I just rescued 40 chickens from certain death... Graphic details.

[chics in the sun]

Yeah, as a Social Worker, I try not to be jaded by my work experience, but something else is going on. There is plenty of help out there to feed children in this country without having to sell your trailer, and you don't get to the point of having a pile of dead chickens and a bunch of starving ones without something being seriously wrong- usually either drugs or mental illness. Not to say they are to blame for their condition at all, just that they likely need more than just monetary help. Thank you for rescuing their chickens, and it sounds like you live in a wonderful comunity of caring people.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

That is great that you helped out those poor birds! I'm sure you'll give them lots of excellent care. It's good to hear that the family is also receiving assistance from your community.

 

[Miss Red]

I know their daughter had a stack of problems. Dwarfism, autism, and something else I don't remember off the top of my head. The childs father didn't seem right to me. He was jumpy, walked/talked quickly, etc. All tell tale signs of drug use to me. I don't know them well enough to know what's going on.

I just know that if I had 40 chickens and a garden of ROTTEN veggies people would be worried. They did have a garden, mostly overgrown and rotten squash, and some tomatoe plants that were barely alive. Plenty of food, for me at least. I personally would have eaten the plants down to their roots, everything edible, and been boiling down some of the polk salad they had an abundance of.

Again, I don't know more than I was told about them and from them. Its not enough. The social worker was supposed to come today but I didn't get a phone call on what happened so I'm now out of any furthur loops.

Still, there was plenty of food and they letit go bad. This whole thing has bothered me to no end, and I'm never going to forget it.

All the birds ate so many bugs and enough scratch today their crawls were stuffed. I got two soft shelled eggs, and cleared a broken egg from one of the sebrights vents. The eggs were fed back to them and I added egg shells from my girls to their pens. Oyster shells will be added on top of that if that's not enough.

I will load pictures of the birds once they clean up some, the majority still have dried poop. I discovered scaley leg mites on the two feather legged bantams out of the rabbit pen. Going to start treating them for it.

 

[JetBlack]

Boy, I'm glad you saved them. Very good job. It's great that you are trying so hard and giving them somewhere to stay and eat "real" chicken food. Are they skittish or frightened of you, at all?

 

[Miss Red]

They were yesterday after being netted. But after all the treats and goodies, crops full of food, and fresh water their jumping at the cages trying to get to me.

In fact, one of the sebright hens squeezed loose through a small hole in the wire and chased me down. They've already learned what the purple feed scoop means.

Elvis and Pricilla let Skylar reach through and pet them in the pen, but refused to be taken out.

 

[sonjab314]

Sounds like you made an outstanding save on the chickens. As far as the family (steps up on soap box), have they never heard of the Food Stamp program? What about WIC? There are too many assistance programs out there, including the salvation army, that will help people when they are this down. I'm sorry but the baby needs to be placed in a more stable environment, whether it be a family member or foster care, until they can get back up on their feet. I'd die and go to Hades before I put my child in that predicument. I would beg and borrow or whatever I had to do to make sure my baby was taken care of.

As far as the parents welfare, if they had a garden and grown chickens, it is their own fault they are hungry. If they took the time to plant the garden for food, they should have invested the time to properly tend it. I agree with DarkMatter. If they had grown chickens, they could have free ranged and butchered. FREE FOOD!!

I hate sounding like a scrooge but, I am a retired police officer and I seen this stuff happen for way too many years. I totally agree that some people fall on hard times and they have no control over it. But it sounds like some very poor choices were made by the parents.

And Quail_Antwerp hit the nail on the head. We need to go back to a simpler life. My kids already know how to clean fish and cook many dishes and they are 8 and 5 (twins). I quilt and sew and make them clothes regularly. They are very proud of what I make for them and prefer it most of the time to store bought clothing.

I'm sure they are grateful for your community stepping in and helping them. I hope that the dad is not a tweaker. But if he is then that would explain a lot. All I can say is poor baby. S/he doesn't stand a chance.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I am here to say that unforuntately I agree with you. I wont say more to avoid closure of this thread.

Miss Red. Great job done for all involved!!! I am very glad to read that your community stepped in to help these people. Yes there are thousands more like them, and if everyone in each community would help the way this community did, this nation would be better off.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

CPS does not take children because the parents are impoverished or homeless. They take children when they are being abused or severely negleted. There are many, many homeless families.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Quote:
I agree completely. As a former foster mom I've seen parents let their baby go hungry because they didn't make the effort to go pick up the prescription formula. I've seen parents panhandle and prostitute themselves because they didn't want to make the effort to go to the welfare office to fill out the appropriate paperwork. They may have a history and didn't want to seek help out of fear that their daughter would be taken away. . . again, something I've seen over and over. Was there no water on the property? At least the birds could have been watered. Makes you wonder how safe that little girl is in the care of people incapable of keeping chickens alive. I do think it's nice for the community to reach out, but someone needs to be keeping a very close eye on the situation once all the hub-bub dies down.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Agreed. If the family is doing their best to care for the child, they won't take them. Right or wrong, that is way it is.