Beware Lancaster Fancy Fowl

[enola]

If you are wondering where my flock came from.......

My Araucana rooster came from a BYC member who hatched him at her place.

My Cream Legbar hens came from another BYC member who also hatched them at her place.

ALL of the rest of my flock were hatched in my incubators.

 

[keesmom]

Just because everyone else does wrong, does not make it okay for them to do it, too. It may be better, but it is still bad and should not be done.

What do you mean by this? If one pens up breeders, or chickens in general, we should not have chickens?

 

[Free Feather]

My first chickens, since I am a teenager, were feed store hatchery chicks my mother gave to me as a gift. I was a vegetarian with a garden that did not know much about chickens. All the birds since then have been older hens and unwanted roosters from people about to kill them or send them to auctions. I have no wish to breed or sell. I do not care at all about breeds, because I love chickens for who they are because they are sentient beings that are just as deserving of life and happiness as we are. They never asked to live with people or be "owned". When I am on my own, I want to have a rooster sanctuary.

 

[collie1470]

It's easy to have idealistic views, but remember that the only reason anybody even has chickens is because they were brought in and used for food. They didn't ask to be owned. Of course. They're birds, they can't ask for anything. They are sentient, but not in the same way we are, horses are, dogs are, etc. Their brains and bodies are so different from ours that the only real comparison is that we, and they, are alive. They don't think the same as we do. They don't understand things the same way we do.

A sanctuary is a wonderful idea, but they are also very difficult and extremely costly to run. I wanted to start up a sanctuary for abused and neglected animals when I was a teenager, too. But once I was out on my own, I learned just how much animals can cost....especially unwanted ones. After all, an unwanted animal has rarely received proper care up until the point that you get it, so it's likely that its vet bills will be high. It may also have soecial needs thanks to wherever it came from. Volunteer with a rescue first, before really deciding to start a sanctuary. Get up in their ranks to see just how difficult it actually is to raise awareness and money to run a place like that.

They're amazing.....in theory....but extremely difficult to start, operate, and especially fund in practice.

 

[collie1470]

The passion to do it is great, and necessary....but passion and love don't pay the extensive costs needed to operate an animal sanctuary.

Hate to play the rainy cloud over the parade....but these are things that very seriously need to be thought about in advance. Most animal rescues fail very early on, because the funding just isn't there. Many people with the best of intentions try to rescue animals, but can't keep up with their costs. Not to mention the facilities and fundraising. You'll need to pretty much constantly fundraise....especially since the only sanctuaries people will really even consider donating to are non profit....which means in times of no donations (which are more often than not) all costs will fall on your shoulders. You have to have a very large amount of money set aside. Or pair up with an existing rescue, but even that can be difficult. You'll have to build up a relationship with law enforcement and local and state governments, so they will contact your sanctuary in the event of a seizure or similar situation.

 

[Free Feather]

I am always going to keep a few roosters, but I intend to have more of them once I go to college and get a bit older. I probably cannot call it a sanctuary because A. I let hens hatch their own eggs, a big no-no in most sanctuaries and B. I really do not want other people telling me what to do and how to run it and have people come in all the time that want to see if I am doing it the right way in their eyes. I want the birds to be nearly feral with a few scattered coops for them to sleep in at night if they want. I will feed them what they do not get from forage. Yes, day time predators could get them, but that is just how nature works, and I am not going to confine them just because I cannot handle how natural ecosystems work.

I do not care if chickens meet up to everyone else's standards of sentience and deserving of care. I do not think it is right to rule over someone, make all their decisions for them, and kill them because they cannot do anything about it. Yes, people bred and severely altered them to be food machines. But just because someone has done it for a long time does not make it right.

And I guess I lied about all since then being unwanted birds. I have four chicks that were raised by the hens here. I do not think it is right to tell the hens they cannot have babies, so I let them do their own thing.

 

[collie1470]

I never said they don't deserve care. I said they aren't sentient in the SAME way we are, or other highly intelligent animals are (I used horses and dogs as an example). I also never said it was right or wrong. But it is true. I also have a Guinea Pig (another species that was originally domesticated solely for food). And rats, who were domesticated for testing in labs. I'm not, nor have I ever, said their original purposes are morally right. But I will also never insinuate that raising well cared for animals as livestock is wrong. Because just like other omnivorous animals, we too are animals. Us eating an animal is no different than any other animal eating an animal. The only differences are that we figured out how to keep a steady food supply, instead of going out and having to hope we get something, and that we kill them prior to consumption (which many animals do not do, they eat live).

I was a vegetarian for about 7 years, but had to give it up when I went into the Navy (shipboard food isn't varied enough to support that kind of diet). Would I go back to it now? No. We aren't in a climate that allows for growing that kind of plant variety, and our ultimate goal is self-sustainability. (I figured I'd include this so you know I'm not some anti-vegetarian person).

But back to my original point, an actual sanctuary would be extremely difficult to run, especially so young (unless you have very rich parents who are willing to fund it anyway). Keeping unwanted roosters is one thing, a sanctuary is another. And no matter what you do, there will ALWAYS be someone telling you what you need to do to care for animals. At the bare minimum there are laws and regulations for keeping animals....especially animals considered livestock/farm animals. It's frustrating, for sure, but they exist for a reason.

 

[collie1470]

You also have to be careful letting domesticated animals live feral. They can easily become an invasive species and destroy a native ecosystem. That, and domesticated animals have had many of their wild predecessors traits bred out, so they may have a significantly harder time surviving, let alone thriving, in the wild.

Again, I hate to be the rainy cloud over the parade, but some realism is a bit needed here, I think.

 

[Free Feather]

You also have to be careful letting domesticated animals live feral. They can easily become an invasive species and destroy a native ecosystem. That, and domesticated animals have had many of their wild predecessors traits bred out, so they may have a significantly harder time surviving, let alone thriving, in the wild.

Again, I hate to be the rainy cloud over the parade, but some realism is a bit needed here, I think.

I have already thought of these things. I do not need realism or someone else telling me 'how it is'. I get it. I thank you if you think you are helping me, but I do not need it.

Main point was, multiple diseased birds being spread out to infect other flocks is not okay.

 

[collie1470]

Obviously. And neither are totally free ranged near feral chickens, since they have no niche in the ecosystem.

I only say these things because you made it sound like you didn't know them, and they are important. If you already know "how it is" as a teenager, great. Most don't. Because most have never been out in the world at that point.

And even if you personally already know those things, someone out there may not, and by reading that near feral chickens is really a bad idea (and why it is), it may prevent some domesticated and hand tamed animals from being let loose to become feral. Which would be worth some minor frustration from a stranger over the internet, in my eyes.