Confinement

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: LOL
No apologies needed

You CANNOT offend me by telling the truth.
And I also agree it's POSSIBLE that it COULD be someone "playing everyone", since I've seen a lot of that sort of thing on almost every type of forum you can imagine

But no matter what, most everyone reading these posts is LEARNING SOMETHING, which is the whole reason this site exists.

 

[Bellatrixed]

I'm sorry, but I'm incredibly confused by this thread. I don't mean this rudely, but what is the point of raising chickens if the eggs will be virtually identical to commercial eggs?

Most people who choose to own chickens do so because a) they want to have healthier, natural eggs or meat and b) they enjoy caring for and watching chickens be chickens. If the things literally just stand in a cramped cage 24/7 and spew out pale-yolked commercial-type eggs, why not save on feed money and just keep buying eggs from the supermarket? There would be NO difference.

People want farm fresh/organic/free range chicken eggs for a reason. That is the only niche independent farmers have for selling their eggs. Cage-raised chicken eggs sold by the average Joe have 0 market because everyone and their mother can just buy them by the dozen for cheaper at any grocery store.

My suggestion is building a chicken tractor. There's lots of cute, simple designs that would allow a few hens to mill on the grass, keep them out of places you don't want them to go, and just generally be healthy chickens.

Simply put, the conditions the OP is describing are inhumane. I have never heard of anyone wanting to get chickens so that they can replicate inhumane large-scale commercial conditions on a small, non-profitable scale.

 

[appps]

Simply put, the conditions the OP is describing are inhumane. I have never heard of anyone wanting to get chickens so that they can replicate inhumane large-scale commercial conditions on a small, non-profitable scale.

My uncle did. When I was a kid they had three hens with clipped beaks hanging on the shed wall in battery cages where the eggs would roll down the wire to an egg catching shelf at the front. To make it even worse they lived an acreage.

Thought it was disgusting when I was 10 think its disgusting now.

I hope the op has enough sense and maturity to listen to the advice here and remember its a living thing he wants to put in that cage, not a machine.

 

[aviator46]

Many oppinions here. Commercial agriculture has allowed the United States to feed the world. Are the animals happy in this environment? I'm not sure. Most people that post here keep their chickens in some kind of coop - or cage. Are the chickens in the big coop more happy than the small. I'm not sure. I have 50 Rhode Island Reds that free range. In my oppinion real free range. They have two 10 x 12 ft shelters, 37 acres to roam, 20 nest box holes, year round green grass ( I over seed with winter rye and clover). Are they happier than your chickens? I'm not sure. Many that post here have chickens in the city. No roosters. Are the hens less happy with no sex? In my oppinion they are less happy, but then I'm not sure. From experience, my chickens still eat a lot of feed. Can they exist without it or has selective breeding removed their real survival skills? If you breed to the Standard of Perfection (totally appearance) and ignore these survival skills are you cruel? Are you cruel with no roosters? Are you cruel if your chickens are on dirt? Are you cruel if your coop is smaller than "Joe's"? Are you cruel if you buy your beef at the store? Ever seen a feed lot? I raise my own beef. Totally on grass. Am I better than you because of this? Absolutely Not!! My observation. Chickens seem happy with feed and water. Denying it is without debate cruel. Cage, no cage, grass, no grass, wire, no wire, etc.are mostly oppinions.
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[Too Fast]

^^^aviator makes a few good points. Never thought about the lack of rooster thing.

 

[Time-Out]

They collect the waste...poo included dry it grind it up and feed it back to the chickens.

I have never heard this. Do you have a source for your information? I'd be interested in reading more about this (anything to get people to buy more eggs

)

 

[appps]

Yes cause not having a rooster to peck and mount you is a bad thing. I sometimes watch mine and feel bad I HAVE got a rooster with them cause they don't look much like they are enjoying it lol

Is aviator by chance a guy? Seems to be over thinking the importance of that rooster lol

 

[Northie]

Hehehehe... Yep that's what I was thinking too. Very few animals enjoy that aspect of life the way we do

 

[Bellatrixed]

Many oppinions here. Commercial agriculture has allowed the United States to feed the world. Are the animals happy in this environment? I'm not sure. Most people that post here keep their chickens in some kind of coop - or cage. Are the chickens in the big coop more happy than the small. I'm not sure. I have 50 Rhode Island Reds that free range. In my oppinion real free range. They have two 10 x 12 ft shelters, 37 acres to roam, 20 nest box holes, year round green grass ( I over seed with winter rye and clover). Are they happier than your chickens? I'm not sure. Many that post here have chickens in the city. No roosters. Are the hens less happy with no sex? In my oppinion they are less happy, but then I'm not sure. From experience, my chickens still eat a lot of feed. Can they exist without it or has selective breeding removed their real survival skills? If you breed to the Standard of Perfection (totally appearance) and ignore these survival skills are you cruel? Are you cruel with no roosters? Are you cruel if your chickens are on dirt? Are you cruel if your coop is smaller than "Joe's"? Are you cruel if you buy your beef at the store? Ever seen a feed lot? I raise my own beef. Totally on grass. Am I better than you because of this? Absolutely Not!! My observation. Chickens seem happy with feed and water. Denying it is without debate cruel. Cage, no cage, grass, no grass, wire, no wire, etc.are mostly oppinions.
,

Chickens (or any animal, for that matter) don't view sex the way we do. It isn't for fun... it's simply a necessity for life. There is absolutely nothing inhumane about not having a rooster around.

I understand the gist of what you're saying, but I'd argue that small chicken tractors (which seems to be the target of your post with the focus on city chickens) where the chickens can be on the grass, forage for seeds/insects, scratch around, take dirt baths, and then go roost at night, are kept a lot more humanely than a chicken that stands on metal all day, never sees the sun or eats anything but pelleted food and has virtually no room to move around.

I personally don't believe in overly anthropomorphizing animals. Yes, I'm sure the chicken that lives in a cage its whole life is "content" in its own chicken way because it knows nothing else and let's be honest, as much as we love them, they're dumb as rocks. But I do believe anyone who wants to own animals, be they pets or livestock, has an ethical obligation to keep them in the most humane conditions possible.

Since I am a realist, I realize that the commercial operations you mentioned that "feed the world" have little choice in how they keep their millions of chickens if they want to keep operating on the same large scale. However, virtually any other farmer does have a choice. Most people agree the conditions factory battery chickens live in is disgusting and unnatural. Even a chicken kept in a small cage-sized pen on grass is more natural than one living in an indoor cage and that's all there is to it.

You mention having cows and the OP mentions having sheep. I'm sure it would be possible to pen up a cow or sheep in a building with a concrete floor so that it can't go more than 3 feet in any direction. If it has access to food and water, it has no room to complain, right? Just because chickens are easier to cage than a cow doesn't make it any more natural. And the vast, vast majority of farmers, both hobbyists and professionals, that I know of strive for organic, natural farming, not "practical" but dirty commercial conditions. Again, if all you want is commercial conditions, why bother farming yourself at all? Why bother going to all that work and expense to feed your family the same quality stuff you can buy at the store? And if you're in it for the money, where's your market niche if what you have to offer is no different from grocery store eggs and meat?

 

[aviator46]

I made many points other than the rooster thing. In my opinion small cages for chickens are not the best thing. The other side is it may be harder for predators to get them. Is a chicken better off crowded or dead?