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

[RHRanch]

Theres nothing wromg in my opinion with people keeping chickens as pets - and I wouldn't expect that person to process thier pet. Thats a personal chooice based on a lot of different things. I also don't think there is anything wrong with putting ads out looking for pet homes either. What a pet chicken owner needs to understand is there are not many "pet" homes, and they have no luck "rehoming" and extra roo. If they won't keep that roo - or if they took a chance and got a roo in an area that doesn't allow roos, they will probably have to accept that in the world we live in - to be born a roo is to be destined for the table in most cases. That said, there are always people who are happy to take spare roos for food. Generally, thats where my extra roos go. I have no problem with that. But if I find a pet home, I am tickled!

 

[RHRanch]

Quote:
I agree with this completely. I get really tired of posts where someone is shock, astounded, outranged that the free buffet that they left out got eaten by a predator! Then instead of people being straight with that person, they get consoled and told to hunt down the dastardly beast that killed thier birds - that they left unprotected or inadequately protected. Often this happens to the same people over and over again. IMO, these kind of chicken owners fit into the "irresponsible" catagory, too. I don't like all the excuses about it, either: "its too expensive, i don't have time, blaj blah blah...) Sorry - rant. lol

 

[Beekissed]

I don't have a problem with people keeping chickens as pets, either. It's quirky and so am I, so it all fits in my mind. What I have a problem with is being responsible for that pet just like any other. Chickens cannot defend themselves, they can forage for food but still need supplemented, they need shelter...and they need to NOT be pawned off when they are an inconvenience.

Rehoming responsibly is one thing but as the previous poster mentioned, these homes are few and far between. And are they GOOD homes? Or will that person, in turn, find out that chickens are not like their other pets and cannot be trained to poop in one place, cannot be trained not to crow, cannot be trained to respect the furniture, the porch, the garden or flowers....and decide they have to be rehomed once again? Where does it all end?

I have rehomed sweet old hens before and it never really worked out, though the people were sincere in their intentions~ they did not study up on the facts of chickens...they are not cats one can turn loose in the yard and fend for theirselves. They are food for everything outside! Those sweet old hens died of predation when I could have ended them quietly and quickly here at my place...no trauma, no fear, no tearing flesh from bone while still alive.

 

[JulieNKC]

Quote:
I completely agree. Plus, people need to understand there simply isn't a home for all the excess roo's, except for on the dinner table. I do process some extra roo's, the ones I don't want to do I rehome to someone I know will do the deed with respect.

 

[StevenW.]

After last year and this year we have gotten more Male ducks than females so we post some flyers up at the post office saying that we have extra drakes and cockerals and that we will butcher, clean, and etc. We sold all of them because everyone wanted fresh chicken or duck. The prices were determined on how big the carcass was and how much it weighed. That was the ONLY way we were able to get rid of extras. Worked fine for us and we actually have returning customers that come for eggs.

 

[Beekissed]

I think people would be surprised about how many people out there would love a dead duck or chicken but would never want a live one. Homegrown chicken or duck is a rare and expensive commodity in the world today and one may even find a market for it with the finer Chinese or Thai restaurants.

I posted preventative health tips on another thread and am pasteing part of that here pertaining to a sensitive issue called "culling":

I understand that culling undesirable traits from a flock is not something folks on this type of forum consider to be necessary. Many people here are getting into chickens as a new hobby, fad or whim or just as an experiment to see if they can save money on raising their own foods.

Then there are those who think of farming or animal husbandry in terms of decades or centuries....folks who are in it for the long haul and want to insure their efforts actually produce something viable and valuable to the next generation if need be. Even if what they produce is information.

While sentiment and such seems admirable and they usually are when applied to your fellow man and creatures on this earth~the hard facts are that you would not be enjoying the foods you have today if someone were not thinking more long term about quality, sustaining the strong and good producers of any given food source, be it animal or vegetable.

Even nature is set up for just such a system when man does not interfer....the strongest survive and the weak are foods for others so they might survive. It is a good system and though it may seem harsh it is still quite necessary to insure the survival of many and not just a few.

Farming folk are usually the practical people who have to make the hard choices and city folk are usually the ones who enjoy the fruits of those hard choices...has been that way for many generations now. Now the city or urban set want to experiment with keeping farm animals and forget that those who have been doing it for generations may just have a grasp on how to keep an animal alive and healthy~for years, decades, centuries~not just for the life span of a chicken.

The reason I introduce this type of preventative health care into a thread about responsible pet ownership is that tending to the general health of your flock falls under that same heading. Whether you are raising as pets or for food production, keeping a flock healthy or having to kill sick or suffering birds seems to be a big issue on BYC also.

Have a plan. Have a plan. Have a plan. The time to develop a plan is not when you have a sick, suffering or dying bird on your hands and you need "HELP!" Have a plan for what you will do to keep your flock healthy and have a plan for what you will do if all of that fails. Who will be responsible for the humane treatment or death of your animal if not you? When one is in a crisis is not the time to find out your vet does not do chickens.

