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

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

"This really just seems like more of a rant about not liking to read certain threads than anything else. There's nothing you can do about it and posting a rant about it certainly isn't helping matters."


"I know this sounds a little harsh....but...please don't ask us to help you with your self-imposed problem."

Point made. Avoid the threads wherein people need to rehome their roos...problem solved!

Whoever said earlier (paraphrasing here) that to attain hens we must hatch eggs, thereby getting a probability of 50/50 hens to roosters, thank you. Simply put, to get the hens to lay the eggs, we have to risk hatching, and therefore having, excess roosters. It isn't that hard to understand... the market for roosters will NEVER be what it is for hens...

 

[Beekissed]

Whoever said earlier (paraphrasing here) that to attain hens we must hatch eggs, thereby getting a probability of 50/50 hens to roosters, thank you. Simply put, to get the hens to lay the eggs, we have to risk hatching, and therefore having, excess roosters. It isn't that hard to understand... the market for roosters will NEVER be what it is for hens...

NOW you're getting it!! Finally! That is the point we are trying to make. We buy hens also but we have a plan for the 50/50 chance. Some of us buy hens only so that roo chick is slaughtered right at the hatchery. Yes, I've seen the way they do it, we all have. But to you all death is death, from what I understand. You equate the stew pot on equal with cruelty...which is why "you could NEVER kill and eat one of your own". I say, "Six of one, half dozen of the other."

I only order hens so I only deal with hens. The hatcheries can deal with their roos their way and I will deal with mine my way. That way it remains their problem and not mine. When I need a roo, I order one. When I no longer want a retired hen or roo, I still keep it...it stays here from chick to geriatric, be it in the yard or the freezer. When it gets on my property it is then very much my responsibility. As you say, the fact is we can never get hens without the chance of roos and I can't save all the chicks at the hatchery....and according to the posts in question, neither can you all.


If avoiding those threads would assure that the problem would go away, I would surely do so. That's like a little child hiding her eyes and believing that others cannot see her because she cannot see them. The problem isn't that we are reading so many threads regarding the matter...the problem is that the numerous threads are evidence that there actually IS a problem.

Are you the type that, upon hearing of a child being abused, would just tell the messenger that you don't want to hear about it because not hearing about it would make the abuse stop happening?

I've heard people say they hate watching the news because of all the bad things happening and I always tell myself, "Gee, I'm glad I don't have TV!" But...just because I can't hear or see the bad things do not keep them from happening and then happening again.

If a thread such as this raises awareness of a problem, I say it is well worth the few posts voicing disapproval. If it saves animals from unnecessary neglect or saves someone from making a mistake in regards to their chicken husbandry~then it is also well worth risking your disapproval. If you take issue with it, I guess you could heed your own advice and just don't read it!

 

[PamB]

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I wasn't saying it was necessarily a sure thing...just what works for me. I have usually about 5 responses within one day of posting in this area. I am lucky I guess.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

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NOW you're getting it!! Finally! That is the point we are trying to make. We buy hens also but we have a plan for the 50/50 chance. Some of us buy hens only so that roo chick is slaughtered right at the hatchery. Yes, I've seen the way they do it, we all have. But to you all death is death, from what I understand. You equate the stew pot on equal with cruelty...which is why "you could NEVER kill and eat one of your own". I say, "Six of one, half dozen of the other."

I only order hens so I only deal with hens. The hatcheries can deal with their roos their way and I will deal with mine my way. That way it remains their problem and not mine. When I need a roo, I order one. When I no longer want a retired hen or roo, I still keep it...it stays here from chick to geriatric, be it in the yard or the freezer. When it gets on my property it is then very much my responsibility. As you say, the fact is we can never get hens without the chance of roos and I can't save all the chicks at the hatchery....and according to the posts in question, neither can you all.


If avoiding those threads would assure that the problem would go away, I would surely do so. That's like a little child hiding her eyes and believing that others cannot see her because she cannot see them. The problem isn't that we are reading so many threads regarding the matter...the problem is that the numerous threads are evidence that there actually IS a problem.

