A CALL OUT for responsible pet ownership! Unwanted roos, ducks, etc.

[yinepu]

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that's why I refuse to eat octopus.. I can't eat something that I know for a fact is a lot smarter than I am!

come to think of it... the chickens are probably smarter than me too...... but so is a stalk of celery for that matter!
eep!

 

[Terri O]

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So who was grilling? the pig, the dog or the man? LOL--Terri O

 

[hansolo]

This is our first year of keeping chickens and we ended up with 3 roos sold to us as pullets.
Through this experience I have learned so much about chickens as well as people:
1. responsible chicken/poultry keepers will not take random outside birds for disease prevention;
2. there are far more roos available than needed for breeding / flock protection;
3. to find a "home" (= no culling) for extra roos, the only place would be some kind of rescue shelter;
4. since i am not able to kill a chicken, I shouldn't be eating one, or any other animals, for that matter;
5. i am ridiculously attached to chickens;
6. in theory i believe older hens and excess roos should be food, I still ended up sending the roos away than having a friend cull them. I suffer, from emotional weaknesses and making the wrong kind of decision for the birds, who once were my buddies. Too many times i regret and think I should have had the roos culled. I think I will just need to do it once and it won't be a problem anymore. Sometimes people are stubborn because they have some kind of beliefs in their mind, some kind of mental block.

 

[kemclaughlin]

I agree that this would make a fantastic "must read" or sticky. I thought I had done the planning. I read, researched and carefully planned my flock. I did make a bad impulsive decision, but once I was on here, I realized that there is much I didn't know. Even a good planner can miss stuff.

 

[spiritdance]

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So who was grilling? the pig, the dog or the man? LOL--Terri O

From the condition of the steaks, I suspect the DH turned the duties over to the pig for a bit ... that, or they shared a lot more than one beer. Come to think of it, the dog slept in pretty late this morning...

 

[Beekissed]

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You've got THAT right! I made many and tried to learn from each one. I think that is what most good flock owners do here is give up the info on what works and what doesn't....this is so everyone can learn and not repeat other's mistakes.

One thing I learned on here but had to try it for myself~and found to be very true~that one shouldn't feed chicks laying mash. I lost some mature hens from that batch of chicks from heart failure...just fell off the roost in the night. I can trace it right back to my own arrogance of feeding laying mash despite what others warned.

Lessons learned...and hopefully sent back into the loop in the hopes no one else makes the same mistakes!

Another thing I learned was to be very careful of accepting gifted chickens....gave my whole, previously very healthy, flock scale mites that were difficult to get rid of until I tried Nu-Stock, the only all natural treatment I could find on the market.

Forget quarantine! No more gifted chickens for me, no matter how nice the offer made.

 

[Highlander]

Quote:
You've got THAT right! I made many and tried to learn from each one. I think that is what most good flock owners do here is give up the info on what works and what doesn't....this is so everyone can learn and not repeat other's mistakes.

One thing I learned on here but had to try it for myself~and found to be very true~that one shouldn't feed chicks laying mash. I lost some mature hens from that batch of chicks from heart failure...just fell off the roost in the night. I can trace it right back to my own arrogance of feeding laying mash despite what others warned.

Lessons learned...and hopefully sent back into the loop in the hopes no one else makes the same mistakes!

Another thing I learned was to be very careful of accepting gifted chickens....gave my whole, previously very healthy, flock scale mites that were difficult to get rid of until I tried Nu-Stock, the only all natural treatment I could find on the market.

Forget quarantine! No more gifted chickens for me, no matter how nice the offer made.

Could you clarify please? What is it about laying mash that gives chickens heart failure? I thought it was just finer ground layer pellets that can be made into a "mash" with water, it is here anyway.

 

[KatieBugg]

BRAVO!!! This subject and the content is fantastic! I am so thankfull someone finally brought this up as it makes me sick over the way animals are used as "fad" pets. I do cull any birds that are not healthy and have deformities, I also butcher for my family.

I handle my excess birds in a win/win situation. I actually raise more birds than I need for meat and eggs, I feed them out and then give them to an elderly couple who are on a fixed income trying to keep their farm, (property taxes are high) this couple both get my extra eggs and plenty of meat. I would so much rather do this than send a donation to a foriegn country. There are plenty of Americans needing the help. I had met the man in the feedstore last spring, poor guy was trying to barter the feedstore to sell him a smaller bag of feed and paid with pennies. I had some extra roos growing out that I was going to butcher for my family but we are not in "need" as this gentlman obviously was. When I went outside he was getting into his truck and I offered him the birds when they got to wieght, at first he was a little proud about it, but I kept insisting my freezer was full and didn't want them to go to waste. We now have a great friendship with this couple and him and his wife are amazing people! Oh don't think I didn't get anything in return, his wife is teaching me everything there is to know about canning, can't go wrong there

 

[LeelooD]

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Over here, laying mash has added calcium for strong eggshells which can harm the developing organs of chicks too young to lay.

 

[kidd42]

Beekissed, Thank you for posting this, I totally agree with you. We researched raising chickens long and hard before we got our first flock 2 years ago. We had a plan on what to do with roo's, extra birds, sick and old hens, etc. Last year I had to put down my first sick and dying hen, it took me 45 minutes to do the deed but afterwards felt it was the best for her. I have since put down a number of chicks that had been sick. Easy? no! but it's being a responsable owner. I get so frustrated with post's here about someone having a sick or injured chicken and they can't bring themselves to put it down, so they let it suffer. Or "how do I get my hens to come to me and sit for a photo?" etc. They are chickens people not dogs or cats.
We have an aggresive Roo, we all know Thor will protect his girls (after all, this is what we got a roo for) so we take steps to avoid him. We coexist with him. When I enter the chicken yard, I am in his territory, and he is expected to defend that area not matter who enters. We totally agree with you, Thanks again for posting this. We have your back on this subject.