Find all this out and make a plan for effective development of your flock's health maintenance or your solution to the need to kill an animal that cannot be saved BEFORE you ever purchase one single bird. Make life easy for you and your family by considering this as a fact of owning poultry. They die. They die of mysterious reasons, because your dog likes to play with them, they wandered off your property and into some jaws, they were born with a defect that hinders their quality of life and they then die. How will you help them and ease their pain or suffering?​

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
The reason I introduce this type of preventative health care into a thread about responsible pet ownership is that tending to the general health of your flock falls under that same heading. Whether you are raising as pets or for food production, keeping a flock healthy or having to kill sick or suffering birds seems to be a big issue on BYC also.

Have a plan. Have a plan. Have a plan. The time to develop a plan is not when you have a sick, suffering or dying bird on your hands and you need "HELP!" Have a plan for what you will do to keep your flock healthy and have a plan for what you will do if all of that fails. Who will be responsible for the humane treatment or death of your animal if not you? When one is in a crisis is not the time to find out your vet does not do chickens.

Find all this out and make a plan for effective development of your flock's health maintenance or your solution to the need to kill an animal that cannot be saved BEFORE you ever purchase one single bird. Make life easy for you and your family by considering this as a fact of owning poultry. They die. They die of mysterious reasons, because your dog likes to play with them, they wandered off your property and into some jaws, they were born with a defect that hinders their quality of life and they then die. How will you help them and ease their pain or suffering?

Recently I had a chick hatch from shipped eggs with wry neck.. is most cases it's genetic.. my plan for that bird was if it were a pullet to allow it to live and lay eggs.. however none of those eggs would be incubated (she would have been kept in a separate enclosure).. and if the chick were a roo.. he would end up going to freezer camp as soon as he had filled out enough to make the carcase worthwhile.. however the chick continued to have relapse after relapse.. to I took a pair of pruners and ended its life.
I have a hatchery chick now with a slight crossbeak.. a pullet.. as she fills out she will also be going to freezer camp.. I don't have crossbeak in my flock and I wont permit it.. it tends to get worse with age and its also genetic.. so she will be culled asap.
Extra roosters always go to Camp Kenmore.. we never rehome any of our birds.. when hens get to old to keep up with egg production they also go to the stew pot. However our birds are not pets.. they are here to supply us with eggs and meat for the table.. so I have to cull those who cant do the job or who will end up degrading the flock..it may sound cruel to some people.. but for us it's how things are

 

[southerndesert]

From an "old School" chicken keeper born of chicken keepers, born of....

Excellent and very educational post that will indeed open an eye or two about how many see chickens from the "farmer side" The kids and grand kids always have a few favorites they hold and name so I guess they could be called pets in a way, but once done doing their job they are subject to the same fate either by being given away to friends to eat or into the chicken and dumpling pot.

Pet chickens are OK as well in my book if folks are ready for the reality of keeping these animals and just how animal they can really be.

Having a flock or two can sure benefit a family in many ways including breakfast food when they live and dinner food after they are culled.

Until joining this forum I did not really have any idea there were so many chickens and other fowl kept as pets with egg production and meat second to beloved pet status and it is an eye opener. Seems a lot harder to do as well in many ways especially with sick and injured birds and caring for them, we remove these animals from the flock. Care is simply a proven daily regime (chores) twice a day and works for us very well with little extra effort and we have healthy happy hens.

I also am in no way criticizing how others choose to keep fowl or why, but I do agree that in many cases much more education is needed prior to getting birds only to be met with a disaster that could have easily been avoided in the first place.

This site does a great deal to accomplish this very thing!

 

[LeelooD]

I am in the unfortunate situation of having an unwanted roo. I trusted a seller who said she was giving me and hen and a pullet- only it turned out that it was a hen and a cockerel. She won't take my calls and emails about returning him and no one else wants him. I'm afraid he will be crowing soon and get me in trouble so my husband said he'd do the deed for me. I don't think he much wants to, but he knows it's bothering me. He did help his dad kill some chickens when they were going through a self-sufficiency stage when he was a teenager, but that was a long time ago. It was a harsh intro to chicken-keeping and you'd better believe I will take a long, hard look at any bird I buy in the future!

A friend of mine said she'd take my hens if I ever had to get rid of them, but she didn't want the rooster because she has too many male birds already. She didn't want me to kill him or give him to someone who would, though. If she ever asks what happened, I guess I'll have to say, "He went to live on a farm!"

 

[pjknust]

EVERYBODY on BYC needs to read this thread!!!! I too am shocked at all the people hatching and buying etc. I would NEVER hatch out eggs only to end up with Roosters. I would never buy straight run to end up with Roosters. And after reading this forum I would NEVER buy chickens at any age from somebody. You are buying somebody elses disease. What they might not have problems with at their place, brought to your place might just very well kill the birds you already have.

I have bought hatchery chicks twice in the past 3 yr. My old hens are 3 and my younguns are 10 wk. ALL pullets. Have had a few die of know not what, and a few got killed one night a year ago. But all in all Ive had very good luck with my BackYard chickens, because that is just what they are, in my fenced in back yard with a shed for a house, and my dogs protect them for me whether they know what they are doing or not.
Someday I would hope that I would be able to kill some to eat, but at this time I just cant, so therefore I dont do the "chicken math" (even tho I almost got caught up in it for a while, thank goodness I didnt order any more) I just enjoy my hens and sit out and watch them peck around. Take care of them to the best of my ability, and let them grow old til their time comes.

Thanks to the OP for starting this thread....................

pam in TX