Cruel disposal of unwanted chicks?

[SD Bird Lady]

Well said Janine......I didn't get that to come across like I wanted. It was supposed to be more along the lines of feed others that cannot provide for themselves the "crap" and we can keep the good stuff for ourselves and pass on the ways to other generations for survival.

 

[ladyrsanti]

We definitely need to manage ourselves. Unfortunately, we typically don't foresee issues and instead wait until it gets bad. Really bad. It's a mess out there. I don't think GMO's are the solution. If we were smart, and used our land wisely, we wouldn't need to produce such vast quantities of these empty foods... stuff. Ever eaten a soybean? How about field corn? Ick. It's hardly even food and yet it consumes most of our tillable land. Heck, it seems that most goes to non-food items anyway, like ethanol, bio-plastics and Twinkies

. Then there's silage for the meat industry. I'm not pitching for vegetarians but I sure as heck have cut back. Imagine what kind and quantities of good wholesome foods could be grown if we reduced the "need" for corn syrup and soybean oil. This country works off of consumer need after all. Not to preach from the paleo choir (of which I'm not even a strict member) but ever look at the ingredient list on packaged foods? Reads like a chemistry experiment. If it has an ingredient list, you probably shouldn't be eating it. But it's cheap! I just read an article about the increasing use of wood pulp (aka cellulose) as a cheap filler in foods. If you see cellulose in the ingredients, it's chemically derived cellulose from wood pulp. Trees. Not the cellulose that occurs naturally in woody stems and such. Definitely some managing, some change of priority, ideology, a must. Most commonly accepted institutions have to change and that includes the core of our lifestyle and culture, or it will be changed for us. I just wish we, as a species, could wake up to that... a little faster.

 

[NYREDS]

We definitely need to manage ourselves. Unfortunately, we typically don't foresee issues and instead wait until it gets bad. Really bad. It's a mess out there. I don't think GMO's are the solution. If we were smart, and used our land wisely, we wouldn't need to produce such vast quantities of these empty foods... stuff. Ever eaten a soybean? How about field corn? Ick. It's hardly even food and yet it consumes most of our tillable land. Heck, it seems that most goes to non-food items anyway, like ethanol, bio-plastics and Twinkies

. Then there's silage for the meat industry. I'm not pitching for vegetarians but I sure as heck have cut back. Imagine what kind and quantities of good wholesome foods could be grown if we reduced the "need" for corn syrup and soybean oil. This country works off of consumer need after all. Not to preach from the paleo choir (of which I'm not even a strict member) but ever look at the ingredient list on packaged foods? Reads like a chemistry experiment. If it has an ingredient list, you probably shouldn't be eating it. But it's cheap! I just read an article about the increasing use of wood pulp (aka cellulose) as a cheap filler in foods. If you see cellulose in the ingredients, it's chemically derived cellulose from wood pulp. Trees. Not the cellulose that occurs naturally in woody stems and such. Definitely some managing, some change of priority, ideology, a must. Most commonly accepted institutions have to change and that includes the core of our lifestyle and culture, or it will be changed for us. I just wish we, as a species, could wake up to that... a little faster.

Ahh ya gotta die of something

 

[chick-n-pigs]

We definitely need to manage ourselves. Unfortunately, we typically don't foresee issues and instead wait until it gets bad. Really bad. It's a mess out there. I don't think GMO's are the solution. If we were smart, and used our land wisely, we wouldn't need to produce such vast quantities of these empty foods... stuff. Ever eaten a soybean? How about field corn? Ick. It's hardly even food and yet it consumes most of our tillable land. Heck, it seems that most goes to non-food items anyway, like ethanol, bio-plastics and Twinkies

. Then there's silage for the meat industry. I'm not pitching for vegetarians but I sure as heck have cut back. Imagine what kind and quantities of good wholesome foods could be grown if we reduced the "need" for corn syrup and soybean oil. This country works off of consumer need after all. Not to preach from the paleo choir (of which I'm not even a strict member) but ever look at the ingredient list on packaged foods? Reads like a chemistry experiment. If it has an ingredient list, you probably shouldn't be eating it. But it's cheap! I just read an article about the increasing use of wood pulp (aka cellulose) as a cheap filler in foods. If you see cellulose in the ingredients, it's chemically derived cellulose from wood pulp. Trees. Not the cellulose that occurs naturally in woody stems and such. Definitely some managing, some change of priority, ideology, a must. Most commonly accepted institutions have to change and that includes the core of our lifestyle and culture, or it will be changed for us. I just wish we, as a species, could wake up to that... a little faster.

Your post is rational, well-articulated and supportable with facts.

The consumer, for the most part, drives the demand. Most consumers are cost and convenience driven. This combines with politicians who add a layer of profit-driven incentives to select constituents to grow agricultural products in excess; it would seem the constant drive to produce more product for less cost is only to supply the farm bill based systems that support those who are dependent on inexpensive federally manipulated agricultural supply chains (schools, food stamps, institutions, ethanol, etc).

