Beware Lancaster Fancy Fowl

[CrazyTalk]

Just because everyone else does wrong, does not make it okay for them to do it, too. It may be better, but it is still bad and should not be done.

You've posted no evidence that keeping chickens inside degrades their quality of life. Infact, the research seems to show that they're healthier.

 

[Free Feather]

You've posted no evidence that keeping chickens inside degrades their quality of life. Infact, the research seems to show that they're healthier.

If you are serious, then you cannot know chickens. The only evidence one would need is to see how happy they are to be let out. When I open the coop in the morning, all the chickens pour out and flap through the yard in excitement. They bask in the sun, scratch through forest litter, and graze grass in obvious contentment. Birds that have been kept in their whole life might be afraid of the outside because they do not understand it and have never known it. I have gotten chickens from people who kept them indoors or in confinement their whole lives, and once they get a taste of freedom and the verdant outdoors, they are as eager to get out in the mornings as the rest of the flock, screeching and pacing if I do not get out to open the doors at the crack of dawn.
Healthier? How can humans begin to think they can do better than nature in caring for fellow creatures? And even if indoor life were healthier (which hatcheries, common sense, and cases like the above have disproven),they still would not be happy. The idea that chickens were happier indoors sprung up with CAFO'S and other factory farming operations. Why do we need research and statistics to come to a conclusion that could be met by simply looking at outdoor birds? If you took a chicken that lived outside and put him in a shed for the rest of his life, even if it was clean and well ventilated, you would immediately see he was unhappy and wanted back out.

 

[CrazyTalk]

None of that is evidence.

You think chickens should be outside - that's fine. The fact that you believe something doesn't make it an incontrovertible fact.


My chickens seem to be awfully upset if they can't get back into the coop at night - clearly they want to be inside.

 

[Free Feather]

None of that is evidence.

You think chickens should be outside - that's fine. The fact that you believe something doesn't make it an incontrovertible fact.

Why do we even need evidence? Buildings are not in nature, they do not just spring up out of the ground. Animals do not live in buildings. They just do not. Buildings are boxes that humans make to be comfortable in. Sure, you can lock them in there and not let them out, it is perfectly legal and no one can stop you, but it is not natural in the slightest. Domestic chickens are pretty different than their true ancestors, but they have not yet been so mutilated that they lack feelings and desires and the want to forage. Anything that breathes and has energy lives in the outdoors, it is the true home to everything. A building is an artificial nest that humans make. If they want to live in it for the most of the day and breathe in stale air with artificial lights, no one is going to stop them. But why lock other creatures in their, too?
Where is your evidence that all chickens want to be inside all of the time? And no, I do not mean university propaganda littered with claims of evil ground cooties and airborne fairies that kill all the delicate chickens instantly; claims of better health in stale, processed commercial "feeds" and protection from cruel, murderous wind, rain, and red-eyed predators. I mean REAL evidence - every chicken in the world telling you they love the indoors and that they never want to see the inside again.
They are not going to tell you. They cannot speak English, or any other human language. The only way for us to tell is to see how happy they are outside - scratching and running and jumping and basking. We know they are happy because they choose to go out on their own, and show typical signs of distress (yelling, pacing, running their faces against fencing) when penned up.

 

[keesmom]

. I really do not want other people telling me what to do and how to run it and have people come in all the time that want to see if I am doing it the right way in their eyes.

Then please refrain from criticizing those that keep poultry in a manner and for purposes with which you disagree.

Yes, people bred and severely altered them to be food machines. But just because someone has done it for a long time does not make it right.

That is a matter of opinion.

 

[Free Feather]

Then please refrain from criticizing those that keep poultry in a manner and for purposes with which you disagree.


That is a matter of opinion.

I am sure if you could ask the chicken he would disagree too.

 

[enola]

You've posted no evidence that keeping chickens inside degrades their quality of life. Infact, the research seems to show that they're healthier.

My chickens are kept inside 24/7/365 because of predation and my landlord will not allow me to construct anything new on his property. My chickens are absolutely healthy. Otherwise my 11 hens whom are all going on three years old would not be averaging 7-8 eggs per day. Even in this ungodly hot weather we are having here in SC. I would say that speaks volumes.

So, I whole heartedly agree that keeping chickens confined to proper housing is not detrimental to their health.

 

[collie1470]

You'd have to give the chicken an advanced frontal cortex and reasoning skills before asking him. :/

 

[Free Feather]

You'd have to give the chicken an advanced frontal cortex and reasoning skills before asking him.

Until then, we can just use common sense.

 

[Free Feather]