Confessions: Animal Hoarding, Animal Planet, Jan 14th, about chickens!

[eenie114]

Any chance this might be on YouTube?

We don't have cable.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

I watched. Rob seems like a great guy. In fact he's pretty nifty. I'm sure he would agree with me that had he even thought for a moment that Animal Place wouldn't have been recognized he would have mentioned them when he was introduced. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20. I was so wrapped up in disbelief that Peter's house was over run with chickens that I didn't ask myself who took them.

When it was brought up here that Animal Place wasn't even mentioned I went over to Animal Planet's website to see if it was there. I thought surely there is an easy way to find out who the rescue organizations are that help. WRONG. Only the Humane Society is listed and that's in the experts section. They should have a section entitled Participating Animal Rescue Org's.

I now have to question if this show really is about helping the people as well as helping the animals (other episode's have shown the animal care workers emphasizing that they are there to help the animals). I like that rescue organizations take the animals and care for them properly. But if those organizations aren't mentioned so the public will be moved to go and adopt the animals then they are just moving the animals to another place with better conditions (which yes is good but it's not enough). And let's face it with roos. There's not alot of people running to adopt a rescued a rooster. I am really interested in knowing how many roos have been adopted out yearly at Animal Place as well as how many have been adopted out just from this rescue. That many roos don't qualify as pets. They are a hoard and now seem to be a very well kept hoard in another location and it is hard to believe that 50 roos will ever all get adopted and become pets. We've already seen past episodes where a rescue has run a muck and become a hoard.

Then there's the whole "they are chickens and they have a purpose". Yep I am one of those that believes chickens serve a purpose; eggs and meat (the entertainment is a bonus). So why not adopt those chickens out and let the adopters decide how they use that chicken. I've never heard of a roo being sterilized and at least with dogs they can be spayed or neutered. Chickens as pets (allowed to multiply willy nilly) create a truly unique situation.

Don't get me wrong I am really thankful that Animal Place stepped up. But for me personally I would only have a roo to make babies that will either lay eggs or go into the pot.

Ok I'm just astounded at the whole thing and the only ones that did something wrong imo was the show itself. I can't even fathom the hoarding part of it.

 

[debilorrah]

Robin'sBrood :

Oh, and I forgot to ask if anyone knows how many eggs Peter collected in a day? Does anyone know what he was doing with all of them? With just a dozen hens we are overrun with eggs during the summer months and I give lots away to family and friends. Sure hope Peter was giving at least some of his away, because I KNOW he couldn't eat that many all by himself.

Robin I think he had bators all over the place, because part of the show showed him picking them up and checking for internal peeping.​

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Ya, I think he was collecting eggs, but the chickens were going broody left and right, in and outside of the house.

Regarding Animal Place: Honestly, I don't even think they were called until a few days, maybe weeks after I had left. We were trying to find homes for all his birds on BYC, Craigslist, etc. but, as expected, not having a lot of success... especially with the roos.

I was so very happy to hear that Animal Planet was able to get in touch with Animal Place to have them come out and work their magic.

The problem with many "reality shows" is in the editing. Watch the clothing people wear and you'll see that bits and parts throughout are not at all in actual sequence of events. I was there by myself with the camera peeps, Peter, and his daughter... that's it. Days / weeks later the Animal Place peeps came in. Unfortunately in the editing they weaved it all together and it looked like it was all happening the same day... even the same time, which it definitely wasn't.

At the end of the day, I'm glad Peter got help and that his chickens went to a very good place. I'm just bummed they didn't get adequate screen time and promotion.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Oh yeah Nifty it did look like when you were there so was Animal Place. Ya know if they can put a caption showing your name and byc they sure could have put a caption stating 2 days later or what ever the length of time was. I have to say I am so glad you were on the show and they showed your name and byc because at the least people could look byc up and learn about Animal Place as well as learn about how to properly raise and care for chickens. So thank you for participating on the show.

Deb on the show Peter said he tries to collect the eggs but there are just too many of them. In another room he picked up an egg and said something about hearing them peep just before they hatch. So there were clutches of eggs that were there for weeks. They showed an egg that looked like it was laid in an ash tray.

At the end I think it said he was left with 20 chickens and they had a coop outside. I don't remember if it stated if there were any roos. But even if there weren't those hens would be fertile for a while. So I wonder how long it will take before he's in the same mess he was before they rescued all those chickens.

Nifty may I ask how Peter was helped when it comes to how to raise and care for chickens and what to do with roos if he doesn't want the overpopulation to happen again.

 

[Gonzo]

Quote:
Yeah! I was waiting for this episode impatiently! And was excited to see some mention of my chicken forum! ;-)

Great job, guys, with helping Peter!

HAHAHA!!! Me Too! I couldn't wait for it to air, then I saw Rob on there and I was like AHHHHH!!!!
I'm soo glad he was able to help!

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Quote:
This was egg-actly my concern... That this whole situation could happen over again if he was left with even one Roo or a clutch of young chicks where a baby Roo might be...
Chicken birth control without a Roo is as easy as picking up the eggs daily, which wouldn't be a big deal with only 20 birds, but it becomes a "whole nother ballgame" if he still has a Roo...
What I don't exactly understand is if someone like Peter is insanly in love with his birds, why not move to somewhere where he could have as many as he wanted outdoors?

It was hard to get a grip in the show on how many chickens Peter had. He mentioned 60-70 I think when his Mom and Sister were there but the show made it look like so many more... All I know is at the height of my own chicken raising I had some 150+ chickens, mostly Cornish X I was raising for meat but also about 35 Egg layers, all on a 2.5 acre lot where technically I was only supposed to have 6 but we lived really rural (for RI) and the guy down the road had over 400 and at his peak had over 1,000 egg laying hens and never got turned in. So for me, it just truly boggles the brain the mentaility it took to have all of those birds in the house and how easy it is to go from normal backyard farming to being a hoarder. All I know is brooding 100 Cornish X chicks in my house for the first 2.5 weeks drove me batty enough and I couldn't wait to get them outside!!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I brought him a copy of "Raising Chickens for Dummies" and also gave him all my info and info about reaching us at BYC. I personally felt strongly that he should only keep hens to help ensure it doesn't happen again, but he's really attached to some of those roos. Hopefully with fewer birds, and them contained in a coop he will be able to keep on top of egg collection.

I just talked to him on the phone a little earlier and he said he's doing well. He actually hadn't even seen the show yet and is about to watch it with his mother.

 

[EweSheep]

AND a head count every night to make sure one isn't sneaking away brooding her clutch of eggs LOL!

I am glad he is doing well!

Can you tell me what type of chicken he did have? I see many OE's going on in there.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Nifty I really hope he joins even if we never know it's him. This site is truly a fantastic source of information. And thanks for giving him the book just in case he doesn't join.