Mortimer was part of a classroom “hatching” project, which is a fairly common practice in schools. Teachers use incubators in the classroom to show children the magic of a chicken popping out of the egg, but they often don’t have a plan for what to do with the birds who hatch. As with most species, half of the offspring are male, which is particularly problematic with chickens. Cities have noise ordinances that prohibit roosters, and in most small flocks, too many roosters can cause a multitude of problems.
Mortimer was hatched in a classroom and had nowhere to go. We accepted him into our care with a stern lecture to the teacher to please make better choices in regards to teaching her PRE-SCHOOLERS about hatching eggs, as it is not sustainable nor responsible to conduct those sorts of entertainment experiments at the expense of animal lives.
Morty is our only rooster, and his companion is Maize. He is towards the end of his life, and he requires fairly regular assistance with his normal activities of daily living. We help him up to roost beside Maize each night as the final chore of the shift, and he sleeps snuggled beside her until we help him down in the morning. THAT is sanctuary care of aging animals.
