This pitied us upon seeing a once vibrant mother hen totally weak with no appetite to eat but surrounded by its chicks jumping and sitting over it. With no way of explaining to the chicks about the risks they could face when affected by the same disease, we tried to separate this hen from its chicks however the chicks always found their way back to their ailing mother. Soon grief hit its owner who knew the consequences of this hen not eating would eventually lead to death. Much as we tried to forcefully feed it, it deliberately refused to eat due to appetite loss. On the next day, it died. I thought that its owner would be emotionally broken, however he woke up knowing what had happened as he claims to have dreamt about its death. This therefore meant Alas! To these chicks. When the rains fell, they were beaten with no thought of fleeing to any shade because they were raised to know that their mother would always cover them. We took up some of their mothers’ responsibilities, unfortunately, they too were already affected with this disease. Daily, they arose to sun bath until sunset with no appetite for food. 5 | P a g e
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