Baby Pics - dyed Easter chicks

[AccidentalFarm]

2mnypets- i agree wholeheartedly.

Blue90292- i admit it..i fell for it

however, i had the right intentions. i actually wanted chicks to raise, they were not an impulse buy, (unless you consider the impulse to buy up as many as possible to 'save' them from toddlers). luckily, i only got out of there with 4, so i don't have a flock of roo's on my hands now.

I'm starting to think I may have actually ended up with at least one hen. Only time will tell, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've spoken to the owner of the feed store numerous times now and he said he made the order for the chicks and that it was st. runs- so it's possible i have a hen, however remote.

chickbea- i agree with you as well- as long as we buy, they will sell. I have read quite a bit on the issue of dyeing chicks and have found that it is a practice that has been in use for quite some time-and on several types of birds. it is useful in studying the feather development and i've not found anywhere that says it harms the chick, not that i am an expert- i certainly am not. aside from turning chicks (and ducks and bunnies) into 'seasonal' and 'novelty' gifts, i'm not going to attack the actual dyeing process, as i am not educated enough in the practice and it's educational or scientific purposes. i do know that the process has been used to help insure the survival of a certain species of bird, but again, i don't recall the specifics of the article. i will say this, i would like to see the dyeing outlawed when the sole purpose is to create easter chicks(bunnies, ducks). BUT if i happen to be in the market for more chicks next year when they are back in the feed stores, i wont have a problem buying one, if it is what i need. my outlook is that at least that one that i take will live a normal, healthy chicken life-as opposed to being a childs squeeze toy.

I really love my animals, and i do have plenty of 'em. And yeah, i was the soft hearted kid that was constantly dragging strays home to nurse back to health and re-home. Not much has changed in that regard except the adult realization that I can't save them all. I just do what I can. I know buying the chicks promotes the cycle, but as long as I have room and can feed and care for another poor critter, I will. They all deserve a shot at life-even the ones that were unlucky enough to be born/hatched into less caring human hands.

and as far as condemning anyone- no prob, didn't think it. i'm comfortable with my decision/reasoning to purchase my chicks.

They are, btw, doing excellent! They are so energetic, I get tired just watching them! I expect the dye to be gone totally in about 2 more weeks.

 

[poppycat]

AccidentalFarm-Thank you so much for sharing your experience candidly! I've never seen dyed chicks before but you've definitely spared me from ever being tempted to buy some. I hesitate to say this, but if I were in your position I would probably raise them for the freezer. IMO it is OK to eat an animal you have raised humanely. It commands a little more respect on the table then an anonymous animal from a factory-type farm, and it also replaces the need to support that industy. This is somthing my family is still coming to terms with though. I'm still working up to raising meat birds, but ideally I'd like to be responsible for the life AND death of my meat, not just the death. *steps down from soapbox*
Good luck with your chicks! I must admit they're cute in a Teletubbies sort of way.

 

[CashmereSussex]

in Australia they dye silkies different colours i find it wrong but they inject the egg with the dye so it is always in them

 

[the_great_snag]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this site. I haven't been able to have birds for a couple years now, and I'm thinking about going into it again with my sister this spring.

This thread makes me think about the "specials" you see from all the hatcheries trying to get rid of their surplus leghorn cockerels. I am always tempted to buy a batch of them just to give them a chance to live a while in a nice environment, but I just never do, since I know I will have to butcher them eventually and they will be of little or no meat value. I guess on the flip side though, if allowed to free range they really consume very little feed and thus cost almost nothing to have around. I do enjoy the sight of a cocky leghorn rooster strutting around the place.

Anyway, my point is I always wonder what happens to the millions of male layer breed chicks that are hatched every year. I have to assume that the large majority of them are simply killed immediately and made into cat food or whatever...

With that said I think that while the easter egg chick thing is kinda unseemly at least a few of these otherwise "undesirable" birds might get a chance at life where they otherwise may not. I actually owned just one leghorn roo for a couple years and found him to be very enjoyable to have strutting around the place!
Sadly I finally had to butcher him because I had a couple hundred babies coming from the hatchery and I was afraid he would kill them. He was a devil to catch. I won't say how we finally got our hands on him, but it wasn't fun...

It's sad that so many breeds are so overly specialized that you have things like meat birds that are doomed to die young or leghorn roos that are completely without commercial value, but as long as people want to buy eggs for pennies or save a buck on a frying chicken the market will demand their existence...

