Culling Chicks Opinion Changed =/

[Funky Feathers]

I am not sure what the difference is in culling a chick that you know you do not have the space, time, or use for, and culling the same chick after feeding him up for 20 weeks to eating size.  Most roosters are culled at some point, as there is simply not enough room for all those roosters.  And anyone who has bought sexed pullet chicks is basically culling, as the extra male chicks - basically a by-product - are killed immediately at the hatchery.  Re-homing simply means for most roosters that they will be eaten, just not by you - and that you have no control over how they are treated once they leave your ownership.

If you have the time and resources to take care of chicks with debilitating abnormalities, good for you.  If not, kinder to kill them immediately rather than letting them linger. 

This is an excellent point. If you have a flock that is more hens than roosters then you participate in culling whether you do it yourself or not. Healthy birds died or were otherwise held from the population so your flock can look like that. This is for the overall well being of all of the birds.

What is the definition of only culling for deformity? An appearance flaw is inherently included in that definition as it is a genetic deformity. Any domestic chicken that you have exists because of generations and generations of this practice. 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deformity

Irresponsible breeding has long term consequences that are not good for domesticated animals overall. 

That's exactly what I was trying to say.

 

[Ashdoes]

Let me start by saying I would/have killed a chicken with a deformity. It just felt like the right thing to do, even though it was an awful experience.
With that said...I do want to point out that if you have one chick out of ten with a feather issue, you do realize that all of your chickens now carry that gene? So if you did grow out that chicken and sell it, as a pet, even if the people breed it they won't end up with a backyard full of badly feathered chickens.
Just something to think about.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Let me start by saying I would/have killed a chicken with a deformity. It just felt like the right thing to do, even though it was an awful experience.
With that said...I do want to point out that if you have one chick out of ten with a feather issue, you do realize that all of your chickens now carry that gene? So if you did grow out that chicken and sell it, as a pet, even if the people breed it they won't end up with a backyard full of badly feathered chickens.
Just something to think about.

I could sell to Laura in Louisiana. She can hatch out 50 chicks and only have 5 that have bad feathers, but ALL 50 have the gene and are capable of producing offspring with bad feathers. If Laura decides to breed those birds (and their siblings who still carry that gene) and sell their offspring to 5 other neighbors, that will spread the bad feather gene exponentially, all over the entire county and further than that depending on where those people send or sell their chickens. If Frida in Florida sells some to Mary in Maine then Maine will have some of that bad gene. People in Maine sell to a few friends and one sells to Tom in Timbuctoo...and then Tom sends some to his uncle in Arkansas and YAY now Arkansas has the bad feather gene. Then....Tom's uncle sends some to Greta in Georgia, etc etc etc

All because I gave in and sold or rehomed a bird with a genetic feather issue to someone. O_O People say 1 person with 5 birds can't make a bit of difference but I guarantee you they most certainly can.

I guess I just don't know how I can make it any clearer, so I think I will stop trying, lol =)

 

[Funky Feathers]

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Ashdoes]

Let me start by saying I would/have killed a chicken with a deformity. It just felt like the right thing to do, even though it was an awful experience.

With that said...I do want to point out that if you have one chick out of ten with a feather issue, you do realize that all of your chickens now carry that gene? So if you did grow out that chicken and sell it, as a pet, even if the people breed it they won't end up with a backyard full of badly feathered chickens.

Just something to think about.

I could sell to Laura in Louisiana.  She can hatch out 50 chicks and only have 5 that have bad feathers, but ALL 50 have the gene and are capable of producing offspring with bad feathers.  If Laura decides to breed those birds (and their siblings who still carry that gene) and sell their offspring to 5 other neighbors, that will spread the bad feather gene exponentially, all over the entire county and further than that depending on where those people send or sell their chickens. If Frida in Florida sells some to Mary in Maine then Maine will have some of that bad gene.  People in Maine sell to a few friends and one sells to Tom in Timbuctoo...and then Tom sends some to his uncle in Arkansas and YAY now Arkansas has the bad feather gene.  Then....Tom's uncle sends some to Greta in Georgia, etc etc etc

All because I gave in and sold or rehomed a bird with a genetic feather issue to someone. O_O  People say 1 person with 5 birds can't make a bit of difference but I guarantee you they most certainly can.

