Since my dad died 22 years ago Fathers Day has lost close meaning for me. But on Sunday, as millions upon millions of people honoured their Dad, I sat in my sunny garden with Arnie, who is now 8 months old, and contemplated how the majority of dads in the world are invisible. Not only are they never seen, but most of us don’t even know they exist. Arnie would have been one of these billions of dads had we not rescued him.

Arnie was rescued on January 1, 2008 as a tiny chick from a broiler breeder parent shed in Melbourne. ‘Broiler breeders’ are the parent birds of approximately 53 billion chicks who we kill each and every year to feed to the 6.5 billion humans on the planet.

ALV’s Openrescue team removed Arnie and 12 other chicks from the factory farm on New Years Day this year, but only four survived. Dr. Arnold suggested I give Arnie a try even though he was emaciated, frail, missing one eye and could only take one tiny step before flopping down to rest. I was very doubtful about this little guy’s chances but was willing to trust the vet’s opinion. So along with Thelma, Louise and Kate I brought Arnie home for some rehab. It was especially heartbreaking to know the vet had to euthanize the other nine chicks. Most were in much better body shape than Arnie and they had such bright and hopeful eyes, but they were all crippled and none of them could stand up much less walk.

Thelma and Louise prospered from the start, but Kate and Arnie were touch and go for two months. They stayed in a large enclosure on a table in my loungeroom alongside the huge bay window so they could see all the other escapees together outside. Kate and Arnie had each other and a hot water bottle every night to snuggle up against and special yummy meals prepared just for them. Importantly, there were no stronger chicks to regularly trample their frail bodies like in the shed of 20,000 chicks we took them from.

By the middle of March both Kate and Arnie were strong enough to join the flock - Papa Duck, Mama Turkey and all the other rescued chooks. Arnie was shy at first and knew he had to wait his turn at feeding time or cop a peck. Louise was now Louisey since sprouting that magnificent long curling tail feather proudly announcing to the world he was a rooster. Kate also grew a tail feather and became Karl and moved to a lovely home in the country, as I’m not suppose to have one rooster here much less two, but Arnie was still androgynous and I patiently hoped for a name change to Annie….

Louisey was a splendid creature to behold and very friendly, everyone who saw him ooohed and ahhhed. The hens and roosters packed tightly inside the dim and smelly breeding sheds are only fed every other day, they are continually hungry. The chicken meat industry knows if they fed these birds daily they would gain so much weight they wouldn’t be able to breed. They are also genetically selected to gain weight quickly - their offspring reach adult slaughter weight in only six weeks time. I tried hard to restrain the rescued breeders from overeating, but Louisey loved to eat more than anything else and I did feed him every day! But at six months old he suddenly ‘flipped over’ in front of my eyes and couldn’t right himself, I rushed to him as I know ‘flip overs’ in the sheds are heart attacks from the enforced rapid weight gains and I quickly hauled his heavy weight up into my arms and turned him over, but I knew his time had come. He laid his sweet head on my shoulder and in 30 seconds he was dead. I sat on a bale of hay inside his chook house holding him in my arms for a long time as the tears poured for the billions of his kind. Louisey was only six months old but he weighed 7 kilos (15.5 pounds).

Arnie was a late bloomer and only recently found his ‘voice’ and as you’ll see in the photos is a very handsome boy indeed with a tail feather to rival any rival . He gets along well with only one eye and no one will ever abuse him as a breeding machine.

Arnie - a very handsome boy indeed

Roosters and hens give true meaning to the words Dad and Mother, if only us humans could open our eyes and minds and let other animals live their own lives.

[to read more about the shed Arnie was saved from check out the forgotten victims]