While leghorn roos aren't very friendly, at least they are pretty hardy. I would NEVER buy a bird I even suspected was a broiler type bird though unless I knew for sure I was going to kill it when it reached the optimum weight.

I personally am a big believer in the heavy dual purpose breeds, but see nothing wrong with giving a few leghorn roos a few months of life before making soup out of them. I will NEVER buy a strictly meat bird again though. I would rather wait a few more weeks for a traditional breed to mature to butchering size and know it lead a healthy life with no bad legs, etc...

I know I am rambling and it's late and my brains are probably addled, but I'd just like to add that you need to remember that chickens are livestock and as such they are a commodity, and it's a fact of life that people who make a living by producing chickens are going to try anything they can to get some kind of return on their animals. I say "rescue" all the easter eggers you can, enjoy them, and eat them when it's no longer feasible to keep them. At least you gave them a good life for a while.

If you want pet chickens though I recommend you buy carefully from a reputable hatchery and get the exact breed and sex you want. It would be horrible to fall in love with your batch of cheap peeps and then find you have to cull them because they are trying to kill each other when they reach sexual maturity.

Ok, I will shut up and go to bed now...

OH... PS... (sorry) My sister raised cornish x rocks last year and kept them for months with no problem. She had to very carefully regulate their feeding as babies though, and she let them forage for their own food as soon as they were old enough to roam the yard. It is possible to keep a meat bird if you are careful, but they will never live as long as a "normal" chicken...

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

I, too, am a sucker for the hurting/needy/sad/sick little creatures. I am not above an 11th hour rescue if I think it is called for.

That said, I agree that this is a ploy. I am in the midst of some sort of meat-eating crisis brought on by these chickens

and really am considering being a vegetarian.. not sure I could kill anything, but HATE HATE the gov't practices with food/genetics/drugs and MOST OF ALL the treatment of animals intended for food... just not sure why they STOP being living creatures and START being just another 'product'. And I personally don't think I would buy the easter chicks because I would be afraid that it would just cause the company to send another to replace it. But if there WERE only a couple, and I KNEW that the store would NOT be getting any in (at least this year) I wouldn't hesitate. Maybe, though, I would mention to the store clerk (or even call the manager) that the entire thing was rotten.
Back when I was in high school my English teacher had a story hanging on his wall. I apologise that I do not remember who the author was, nor is this word-for-word:

A man was walking on a beach at sunset. The day had been stormy, with high waves, but the tide had receeded and the sky was clear. The beach was littered with thousands of Star Fish, apparently alive, unable to get back to water. Walking further along, the man saw another man, tossing the creatures back into the sea. He was struck by how ridiculous this was, and spoke up. "Why are you bothering, there is no way you can get these all back! What you are doing doesn't make any difference!"
Looking at the starfish in his hand, the second man replied, "It makes a difference to this one." And he flung it out over the waves.


No matter how little our effort (even if it means saving just one helpless animal from the niaive and ill-informed) is important.

-Me

 

[the_great_snag]

I think your response was very heartfelt and honest. You make good point, but on the other hand you have to realize that as long as people support factory farms by buying eggs and chicken meat there will always be the "undesirable" chicks out there for these farms and hatcheries to find a use for. There will always be more birds to replace the ones you buy. I would fear more that the stores didn't buy them and the hatcheries simply had to destroy them.

I guess I am of the same mindset as the guy tossing the starfish back into the sea.

I prefer to look at it this way. If you really hate the practices the big meat companies follow, I think the best way to avoid sanctioning it is to raise your own birds and eat them and/or their eggs. At least you will know they had a good life and were treated well. If butchering them bothers you there are usually small private processors that will do it for you for a small fee. You bring in live birds and a couple days later you go pick up wrapped packages of chicken.

It is natural and proper for people to eat animals. I prefer to eat an animal that was treated well. I think it's far preferable to eating meat or eggs that were raised in cramped cages and/or with bones so brittle they will snap at the gentlest touch.

I still say if you care about them, buy them, treat them well, and then when the time is right, eat them and enjoy them again. You should not feel guilty for doing so.

This whole thread has made me beging to seriously consider "rescuing" a batch of leghorn cockerels this summer. Far better they roam my place and eat bugs and be chickens for a while before they turn into dinner than they end up cat food without ever seeing the sun.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
Hey-no problem!

There have been some very good opinions posted in this thread.

