More Losses...

A week ago, Roy the animal guy brought over some more chickens to put in his pen...which is located beside our chicken coop. The chickens didn't look too healthy and were definitely on the scraggly side, but I had him *dust* them and put them in his pen. The next day, one of them was dead and a couple of others sounded like they had bronchitis.
Then a day later, Pender, our rooster, sounded like he was getting bronchitis.
The day before yesterday, gorgeous Pender was dead.

Pender in happier days, riding on Gabby.

Pender, when he was courting Ugly Betty

The loss of Pender hit me hard and I was VERY angry at Roy. I let Roy know I was angry, in no uncertain terms. He offered me one of his roosters, and I refused, as I didn't want one of those ugly, scraggly, nasty looking birds! He asked me what kind of rooster I needed to make up the loss. I told him I wanted the same breed as Pender, a calm bird and one that would be as watchful and attentive to his hens as Pender was.
This morning he arrived with a rooster, exactly as I had ordered. He again apologized for his part in Penders demise and said he hoped the new rooster would work....but if the rooster didn't work out, he would keep looking until he found one I would like.
So far, the new rooster has been doing okay. He explored the yard and introduced himself to the hens in the traditional rooster manner (he mounted as many as he could in rapid succession). He let me pick him up and pet him without a fuss.
I have named him JJ.
We'll see how he works out.
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