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

[Organics North]

Quote:
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.

A dog is meant to hunt in a pack, a cat to do what ever cats do. Not castrated or spayed, not declawed or kept in a pen or on a leash?

Maybe any form of pet is selfish and cruel. Maybe animals should be only kept for work or food.?

Yep thats it NO pets, only animals for work or food....

Again, I think the "hypocrisy" comment is a little strong... Just because some folks have a different opinion..

I will admit to playing devils advocate here a bit..... I myself generally only keep "working" animals.. But can respect if people keep a fish in a bowl, a chicken in the house, or a fu fu dog that is good for nothing but some good mental therapy for that individual..

ON

 

[Beekissed]

Yep thats it NO pets, only animals for work or food....

This IS a debate, is it not?

But...logic tells me that if the above statement would indeed be utilized, there would be less whining over how full the animal shelters are.

Maybe any form of pet is selfish and cruel

You could have a point there.... to cage, pen, or tie up an animal in the name of loving it does seem cruel to me. At least, if you were intending to eat it, one would know that the cruelty of its imprisonment would have some purpose and would someday end.​

 

[gmendoza]

Quote:
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.

A dog is meant to hunt in a pack, a cat to do what ever cats do. Not castrated or spayed, not declawed or kept in a pen or on a leash?

Maybe any form of pet is selfish and cruel. Maybe animals should be only kept for work or food.?

Yep thats it NO pets, only animals for work or food....

Again, I think the "hypocrisy" comment is a little strong... Just because some folks have a different opinion..

I will admit to playing devils advocate here a bit..... I myself generally only keep "working" animals.. But can respect if people keep a fish in a bowl, a chicken in the house, or a fu fu dog that is good for nothing but some good mental therapy for that individual..

ON

I am not bias against all birds as pets.I myself,cannot see if a person brings in any animal freely indoors to run around who doesn't have bowel control.A dog and cat have some form of bowel control,but a chicken doesn't.It will releave itself wherever.Hence why I wont keep them in the house and they are livestock.Now if your one of the type of people who buy chicken diapers,well then more power to you.I do have an opinion that is valid as anyone else.I don't have to see it anyone's way.I did have a parakeet names duck duck,but he accidentally flew out the door and gone forever.Also I have had more various birds indoors,but I feel sorry for them because they are trapped in cages.To me a cage is keeping something that you want to see,sort of selfish and cruel.We have cats,but they are indoors.We live indoors so its ok.Our livestock are outdoors and have homes called coops.

I do have a general care for all animals,but I dont have to answer ' devils advocate" questions here.

 

[kcaywood]

My chickens are pets. Even when they are producing nary an egg, I will keep them and spoil them. They fascinate me endlessly. Their sounds, their movements, their antics, their habits. For me, there are few pleasures greater than holding a soft hen in my arms. Why? Why ask why? They just make me happy. They greatly lower my stress level. I do personify and dote on them, and I think it's no different than people who adore their dogs and cats. It doesn't matter to me that hey can't be potty-trained or go for walks.

Any animal could be mass-produced and eaten. Sometimes it makes me sad that these beautiful birds have been used by humans to the extent they have. But how can I judge, when I grew up eating them? To each his/her own. I'm just happy in my own little flock world.

 

[rhaj]

Well since livestock isn't allowed in my zoning area, I'll say PETS

hehe

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Quote:
Then don't come to my house.

My favorite of all of my chickens got sick, and we brought her in the house. I always thought people on here that had house chickens were crazy, but I had to see if she would get better. We kept her in a large tote in the bedroom, next to the bed. She had food and water, we gave her vitamins, and trimmed and cleaned her feathers since she couldn't. We still don't know what was wrong with her, but she is all better now and back in the coop with the rest of her friends. No one that visited even knew she was in the house, but thought we were weird when they found out. I would do it all over again in heartbeat, if need be.

 

[WV_Chicken]

If you name then and don't eat them, then they are pets.
If you don't name then, then eat them, then they are livestock.

the choice is up to you.

 

[Beekissed]

What if you name them and THEN eat them?

I've eaten plenty of chickens with names..... sort of makes the meat taste better when you know it was a favorite hen.

 

[Baralak]

Interesting Question... many years ago, a Horse was considered Livestock. It was used by people in their every day life. It pulled your carrage, drove the plow, provided you with transportation, and at time was considered food. Extra income or barter income was used by breading your horse, or it would become part of your farm used as the rest of your horses. You could rent a horse, and people were even hung for being horse thiefs. Since the invention of the internal combustion engine, the demand for horses as "Livestock" has drastically fallen. Today, call them what you will, a horse to most people is a pet. A big, hungry pet, but none the less a pet. Yes they provide transportation, but only in recreation in most parts of the world.

Now, during the same time, people raised chickens, used them to pay the doctor, bartered their eggs at the general store. Now we can go to the store and buy our tasteless chickens, and bland eggs, but we choose to raise our own chickens, not because it is necessary to our existance, but because we want to. We prefer the eggs, or tastier non medicated meat, so it too would be considered recreational because say what you will, There has been some time in your life that you have bought chicken and or eggs at a store, resturant, or butcher. You choose to raise them.

So, pets or livestock. Humm... For me.. They are pets. No different than my dogs or cats, they just provide (or will at least) a product that I enjoy being eggs. If my dog could drop an egg that I could eat, then I would. Of course, this is the way I see things.

In other parts of the world, and even in advance socities dogs and cats are raised for meat.

 

[JBC RANCH]

Well I'll throw my two cents worth in here. I'm a newbie to the chicken deal, but I was raised on a dairy farm and myself raised show calves for the 4H kids. I've been to many stock shows and have seen many tears shed when "livestock" was loaded on the truck. My wife and I got our chickens the past spring for eggs and plan to feed out some broilers at some time in the near future. I told the wife she was not to name any of the hens. WELL CRAP, I started giving names to the darn hens!! Are they pets? Yes kinda, especially when you are sitting on the tree swing and one jumps up into your lap. So I say they are both and that and a $1.00 will get you a cup of coffee.