Anyone else feel guilty selling chickens?

[NellaBean]

Am I the only one who feels bad selling chickens? Mine are all so happy running around the yard and hanging out with their little friends. I have a nice secure coop for nighttime and let them hang out in my 1/2 acre fenced yard during the day....full of grass and bugs and big planters to scratch around in, etc etc etc. I throw scratch out every night and any scraps or leftovers. And of course, they have as much layer pellets as they can eat, not to mention the veggie leftovers my neighbor's toss over the fence.

They all seem so happy! I feel so bad selling any of them off. What if their new owner doesn't have a secure area? Or what if they are kept in a tiny little pen? or with too many roosters?

I am not cut out for hatching! I can't get rid of any

I started out with a flock of 10.....then added another 7. Then have finally started letting the newer 4 pullets out into the big yard. And i have 22 chicks in the garage that are ready to have the boys sold off and the girls integrated or sold off as well.

But they are all so happy! LOL

 

[pamperedpoultry]

I do, unless I know where they are going. I had a bunch of college age kids (we live a few miles from a college) come late one evening an offered $20 a bird for 5 chickens, so I let them go. I later found out that it was a college prank type thing and they ended up havin to bite their heads off. Now I feel bad!!!

 

[NellaBean]

Agh! I would feel bad too.

They just seem so happy LOL. I go outside and they all come running as fast as they can and then follow me around the yard begging for treats. Maybe if I didn't have chicken paradise in the backyard, it wouldn't be so bad. But they all SEEM SO HAPPY back there. I keep saying that but its true. Happy Chickens come from NellaBean's yard!

 

[KinderKorner]

It's even worse to sell your little roosters which you have grown to love, to a chinese person, and they tie their feet together and shove them in a box to be eaten later.

Or a perfectly good pullet. Which just happened to be the fatest because she was a favorite and got the most treats.

It's makes me very sad.

All my nice birds, get hatched and sold to good homes.

The mutts, easter eggers, usually get eaten by chinese because they are cheaper.

I don't like it one bit. I'm hoping this year it's better, and people who actually want chickens for chickens will take my extras.

Just make it a habit to only sell to good homes, and you won't feel so guilty.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

There are a lot worse things that could happen to a chicken than to provide nourishment to a grateful human family, even a Chinese one. I know many families who prefer homegrown chicken and consider the ones sold in the grocery stores to be inferior in quality & taste. They probably figure you're doing each other a great favor, they're getting quality protein for their families and you're getting some $$$ and more room for the chickens you wish to keep. So what if they tie their legs together & carry them home in a box? Maybe they have to distance themselves emotionally in order to do the processing effectively. As long as they're not treating them with cruelty you shouldn't mind.

This is the reality if you're raising chickens, especially if you're hatching them out at home. You will probably find yourself with more chickens than you can keep, especially roosters. Even in a mixed flock the best ratio is 1:10, meaning that 90% of the roosters hatched will be surplus. I wish you luck in finding loving homes for them away from some table. Just look at all the roosters being offered for free on the Buy/Sell/Trade forum. You could be grateful that you've got folks who will give you some actual dollars for your extra roosters, to help pay you back for the feed that has gone into them.

I think all the chicks hatched at my place are adorable, and the roosters that result are certainly handsome & personable. But it would be impossible to keep them all, it would make conditions unbearable for both me & them. Like many other chicken keepers, I've learned to process my own surplus roosters. Other folks just have to come to terms with this less pleasant aspect of chicken-keeping. Some sell with a "don't ask/don't tell" policy, preferring not to know what fate befalls their sold birds, others find families they know will at least dispatch their birds with care and sell only to them.

Or you could build more coops. And buy more chicken feed.

Or you could stop hatching out more birds.

 

[sonew123]

I always feel bad. I do it though. So far I have not sold any to anyone that I cannot visually see where they went to. I have people waiting in the Spring for chicks though and that I cannot control. When I can get 15-20$ a 4-6 month old pullet-I sell everyone Im not too partial too and sell the rest to people I can visit

 

[Elite Silkies]

Quote:
That is horrible.

 

[NellaBean]

I don't care as much about the boys. Okay, I still CARE, but it isn't the same. I am "selling" my surplus hatch boys for meat right now. And i have takers, I just haven't had the time to get them rounded up and meet the people. I just feel bad for "the girls". THEY LOVE IT HERE. Hahaha. The boys, especially the 12 (argh) boys from my recent hatching, don't really have any option other than meat. Fortunately for me they are big white crosses, so people actually want them for that. But I have a hard time getting rid of the girls. I just want to keep them all. LOL.

 

[KinderKorner]

Quote:
This is why I still do it. I understand it's impossible to find them all good homes. And I have a great chicken market here. I can sell everything that hatches. I just don't like to think about it. I have three people lined up for hens right now though. It seems I can never hatche nough pullets. lol

 

[farmerlor]

Well, I'm usually pretty sure the roos are going to be eaten by someone and I sell the pullets as egg layers and the people who come out generally seem to want to know about the whole egg laying process so I'm satisfied that that's what they're going to do with them. Now I DID get a little upset about selling one of my Tom turkeys because he was a mutt and I was pretty sure he was going to be eaten but he was such a pet that I hated to see that happen. Imagine how happy I was to find a lady who wanted him as a breeder/pet!!! But no, for the most part I don't feel too guilty. As much as I love my chickens and don't plan to eat them I know that the ones we hatch and sell will probably end up being food for someone.