Coalition of Animal Sanctuaries Urges Ban on Backyard Chickens

[mistyfeather]

i can just see it now ..... today in the news local woman arested for illegaly raising chickens AND alowing them to lay EGGS. As the cuntry wide Cicken Prohibition spreds from coast to coast outspoken chicken advocates urge you to report ANY AND ALL friends, relatives and neighbors suspected in illeagal chicken traficing, raising or egg hatchings! Turn them in if you suspect they may have any chicken parophenielia (incubators, laying pellets, mash, chicken diapers, and the stuff comonly referd to by chicken outlaws as "scratch")

 

[Amyable]

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They can eat however they want to. I also have that right. The problem we are running into here is that this coalition is striving to ban backyard chicken flocks. Their statement also advocates banning slaughtering of backyard chickens for food, because they consider it cruel. They are not only promoting veganism; if it were just that I wouldn't care. They are trying regulate, through ordinances, the freedom to raise birds for eggs/meat. This is why I have a huge problem with it.

For the record, I do promote meat-eating of humanely-raised and slaughtered animals. Which is why I support backyard chicken raising as opposed to factory farms. I do not consider quickly dispatching a humanely-reared bird for food to be murder.

 

[AZKat]

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Because in the document that was linked to in the first post, a number of the 'problems' with keeping chickens were either false or grossly exaggerated.
For example, chick sexing may not be 100% accurate, but its a lot more than 20-50% accurate. Shipping a day old chick is not the same as shipping a day old puppy. These things simply are not true.
Further, the fact that unwanted roosters and old hens may get eaten is only a problem if you think that killing and eating chickens is wrong. The disengenuous "Think of the children! Who might, possibly see a neighbor killing a hen!" seems to me to be nothing more than a attempt to appeal to the emotions of people who might be considering overturning a chicken ban.

I agree that as urban chicken keeping becomes a 'fad' that there might be problems with irresponsible owners. But the answer, in my opinion, is to encourage *responsible* chicken owning, and to educate new and potential chicken owners. Not to ban urban chicken keeping or to set the bar of 'responsible' chicken keeping so high that almost no one can reach it.

And yes, I do think that the fact that these groups are promoting veganism is relevant. It strongly suggests that their motive is not promoting responsible chicken keeping, or trying to help chickens and humans live in healthy, happy symbiosis. They are interested in creating a world in which domesticated animals of any kind do not exist. Anything that they propose has to be looked at with that ultimate goal in mind.

 

[SarasotaClucker]

A few more points.... their second paragraph refers to "backyard chicken-keeping by amateurs". Amateurs are people who do something for love, not money.

It seems like they are indirectly suggesting they would prefer backyard chicken-keeping by professionals.

We don't refer to people who have dogs or cats as pets as amateur dog owners or amateur cat owners.

I think what they are actually trying to get is people who don't know what they are doing. That's why BYC is such a tremendous resource for chicken keepers and, indirectly, the chickens themselves. People who are concerned about chicken welfare should be giving money to BYC to continue its work saving chickens. Its like having a wise old chicken keeper living next door.

Someone else wrote about the problem with backyard chicken keeping changing from trend to fad. We want to avoid the fad stage, which involves people who not only have no idea what they are doing when they start, but also no real deep commitment to learn.

When it becomes fashionable we'll see an increase in people who want chickens not because they are interested in sustainability, or living closer to the land, or helping their children have some connection to the food they eat; but because they want to be hip and cutting edge.

Dalmatians are apparently churned out every time there is a remake or re-release of 101 Dalmatians, and I imagine lots of clownfish died in the wake of Finding Nemo. In our efforts to make it possible for more people to experience chicken keeping, let's emphasize the responsibility involved -- that buying chicks is not an impulse buy and you are signing up for years of daily attention.

I'm starting to see that we (here locally in Sarasota Florida) will need to offer some basic chicken-owning workshops on a regular basis, not just secure coop design, but actually helping people decide if they are likely to have success as chicken-owners.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

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Those poor hens!!! But how hysterically funny that the roosters are living an "alternative lifestyle"! I hope your neighbor has learned something here.

I have WHAT in my yard? :

My chickens are incredibly spoiled, but they're chickens! I have no delusions that if I fell down dead in their run they would not hesitate to eat me.

Same here. I think they'd probably start with the eyeballs.

Personally, the way things are going …I could not think of a nicer way to go. Of course, I hope for sure that I am dead dead before they start. Ewwwww…..are we getting gruesome or what?

 

[Ladyhawke1]

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Your words are poetry.

Another thing to consider is some of these groups may be “astro-turf” organizations. That means industry people disguised as “grassroots” organizations. They try to convince you that they are lobbying for the animal when actually they are trying to put backyarders out of business. That is to make sure only the corporations can supply you with your food.

Far fetched….I think not!

 

[seedcorn]

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Don't worry, not a problem as people that are the business of raising animals for food/profit don't spend time on this. They spend their time promoting their industry.

We all know 2 things.....

1) Most people are going to eat meat/eggs & drink/eat dairy products.
2) Most people will not raise or dress their own meat. Put me in catagory no matter how high dairy products go, there will be NO dairy animals on my place--married my wife, not going to be married to a dairy animal (2X a day, every day for the rest of my life--no thanks).

 

[karl lutz]

I just have to wonder if Al _____ is involved. It seems that a coalition of morons is on every corner with a new and astoundingly clueless opinion about everything nowadays.

 

[WisconsinGardenChick]

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Wow, wow, and wow! Some truly great posts here.

I agree that vegans and vegetarians absolutely have the right to eat as they choose and shouldn't be denigrated for it or asked to justify their beliefs. The problem, as stated above, is that they are advocating a ban on backyard chicken-keeping.

SarasotaClucker, the same points you make have gradually dawned on me over the last few months. That's why I think the Mad City Chickens "Chickens 101" workshop is such a great idea and model to follow. I'm not part of MCC, but I have been to Chickens 101 and my understanding is that they organized it in part to prevent their right to keep chickens getting taken away b/c of people getting into it and not knowing what they are doing. That said, however, I think there needs to be more education and follow-up to Chickens 101. I think BYC plays a great role here; I don't know where I'd be without advice from the people here! It's been a huge learning curve for me.

Katherine

 

[WisconsinGardenChick]

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I agree about name-calling; e.g. "moron" - I think I saw in this thread. But it is entirely reasonable, I believe, to point out the illogic of somebody's argument, especially when their argument is directed toward banning something I believe is worthwhile.

Katherine