downsizing doesn't mean dumping your chickens in the bush

[ShanandGem]

I read on the local news opinion forums that someone had dumped a flock of chickens in the bush sometime Sunday. By the time I got there Monday evening, the flock of twelve had already been decimated down to four. My daughter and I went back today and found one last live hen, for a total of five.
Please, before taking on the responsibility, make sure you have an exit plan. Either commit to caring for them for their life span or be prepared to dispatch them humanely.
And yes, they are currently housed in a rotten 1980 TravelMate Scout camper as I had nowhere else to put them.

 

[MeepBeep]

It's not only people abandoning their 'pets' the same arguments apply to people 'relocating' their problem or nuisance wildlife...

In short if you don' t have an planned out end game for your pets that doesn't revolve around dumping them somewhere, don't get pets, and if you don't have the ability to euthanize problem or nuisance wildlife, then hire someone else to do it for you...

 

[azygous]

This thread could very well end up being one of the longer lived discussions on BYC. There is a lot of meat for debate here.

I have a close friend whose daughter owns a farm in Minnesota. She and her husband keep chickens. It is their long time management practice, which appalls me, to abandon the chickens to fend for themselves in the woods when their egg laying drops off. Of course, the chickens don't last long in the woods, but it doesn't seem to bother them. It would never occur to these folks that this is a cruel practice.

I was a park ranger in a previous life, and I encountered many, many abandoned pets people dumped in my parks. I did glean a bit of insight into why people seem to feel so comfortable doing this. In short, they believe all animals have a "wild" nature. Therefore, these sorts of people believe the animals they abandon have the skill sets in their DNA to cope with living in the wild.

They're terribly misguided and ignorant, of course, but this is what they believe. These are the same people who permit their dogs to run loose to harass the wildlife and more often than not, their dogs come to a violent end when they eventually confront the wrong wild animal. I've actually been lectured by these people that their dogs, domesticated over thousands of years, are "wild" and need to run free.

I adopted a hen a year ago whose owner moved and abandoned his flock, leaving them behind to fend for themselves. My hen was finally noticed by a neighbor when she saw her scratching for food under her car in her driveway. Every single other chicken in the flock had died by that point, but this one hen was lucky. She was taken to the animal shelter and now she has a wonderful home with my flock, cared for and appreciated.

This is an issue that is dreadfully common. I wish there was an easy way to change peoples mindsets, but it's not a problem that has a quick and easy solution.

 

[aart]

Quote: Indeed....have had a few 'strays' show up here.

It's no gain to bring possibly diseased and/or parasite ridden birds into my flock.
I trap them and give them away.

 

[ShanandGem]

My free 'bush chickens' have laid me three eggs today and are now exploring where the pool was.

 

[MeepBeep]

Preface, I absolutely do not condone dumping of animals be it domestic or so called 'relocated' wild animals...

That said, sometimes animals simply wander off and decide to become feral... I saw peafowl mentioned above, they are notorious for 'wandering' and looking for a new home, they have a 'Lets see if the grass is greener over their attitude' most of the time... That isn't to say all will leave home but it's not uncommon especially during mating season where they have been known to wander many miles chasing down a mating call... Same with guineas, they can be hit or miss and go feral just because, especially if you live in a heavily wooded area...

There are also instances where people die, I'm not saying it's right but sometimes when people die if someone else isn't there right away to care for the animals and they are able to wander they very well could wander and become feral... Plus there is the whole physiological aspect, sometimes people just fall apart and sad but true the animals almost always take 2nd fiddle to peoples health or needs...

I now the common response is simply 're-home' them but the reality is it's not always that easy...

I saw this poop storm first hand, my llamas came from a home where the women's husband died and the property went into foreclosure, the women loaded up her car one night with a few things and disappeared, left all her stuff in the house behind and left the animals behind ... The neighbor was taking care of the animals and working with the bank allowing here to continue to use the barn until she was able to find homes for the animals and/or locate their owners... But, the bank only granted here 90 days of barn use, and she did not have the ability to care for all the animals and was trying to give them away, but there were few takers... I only took the two llamas but I could have walked away with a half dozen Arabian horses as well... Moral of the story, I don't know what happened in the end, but it's not always easy to give animals away and people do crazy things sometimes...

Again, I'm not advocating or supporting people that dump animals, there is absolutely no reason to do it, but sometimes poo-poo things happen and things spiral out of control leaving people to do stupid and irresponsible things...

 

[ShanandGem]

I ended up with a lovely flock of 8 Brahma crosses who seem healthy as can be and lay the biggest eggs I've ever seen. The last hen survived in the woods for over a month before I managed to catch her.

 

[scooter147]

Pretty bird.

I would isolate her from your flock for a couple weeks.

I came home from work one evening a few years ago and has a extra hen in my coop, this coop has a covered top so there was no way for her to get in.

About an hour after I was home the doorbell rang and it was animal control. She told me she caught my chicken running around the intersection a few blocks away and returned it.

I told her that was not my chicken and although I appreciated the thought putting that chicken without knowing it was really mine in with my flock was not a good idea. It wasn't good for my flock due to unknown diseases and the hen you put in there could have likey been killed by my flock.

She apologized and left. The scary thing for me was I did isolate this hen immediately and she ended up dying about a week later. I have no idea why however.

 

[Adalida]

Poor peeps!! People can be awful. I'll never understand why people dump animals. I used to live in a city where the humane society had cages outside so people could anonymously drop animals off at night. And people still abandoned animals out in the country!! So sad for those chickens, their former owners could have just put an ad for free chickens online and I'm sure someone would have taken them. I'm glad you rescued them.

 

[ShanandGem]

I suppose it bears mentioning that we eat our chickens, and that the rooster in the picture is destined for our freezer. However, he will be well cared for in the meantime, and humanely processed. I couldn't turn any animal loose into the forest and somehow convince myself that this was the best solution for them.
This is just another symptom of us as a species being too far removed from our food supply. Our food is faceless and hygienically packaged for consumption because that is somehow so much more palatable.