Chicks, Children, and Easter

[Tumbleweed Farm]

This morning someone posted the following disturbing picture on Facebook of dyed day old chicks riding on a hatchery conveyor belt.. Everyone was saying, aawww, how cute, brings back memories, etc. This is plain and simple wrong, it encourages non chicken owners to buy the little fellars they are ill prepared to care for. So abusive and sad.

 

[bantamrooster]

Its very real.
Chick days are everywhere around here right now. I had a relative call me the other day to tell me about one close to her house. They had some less common breeds so she thought I may be intetested in something. I was gonna pick up a couple LF cochins just because who doesnt love cochins. Well I passed because all they had were blacks and they wanted $5 each.
Well she showed up with a little green chick. No big deal Ive seen them for years and years but I was a little surprised to see it was a cochin. And more suprised to hear they wanted $5 for a black cochin (most common color around here) but the colored LF white cochin was $1.99.
I have my wife checking today to see if they have any more. I'll spend $2 per LF cochin and may save them from a misfortunate life.
Be watching CL because theres gonna be a lot of chicks, ducks and rabbits needing homes in a few weeks.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

Its very real.
Chick days are everywhere around here right now. I had a relative call me the other day to tell me about one close to her house. They had some less common breeds so she thought I may be intetested in something. I was gonna pick up a couple LF cochins just because who doesnt love cochins. Well I passed because all they had were blacks and they wanted $5 each.
Well she showed up with a little green chick. No big deal Ive seen them for years and years but I was a little surprised to see it was a cochin. And more suprised to hear they wanted $5 for a black cochin (most common color around here) but the colored LF white cochin was $1.99.
I have my wife checking today to see if they have any more. I'll spend $2 per LF cochin and may save them from a misfortunate life.
Be watching CL because theres gonna be a lot of chicks, ducks and rabbits needing homes in a few weeks.

Why can't sellers of these "throw away" chicks be more responsible!!!

 

[bantamrooster]

Wow. That is too much. Let us know how it goes.

Just got the text.
They were very sorry that they were sold out. 200 chicks in less then 5 days. They were also sorry to let her know they had tried to reorder and the hatchery was sold out also so no more this year. She didnt think to ask before pissing them off what hatchery they went through.
I actually have a bit of a history with this place. Twice they have contacted me about building my coops to sell in their stores.
They had seen a couple and really liked how well they were made and how good they looked. They were trying to sell something better then those china coops.
everytime I can up with a model they wanted it cheaper and less fancy. It got to the point that my coop would of been as flimsy as the chinese ones. I couldnt put my name on something that cheaply made.
They also couldnt understand why I wouldnt make a coop to had $150 in materials to sell for them for $200 and they would sell them for $400. That design would of been at least one long day to build and they wanted me to also deliver to their three different locations.
Not the smartest bunch out there.

 

[bantamrooster]

It doesnt hurt them and they go through the same thing as any other hatchery chicks. Problem is when they are sold to people that buy them because they are cute. A lot are impulse buys from people that have no idea what they need to thrive. Many will chill and die and many will be looked at more as a toy and crushed to death or broken wings legs etc.
If you have the room put an ad on your local CL asking to take in any of these easter pets no questions asked.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Hate that.... it's just another sick way to make money.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

The sides of that photo look odd... regardless of whether that photo has been edited or not the practice of dyeing chicks does happen.  I saw a video when looking for chirping chicks on youtube (trying to accustom my dogs to the sounds of chicks before they got here) and saw a video where the people shooting the video place a shiny piece of foil in with some colored chicks.  Naturally it started a game of keep away and the person panned the camera up and you see THOUSANDS of colored chicks everywhere.  It was crazy.  I showed it to my grandmother and she got excited and told me that the store she worked at when she was young sold pink and blue chicks at Easter.  For her it was exciting because it brought back memories of her youth selling cute chicks, but she is 87 and back then I think people viewed things like that differently.  

I feel bad for those chicks.  I spend a lot of time caring for and checking on mine.  I have trouble imaging that a parent who impulse buys a chick or two for their small children will be remotely interested in putting that kind of care into ensuring the survival and appropriate care for the chicks.  Also, God love small children, but not many of them have fine motor control and could accidentally kill or injure a tiny chick.  Live animal buys for holidays rarely works out in the animal's favor.

Well said Jet!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If that is a real picture, it's very sad and wrong.

 

[familyfarm1]

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

It has to be photoshopped, right?!