Total shame what has become of agriculture.

I have said for a long time, if you are going to give people free food, they should have to raise 1 chicken and a squash plant. That way they know what it means to produce something from your efforts.

 

[maryhysong]

Well, we'll be buying a 'Fry Pan Special,' so there's a bunch of male chicks who will have a glorious life scratching, pecking at bugs in the great outdoors, doing what chickens love to do best...before we whack off their heads and eat them.

What saddens me is not that male chicks are done away with immediately.

I am sad to think of all those potential chicken dinners which could have been donated to a local Food Bank to feed homeless families. If only the government would make it easy (less red tape) for farmers to raise excess meat animals and produce for the hungry! It's absurd how much waste we have in the is country.

the problem is that many breeds are bred just for high egg production and the males are thin, small, bony and don't gain enough weight fast enough to be worth their feed

 

[NYREDS]

Well, we'll be buying a 'Fry Pan Special,' so there's a bunch of male chicks who will have a glorious life scratching, pecking at bugs in the great outdoors, doing what chickens love to do best...before we whack off their heads and eat them.

What saddens me is not that male chicks are done away with immediately.

I am sad to think of all those potential chicken dinners which could have been donated to a local Food Bank to feed homeless families. If only the government would make it easy (less red tape) for farmers to raise excess meat animals and produce for the hungry! It's absurd how much waste we have in the is country.

Exactly what Government "Red Tape" prevents farmers from raising excess animals & produce to donate to feed the hungry?

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I think you are saying that those that take advantage of GMO's, etc., are the "fittest" who will survive. I agree with you, but only from a short term perspective. Technological advances that provide for the growing masses simply encourage continued population growth. The problem with that is that the earth is finite, and no technology can change that. In the long term, increased human activity on the planet means increased resource consumption, increased rate of species extinctions, increased production of waste products, and degraded ecosystems. Technology cannot make infinite human population growth inconsequential, and if we do not manage our own numbers, ecological collapse is the likely consequence, IMO. Ecosystem collapse means famine, thirst, and disease....that is, reduced human population achieved the hard way: exactly what we sought to avoid when we developed the technology.

I sure do hope we all start to bridle our population voluntarily and peacefully, with more respect and care for those already living than we tend to give now. That said, I believe it will unfortunately be a matter of resource limitations and government that will eventually do that deed, and in very unpleasant ways. I can't think of many areas a manageable population level would not improve upon things...except for corporate profits.

 

[chickened]

I am going to step on a few toes but every time humans create more life that is a mouth that must be fed. I am not pointing as I myself have 3 children but at the rate the world is growing it is impossible to continue the "old ways" on a large scale. I live in the northern plains and I don't like the fact the the corn is genetically altered or that it is sprayed and fertilized but at the end of the day if it was not someone would go hungry. We are in a drought comparable to the 30's and the plants that made it were drought resistant strains not the stuff that you grow in the garden. My garden died while being watered and the stuff accross the road in full sun was still kicking didn't make much per acre but made it none the less. There is simply not enough space to feed the masses and eventually it will be survival of the fittest as it was in the begining. Sorry that I went all dooms day on here...personally I dont want to live through an apocalypse!!

All one needs do is look to Africa. That continent yes continent is virtually untapped for its ability to produce food even in pre-modern techniques. Compare what Chile and California alone produce and what Africa could produce, the real problem is the civilized world treats certain areas of the world as all natuarl setasides at the expense of an indiginous population sort of like the poor little roosters that this thread is about.

 

[janinepeters]

All one needs do is look to Africa. That continent yes continent is virtually untapped for its ability to produce food even in pre-modern techniques. Compare what Chile and California alone produce and what Africa could produce, the real problem is the civilized world treats certain areas of the world as all natuarl setasides at the expense of an indiginous population sort of like the poor little roosters that this thread is about.

Less than half of the land cover in Africa is suitable for agriculture. But regardless of how much food could be produced there for humans, it is still finite. As for the problem of "setting aside" land, some land must be kept out of agriculture for natural process and species habitat. These processes and species are our flood and pollution control, clean water, drought resistance, pollination, and future medical innovation. It's not for nothing we "set aside" some land. The answer for the indigenous and the poor should be for us wealthy countries to pay them for these "ecosystem services" provided by any of their land that is set aside for such purposes.

 

[chickened]

Less than half of the land cover in Africa is suitable for agriculture. But regardless of how much food could be produced there for humans, it is still finite. As for the problem of "setting aside" land, some land must be kept out of agriculture for natural process and species habitat. These processes and species are our flood and pollution control, clean water, drought resistance, pollination, and future medical innovation. It's not for nothing we "set aside" some land. The answer for the indigenous and the poor should be for us wealthy countries to pay them for these "ecosystem services" provided by any of their land that is set aside for such purposes.

I have no problem with setaside land (thanks to a wonderful freind's persuasions) and I agree when we take control of others land and lively hood it should be compensated. Unfortunately in Africa's situation uncontrolled breeding is in stride with uncontrolled disease. Ask Bono.