83000 Chickens Die in Fire

[old geezer]

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...so *&^%$#@! sad--poor things had no life to begin with --,and now die panic striken in a barn fire---one of the reassons i got into chickens was to know that my small flock kept a few hens out of a battery house and could live like a chicken should-and when their laying was done --they would be still kept safe from a cambells stew pot--i know this post sounds a little upitty--but the treatment of chickens is a pet peeve for me--and i am far removed from being squimish by any means...

 

[gritsar]

 

[ranchhand]

I'm seeing some really tacky comments here. I'm sure they were meant as jokes, but the OP posted from distress, not as a joke.
Really folks, if you can't find some sympathy for the OP, move quietly on to another thread, please, rather than post sarcasm.

Having said that for the less sensitive folks, there isn't a need for mourning, hand wringing and weeping, either. What is needed is an appreciation for our own flocks and working towards a common goal of easing "chicken factories" into history.

I am very sorry to see this sort of thing happen- I have suffered smoke inhalation twice in fires, and it's not just a fade to unconciousness. I feel for the chickens that were killed, just as I feel for the people who lost their source of income. Perhaps they will move on to better things now.

 

[gritsar]

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[Ohiodirtdigger]

So, would the chickens have tried to get out if they were able to?

 

[gritsar]

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IMO, probably not. Not only have I seen a little bit of it for myself but my DH has told me stories of them taking the commercial chickens out of the (commercial) houses and setting them on the ground just a few feet outside the doors. Those chickens will do anything they can, overcoming their fear of humans (of which they have plenty) to try and get back inside the houses. It's all they've ever known.

 

[ranchhand]

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They most likely would have frozen in the dark. Chickens can't see much of anything at night, they're pretty comatose. Unless someone literally tossed them out they wouldn't have moved. And even then, there is still a good chance they would have run back in, toward the light.

As an example, I had an opossum get in the coop one night. He had dragged several hens off the roost. Rather than run, they just collapsed on the floor. I picked them up and pitched them out, using a flashlight to get a clear shot at the possum. The silly hens kept running back in the coop - toward the flashlight, right back TO the opossum.

Much as we love chickens, we have to accept that they are not very smart.

 

[old geezer]

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X-2.........

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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I really doubt it. They are easily confused and with a fire in the early morning hours I doubt they would run out of the barn into the darkness. We have a few thousand organic hens. If the doors were open and if it were to be daylight outside I'm sure those with a view of the doors would leave, but I think that most wouldn't have any sense of direction through the smoke and would just pile up the corners.

 

[catwalk]

83K birds would have provided a very moderate income, so I imagine that it was not the owner's sole bread and butter. On the other hand, most small poultry operations in this area were built by hand, with the family pitching in and the kids cleaning up after the builders leave each day. How heart-wrenching, even for the former owner! The chicken barns on the farm where I grew up are about the age of that one. Two have been de-commissioned and are now machinery storage, but the other two are about that size, and connected by a tunnel/walkway. The current owners are thinking of selling the biz, as the ODA have really been turning the screws lately, so maybe this is their sign that it's time to make the move.