routine which I have been trying to capture on film for a few days now. He sleeps in a pack-and-play in the dining room because he has started crowing. I brought Lester in to keep him company since his girl April Shadow has moved on to a great forever home. They seem to like each others’ company so it works out well.
Anyway, Toro’s morning routine is to crow, of course, and then wait for me to pick him up and take him outside with the girls. As soon as I set him down on the lawn, this gigantic heavy roo CHASES after the hens! He doesn’t have a lot of stamina and he’s too heavy to run far, so it’s a short chase and then he needs to catch his breath. But it’s hilarious. Have a look…
I’ve found a few more videos online of other rescued broiler roosters (cornish x chickens) and some have lived longer than I knew they could. One lived over 3 years! I may be building a sound-proof coop this summer for my own sanity if Toro is still crowing in my dining room by then, but I do hope he continues to do well and live a long life.
This is kind of a sad photo, but I wanted to share it anyway. This is Toro’s right foot. His outside toe is nearly completely missing. It was cut off when he was a baby, before he was rescued. Sometimes broiler chickens have their beak tips burned off so they don’t peck other chickens, which is terribly painful and cruel. I don’t see why someone would remove toes. He has a hard enough time walking without having to compensate his balance.
His left foot, a little poopy in this photo, also has the outside toe cut off, but not nearly as far back.
I’m amazed each day at how far he’s come and how well he’s doing, especially since he was in such sorry shape when he arrived here as a baby.
I made a promise to this baby roo when his turkey girl passed on, and I intend to keep my promise by providing a safe, comfortable, cushy, spoiled, loving, tomato-filled life for Toro roo, for as long as he shall live.
Keep chasing, Toro. Keep chasing those hens.
FUNNY FOLLOW-UP:
The next morning Toro decided maybe he was big enough to chase Carol hen.
He was wrong. 🙂
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