I can say that although I'm not looking forward to having to butcher some of my chicks, I have come to the realization that it will have to be done unless I am able to re-home my roo's. (I now know that they are roo's and not Cornish X's)

On a positive note, this has been a great learning experience for me and my children. I've had to explain to them the why's of what has to be done and in doing so, the three of us have come to understand and better respect these animals. We are animal lovers, to be sure, and being such know that to allow our roo's to stay, they will ultimately suffer due to fighting amongst themselves. Sad? Yes, it is sad for us. But we have learned from our mistakes.

Every one of us does the "eww/shiver" thing when we think of eating a pet- but I've explained to my kids (14yo son, 9yo daughter) that in the long run, we will have healthier meat than any we can buy at the store. I've also had to explain the butchering process and they are glad to know that it is quick and humane. I don't know if we will choose to raise meat birds in the future. It is certainly a possibility. We have, jointly, perused catalogs and internet sites learning about the different breeds of chickens and have since ordered some that are suited to our needs.

I guess it was an 'accidental' learning experience bonus. The decision to raise chickens at all was sort of dual-purpose for us. My kids are homeschooled and this was to be incorporated into many of their subject lessons, as well as to provide eggs for the family. The kids hoped to be able to share eggs with family and possibly sell some. Now, it is blossoming into entire discussions of commercial food processes, the benefits of organic food, the many 'bonuses' of chickens (bug control/weeding in the garden/composting poo/etc.) all of which eases the mind into accepting the whole 'eat the pets' problem.

I still have my own opinions about the dyeing of animals- or any mutilation- to create a more marketable animal. But it is done and will continue to be done as long as there is a market for it. Myself- I choose to stay away from it if at all possible so as not to promote the process, but as stated before, if I am purchasing chicks and the dyed ones are available and are the right breed and sex as what I need- I'll buy them again because in my mind, they deserve better than what they've been dealt so far.


On edit: The 3 of us would be right there helping toss those starfish back into the sea!

 

[Special Agent Husak]

I have own several chickens and have had them for years. As for those "dyed" easter chicks. I bought some! Yup, I sure did. Not to save their lives or rescue the poor things. But because they are injected with harmless food coloring into the egg as they are set in the incubator.

So the mix you get are 50/50 girls and boys.

Look closely and carefully and pick some nice birds for a $1 a peice.

I ended up with two buff orp pullets.

Yes their feathers come in their normal color, there seems to be no long lasting effects, the other chicks don't look at them funny and they go on to be normal happy, healthy chickens.

I did show them to the ladies in my bank and the gas station. I even took them to the post office to complain that " look what happens to the chicks when you put my hatching eggs through the x-ray machine!" Joking of course, they all got a big kick out of them, asked questions and learned a little bit about poultry.

I see no harm in it what so ever...
If you sell these chicks to Newbie people, offer a ziplock bag of chick starter, tell them where to get more, what else they require, and a small business card with your name on it, and offer to take the chick back if it ever becomes too much of a hassle, or they discover poultry is not for them.

Not everyone views chickens the way we do, the best that we can hope for is that the "impulse" buyers return them as started pullets or cockerals and we rehome them later.

4-6 weeks after easter you see a lot of ads in the local papers for free chicks and bunnies...just the way it goes.

Its a learning lesson for them all I guess.

I really don't think the actual dying process is cruel.
Cruel is lopping off a dogs ears or tail because it is fashionable. Cruel is declawing a cat because it scratches things, cat's scratch!

Cuting up a plain little yellow chick? Adorable.
Sorry, JMHO.

 

[mudhen]

AccidentalFarm said: I still have my own opinions about the dyeing of animals- or any mutilation- to create a more marketable animal. But it is done and will continue to be done as long as there is a market for it. Myself- I choose to stay away from it if at all possible so as not to promote the process, but as stated before, if I am purchasing chicks and the dyed ones are available and are the right breed and sex as what I need- I'll buy them again because in my mind, they deserve better than what they've been dealt so far.

I absolutely agree with you.​

 

[charliechickidychicken]

Hello I was just wodering I got stuck froma man at the walmart selling baby chicks and of course he showed my little girl anyways I have never raised chickens before they are dyed also how can I tell what kind of chickens they are? Is there a way to find out or do I just have to wait I did find out that if they are roosters I can't keep the where I live, I'm just scared we are already attached to the cuties and I would hate to have to get rid of them , my little girl truley loves animals and it would break her heart if we had to give them up, and id looks like they dyed them from dipping them not injected, because the grenn one has spots on it legs as if they were dipped which is very upsetting to me, Can you help in any way??? I am a newbie so I need all the help I can get!! Thanks Suzanne: