AARGH! Hatcheries cruelty to male chicks - anyone seen this??

[kristenm1975]

Just one more reason why we should all have chickens in our back yards, and only buy chicks from fellow back yard growers.

 

[BarkerChickens]

DH sent me the article from another news source via Yahoo! news. It just makes me glad that we raise our own chickens!!

 

[SheeReno]

Goodness...that was a real heartbreaker. I knew that males were wrothless but.....really??

 

[cassie]

I am sure that is someone has a viable solution as to what to do with the excess chicks, the hatcheries would be delighted to hear it.

 

[fowler_chick]

i have to agree with cassie, i read the article this afternoon and was shocked by it but.....come animal rights groups!!! i wonder how many of them have a farming back round?, if they were to save all the male chicks what would they all do with them?....there all veggitarrians!!!

 

[jacyjones]

That footage is horrific and I am sadly never surprised by how cruel mass production of any animal can be. I do my best never to knowingly buy live animals or meat from this system but this is the truth about the way we live today. It sickens me to my stomach but there is little we can do other than try and avoid fuelling this horrendous situation.

 

[PurpleChicken]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=238039


This is not something new and has been discussed here for years. If a hatchery tried to do it differently they would go out of business quickly. Anyone watching that video should realize the birds shown are commercial layers, not the backyard varieties we all have.

BTW, some hatcheries, like Meyers, sell many male chicks to be used as fryers for very low prices. Buy some, raise them humanely, slaughter them humanely, and then fill your freezer.

 

[austinhart123]

why cant they do things more humainly, i mean atleast gassing them wouldnt hurt

 

[Lensters]

Differences between Hy Line and most hatcheries:

1. Most humanely euthanize the males, CO2 gas, vacuum or neck stretchers, before sending their carcasses into the grinder.

2. No chicks (or egg shells) should make it to the washers either, there should be a vacuum system that picks up all the shells that should catch the chicks. These undersized, sick or late chicks are then quickly euthanized and sent to the trash.

I'm afraid nature is cruel. If you try to keep too many roosters they will end up harming or killing the hens and/or each other. There just isn't a way to keep all these cockerels even if money wasn't an object. Well ok, maybe huge warehouses filled with individual cages, but that would be even worse.

 

[MissPrissy]

Do to reports and the issues with several of these threads from yesterday this topic has run its course. Thank you.