Today I found our older white rooster in the same barn pen he was in yesterday.  So I figured out he probably couldn’t fly out and since there was no food or water in this pen, this was an issue.  I got him out of there, and he ate ravenously but was having problems drinking water out of a tall bucket.  So I grabbed him and moved him into the convalescent poultry pen with a recovering lame duck and hen.  Here he is feeding in his new retirement home.

The top photo is of him in 2009.  He was such a proud and beautiful creature, and it is so sad to see him in his decline.  Others are in their decline too.  Sadie in 2007:

Sadie today:

Sheila in 2005:

Sheila today:

So aging sucks.  I still do not understand why the cells of chickens and sheep cannot last as long as those of geese or donkeys.  Or humans, for that matter.