I know for me personally, the Easter when we got the colored chicks and ducklings was the best Easter I ever had. Its the one I remember the most, if not the only one I remember.
Everyone tends to only look at the few bad results from something instead of weighing all the good that could come of it. How bout the kids that never get to be around chicks or ducks and by getting one at Easter, grows up to have a small farm or just an appreciation for animals. How about the people that never contemplated getting chickens until they saw the colored chicks at Easter and think, that would be something we could do! How about the kid that picks out their favorite color chick, babies it and it lives a spoiled life til it dies.
These are still just chickens, the creatures we consume by the millions as food. Yes I know, gasssp, I can't believe she just said that!!! But these are not human babies being painted so that they get adopted! Hatcheries are throwing thousands of male chicks away daily, but heaven forbid if a random chick or two, dyed a temporary color, is petted and hugged by a family until it goes to a forever home or is even set loose somewhere and becomes lunch for a hawk or other wild creature (yay for them- they have to live too).
Don't get me wrong, my chickens are spoiled rotten and I love them to death, but I don't get why this is such a debated topic. Seems like there are way more important issues where animals and people are really being permanently hurt, that we should be focussing our concerns.