Are you the type that, upon hearing of a child being abused, would just tell the messenger that you don't want to hear about it because not hearing about it would make the abuse stop happening?

I've heard people say they hate watching the news because of all the bad things happening and I always tell myself, "Gee, I'm glad I don't have TV!" But...just because I can't hear or see the bad things do not keep them from happening and then happening again.

If a thread such as this raises awareness of a problem, I say it is well worth the few posts voicing disapproval. If it saves animals from unnecessary neglect or saves someone from making a mistake in regards to their chicken husbandry~then it is also well worth risking your disapproval. If you take issue with it, I guess you could heed your own advice and just don't read it!

I have yet to hear you give a viable option that works on all levels: ordering only pullets...that isn't 100% guaranteed. Now I get the impression that you want everyone to keep their birds from birth to geriatric, to death. That works for YOU. I never said I had a problem ridding myself of excess roosters. I also never said I couldn't process and eat one. I would venture to say that there are quite a few more chickens in the world than dogs or cats. They are a food supply for many, a food provider via eggs and meat for many more, a food supply for various other animals, a source of financial livelihood, and basically a pet to many as well. How you choose to live your life and "deal" with your excess roosters is completely your choice. But to imply, or outright announce, that somehow people who are not in any way being inhumane in their own personal treatment of their excess birds are morally at fault for not keeping said birds until they die of old age is a narrow-minded viewpoint in my opinion. You will never get everyone on here to agree with you, not all of us are so offended by people seeking homes for their roosters. And I hate to tell you, but ignoring child abuse in no way equates with ignoring an annoying thread about someone needing a home for a rooster. My chickens are not children. They are animals, and I find it disturbing to even suggest that an abused child is in any way of equal importance with an extra rooster thread.

All that said, I again will post something I completely agree with, courtesy of the person who said it first...and best:

"This really just seems like more of a rant about not liking to read certain threads than anything else. There's nothing you can do about it and posting a rant about it certainly isn't helping matters."


You can't overhaul the system, and while I can easily collect a dozen hatching eggs from my own birds and incubate, I can't always guarantee that I could order chicks of the breed and sex I wanted at any time that I was ready for or desiring them. And even if I did, many people, including a moderator I might add, have had the hatchery mixups wherein they were stuck with an un-needed rooster. No plan is foolproof, and being condescending and hateful about it because some people dare to disagree with your opinion won't change the fact that you do not have a foolproof option. Not all of us are able or willing to keep a production type of animal from birth till death just because some people think we SHOULD.

 

[Beekissed]

You certainly have a right to your opinion. As have I...but according to you, expressing mine is merely a rant. I'm sorry you feel that way about what you have read. I don't equate children with chickens either as I don't eat my children when they are no longer are useful.

I do eat my chickens. You missed the point once again. I wasn't comparing chickens to children but explaining that hiding one's head in the sand over any problem that results in possible suffering is not the best solution and gets nothing done.

You seem to become upset when you take part in this thread and it may be advisable if you avoid it if you do not like the contents...isn't that what you advised me to do?


I'm going to tell you all a bitter secret that I live with every day. I was planning on moving out of country this summer to take up a mission post on Jamaica but I did not get the position. Meanwhile, in getting ready for that possibility, I gave my whole flock away.

You heard me. I gave away the flock that I have been developing for the past five years using methods that would insure that only the most hardy, best egg laying, and most intelligent chickens would be passing on genetics.

I gave them away instead of selling them because the people who wanted them were friends and assured me that they would be cared for like I had cared for them and that was worth more than money to me. They had great buildings for coop construction and I had given them fencing panels so they could build outside foraging areas. They built a big pen like coop inside one of their barns and I gave them most of my flock and all my equipment and feed. They said they would start building the fence as soon as possible.

Then never did.

My beautiful, wild and woolly flock that were used to roaming and glorying in the sun, fresh air and seasonal changes of the great outdoors all their lives is now living in a barn without any outside access. Their nest boxes have no bedding and they lay on bare metal. They have no roosts on which to sleep. When last I saw them they were looking dull and raggedy, missing feathers and pacing to and fro along the fencing of their small confines like caged animals. Oops....they ARE caged animals, what was I thinking?

They remembered me and ran to the wire, though they had continuous feed right there in their pen. I wondered if they remembered how they used to live or did they not know the reason they pace the wire. Do they just pace because their bodies remember what their small chickeny heads cannot grasp?

Seven members of that flock were given to a co-worker who free ranged far up on a beautiful mountain with a view straight into heaven. They remember me too and they run to greet me when I get out of the truck. They follow me up on her porch like old friends and I'm so very glad they at least are living how I intended they should.

Am I bitter? You bet. Can I get them back? Probably not and I still have plans for leaving the area/country.

Would I rather that caged and restless flock be dead than live what I consider no life at all? YES. I would have killed them all myself and built a funeral pire to the sky before I would have let them live anything but free and in the light!

I make mistakes too. Big ones. I'm just trying to give some insight into what I have found out...those chickens you love? Those babes you raised and held to your heart? You never know what hell to which you will resign them....it's the luck of the draw. Seven go to heaven, twenty-two may go to hell....not what I call good averages. I'd rather they never been born or been thrown to the feed grinders of the hatcheries than to have had a great life that ended in this ceaseless suffering.

Do I tell you this sad tale to say do as I say, not as I do? Nope. I tell you because I have first hand experience at what happens when you give something fine into uncertain futures. I, for one, am going to avoid it like the plague for the rest of MY life. You do what you will for whatever suits your own life....no one is telling you that you HAVE to believe what I believe or do what I say. This is a take or leave it kind of forum.

 

[There a chick...]

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Right on!

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I won't post further on this. You have your reasons, and I respect them. I'm sorry you're hurting, and I apologize if I added to your pain...I had no idea. That's why I haven't gotten as attached as you...I keep the distance so it doesn't bother me as much. Right or wrong, that's how I handle it. I hope you find what you need, so far as moving goes, and wish you the best. Your birds were lucky to have you for the time they did.

 

[ekemily]

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You would not believe the "you are totally crazy for eating a chicken" looks that I get when I tell people that I eat my excess roos. Typical chicken conversation when we get on the subject of how "weird" I am:

Them: "She eats her roos"
Me: "do you eat chicken?"
Them: "yes."
Me: "It's the same darn thing. Chicken."
Them: "But you kill it?"
Me: "you eat yours alive? You're the crazy one."

 

[Mtn Margie]

I'll have to remember that line!

 

[Beekissed]

BigDaddy'sGurl :

I won't post further on this. You have your reasons, and I respect them. I'm sorry you're hurting, and I apologize if I added to your pain...I had no idea. That's why I haven't gotten as attached as you...I keep the distance so it doesn't bother me as much. Right or wrong, that's how I handle it. I hope you find what you need, so far as moving goes, and wish you the best. Your birds were lucky to have you for the time they did.

Thank you, BDG. I am also very sorry if this thread comes off preachy or rant-like.

I never meant to challenge, only to inform and plea for a better solution.

I wasn't attached to my birds like some folks imagine....I didn't cuddle them or name them all or even talk to them all that much. What I did do was protect them and give them what I imagined they needed to feel like a chicken should feel....their own society, freedom, safety, healthy foods and fresh waters. I took my job seriously and always felt blessed that God chose me to do the right thing by those chickens. How else did they wind up in my care? They were meant for me and me for them and that is no small thing.

I loved their soft feathers and beautiful colors. I loved their quirky and funny ways and I really loved their independence and strength. I can't bear the thought of my regal, proud Toby pacing that cage with frantic effort....beautiful and shining once with spurs like spears. Now dull and desparate with an endless purpose in mind....gotta get out.

I'm a tough old sod and not a bit sentimental about livestock...and I can't believe I feel hot tears rolling down my face over chickens. Silly, really....I don't know if it is their present state that I mourn or the idea of the loss of freedom and all that entails. Who knows?

Toby and some of the gals roaming into the wild, blue yonder with the dog mafia watching o'er: