Colored chicks??????

[Delta3013]

There is a feed store near gatsville TX that sells dyed chicks for easter. What they do is insert a dye into the half-3/4 developed egg, and when the chick hatches, it's colored.... kinda wierd.....But I may be wrong on how they dye them.

 

[8ROYALS]

wouldn't it be the same dye the hatcheries use to mark some of the chicks? Just a thought. I think it is sad only because of the people who get them and shouldn't.

 

[mystus808]

My teacher once gave my brother a colored duck and chicken. Once they grew there feathers the color went away.

http://s598.photobucket.com/albums/...mystus808/?action=view&current=animals030.jpg

we were definitely not prepared then. but they grew and when the feathers came out it was a beautiful white duck. and then chicken was white aswell. I like the duck more i would walk around and it would follow me. we have to give it back to the teacher and the duck is still alive today almost 10 years later.

 

[NoelTate]

I think it's sad that man thinks he can improve upon what nature does. They can't make chicks any cuter than they already are! It is basically false advertisement, in my opinion. It is an attention grabbing gimmick that tempts people to buy the chicks without considering what they will do with them when they are older. It really should be illegal, and there should be consequences for those who dump animals after the cuteness of being a baby wears off.

 

[karimw]

I was just reading about this in my "Chicken Healh Handbook". It's a fairly non invasive thing to inject a little food coloring into the egg between 11 - 14 days into incubation. The process was devised as a way to tell specific chicks once they hatch. Let's say you are a breeder that needs to tell which chicks are which and track specific bloodlines. You have a bunch of identical eggs that will hatch identical looking chicks. The eggs are marked, but when they hatch and run amok in the incubator it's kind of tough to tell who is who after that. The food coloring in the white colors the chick in the egg, but they lose it when they grow their first feathers.

 

[LeBlackbird]

Well, the wide spread practice is wrong, I agree. However, I used this technique to color code my White Rock Bantam chicks...

 

[kristim23]

I think that this is horrible. It's one thing to use dye as a "marker" system for breeders, and another to use baby chick fluff as "packaging" used to market a living, breathing animal to the public.

I have also seen fish sold like this. (not comparing the two)

 

[duckking]

I don't like it either. Personally I think it looks ridiculous and it disappears quickly. Just dumb. Besides food colouring is not known as a great additive for us humans, it probably isn't good for the chicks.

 

[FowlRanger]

I agree that dying the Chicks is Bad Times. Just care for them and don't try to sell them as 'novelty' items. Just my two cents.

 

[20123001]

THere is no point in dying the chicks! Poeple who buy them will definatly not have the proper equipment used to take care of them, so ultimantly the chicks are the ones that are sufffering! If we dye the chicks different colors why dont we dye rabbits colors, or our dog purple? It is totally creepy!!