Are chickens pets or livestock??? The Great Debate!

[ZooMummzy]

mmaddie's mom :

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So you're the one with the free ranging house chickens! (Have you seen the Stanley Steamer commercial? Hilarious!)

Know your stain-maker !

Lol no I haven't but I can just imagine

Actually, all of mine are in cages because we have cats and dogs what would love my chickens more than I do

and also because of their needs. No free ranging here but if I could....

 

[chickerdoodle]

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Personally, I wouldn't have a house chicken but there are folks who have $3,0

 

[chickerdoodle]

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Personally, I wouldn't have a house chicken but there are folks who have $3,000 parrots in the house. Some of those Macaws are huge--much bigger than any bantam and need/take more space then a standard chicken. Their cages and special stands allow easy, frequent cleaning. If you have the right place that is easy to clean or put on diapers it isn't that disgusting. Its more cleaning than I'd like to be saddled with but to each his own. Gross to some and admittedly I would only have one indoors in a temporary hospital ward but I've seen meticulously kept parrots and there is no smell and no mess as my friend is a wickedly good housekeeper. I've seen other homes far from clean and certainly not odor free that don't have any birds of any size!

 

[Naughty]

Found out that if I refer to what we eat as "poultry" and the girls as "the babies" - my 3year old has no problem eating chicken - but I still don't think I can kill mine. But then again - this lil rooster may make me mad enough before he is done

 

[ZooMummzy]

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Personally, I wouldn't have a house chicken but there are folks who have $3,000 parrots in the house. Some of those Macaws are huge--much bigger than any bantam and need/take more space then a standard chicken. Their cages and special stands allow easy, frequent cleaning. If you have the right place that is easy to clean or put on diapers it isn't that disgusting. Its more cleaning than I'd like to be saddled with but to each his own. Gross to some and admittedly I would only have one indoors in a temporary hospital ward but I've seen meticulously kept parrots and there is no smell and no mess as my friend is a wickedly good housekeeper. I've seen other homes far from clean and certainly not odor free that don't have any birds of any size! http://www.pic4ever.com/images/loudlaff.gif

And parrots and such are a lot more expensive. I hear you on the cleaning; it can be overwhelming and tiring at times, but they are all worth it to me. No one has any clue that we have chickens in our house or other animals for that matter. I clean 24/7 to keep that way

Honestly though, if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have house chickens. It's hard enough to keep up with the chickens outside some days. It just worked out this way - I couldn't put the babies down and they needed special care so....

 

[BWKatz]

If they have names, they're pets. I plan on keeping my original four til they die as pets. My next layers will have limited life spans.As they quit laying, into the pot they goalong with any additional roosters. Call me practical.

 

[gmendoza]

I have to admit if they need special needs,then there is an exception to the rule.In all truth,my family has named them all.........I told them and I told them they are livestock but how can I convince two young girls??

If I did have a sick chicken it would be indoors,but inside my lab/bathroom with all the attention it needs.But still will be livestock.

I just cant see healthy chickens indoors,and yes I seen that Stanley steamer commercial with the alpaca indoors and I seen to the right a barred rock hen meandering around the living room.Healthy chickens need outdoors,hence livestock.

We all need to learn a lesson from me.Don't name,or let your chickens get named " flats,or tiny tim,or squeaky and squats..cutesy names like ours.

Why not name them Hitler,or Saddam,or Bin Laden,or Satan.I don't mind going outside to kill Satan for dinner.

 

[jessaw1981]

livestockey pets lol. We love our chickens play with them every day hold and pet sit outside everyday in the afternoon for 2 hrs. so they can free range. Care for them the best we can and quickly to pampered them to death with treats. But when there is a time that something happens that's out of my control I will cull one or more real quick to protect the others that's just how it is. I can not pay the nearest chicken vet 300.00 to see one of my girls. Just can't. We love them to death and I would cry in the event I had to cull one of mine.

 

[Organics North]

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Good don't want you to come over anyway...

What the heck is the difference between a chicken and a parrot? Or are you biased against all birds as pets?

What the heck? It is OK to have a butt licking leg humping dog in the house let alone on the couch or bed but not OK for the kids to bring their pet chicken in the house and hold it on their lap for a few minutes?

For the record we keep no animals in our house, except if we have a brooder of chicks in the house when it is too cold outside. Still do not want closed minded folks to come over... I think they are gross..

ON

 

[Beekissed]

Or are you biased against all birds as pets?

I am. Well...chickens are kind of flightless, so someone has to care for them....not inside a house, by any means, but they do require some care and protection from humans if you wish to harvest their eggs.

But a bird that was intended for flight? Keep it in a cage all its life? Never to soar into the blue sky and live a natural life? And folks call me cruel because I eat my chickens?

I guess I just have a different opinion on just what constitutes cruelty. A fish in a bowl and a bird in a cage is horrible and entirely selfish, not to mention unnecessary.

Hypocrisy over and over.