I guess I just don't know how I can make it any clearer, so I think I will stop trying, lol =)

I thought I was pretty nice, just putting in a little to the conversation...and you come back snarky and rude. I'm going to leave now.

 

[CluckyCharms]

I thought I was pretty nice, just putting in a little to the conversation...and you come back snarky and rude. I'm going to leave now.

If you would be so kind as to tell me how my post was snarky or rude, I would be very appreciative. I gave an example of how 1 person can affect a lot of different flocks. I then stated that some people will say that a person with so few birds can't make any difference on the rest - they can. That portion was directed at someone in the page prior who stated my small flock won't do much to affect other people or their chickens - not at you. In any case, I'm sorry you felt I was snarky and/or rude - I'm not seeing where I was, so I apologize you read it that way. I simply stated I don't think there's any way (apart from what I've said in all my other posts here) to make why I feel the way I feel any clearer so I was going to stop trying to explain it and not get anywhere, and then I lol'd...I'm so confused.

I wasn't offended in the least in what you posted and I certainly wasn't defending myself from your post - your post wasn't attacking anyone it was simply an opinion; even I could see that. Where was I snarky/rude?

 

[CluckyCharms]

Due to the fact that so many people have been seriously offended by my thread, even though I wrote it in such a way as to *try* to be inoffensive about it...I'm contacting admin and asking that they remove the entire thread from the forum. I had no desire to cause a ruckus, nor did I have any desire to cause ill intent toward other people. My ultimate goal in writing this thread was not to cause dissension among forum members and have people personally slinging and flinging daggers at each other. It was to simply state my perspective respectfully, and pose questions regarding other peoples' perspectives, which I did. I asked several questions and none were answered - only flames ensued by people caught up in their own outrage. I asked "why is this okay?" "why is that okay" "why do people do this or that?" - There were very few answers and very little legitimate discussion, mainly just ridicule and nastiness not only toward me but toward anyone else who had a differing opinion.

So - with that in mind I'm going to request that it be removed so it does not cause further problems between what would be otherwise good relations between internet acquaintances.

Thank you for the input that was stated with neutrality or respectfully disagreeing posts...but there are more negatives on this thread than there are positives, and more people slinging uglies than people just discussing. I won't continue to be the reason people sling daggers.

-Edited to add- Request for removal has been sent.

 

[StarLover21]

I'm sorry you have been attacked in such a rude way, CluckyCharms. Good luck with your flock

 

[Funky Feathers]

That's a shame you had to do that, I thought you made a valid point. People should NOT be breeding willy nilly & selling culls, potentially ruining good breeds. :/

 

[Gofygure]

"bad temper" doesn't even begin to describe this chick. He's only a week old (I lose track of time a lot, but I'm pretty sure he's a week). He bloodied up both his siblings beaks in less than an hour in the brooder and this was almost immediately after hatching so I let it be for a while, thinking he was figuring out how his beak worked or something. lol A couple days later he was even nastier so I placed him with the 4 week old big kids (Norwegian Jaerhons) and he literally attacked the ever loving heck out of my birds. They did nothing to him. He ripped out three tail feathers in one of them. With regard to his hatchmates, like I said, he bloodied their beaks - both of them within an hour. He then caused one of them to have a bare naked bohonkus (butt) because he ripped out all her chick fuzz.

I have never seen him peck at a single thing. What he does is open his beak on whatever he has an interest in, snap it shut and yank really hard. He does it with water as well, and his food, and my fingers. He ripped off the cuticle of my pointer finger while I was wiping his pasty butt (and I'm extremely gentle with them). He has also taken to squawking, not peeping, and he just plain looks mean as well. He's gorgeous in all actuality (apart from those pesky hocks that are forming) but even his facial features scream "I'm obnoxious". I named him Mr. McNaughtyface and my husband calls him something I can't write in this forum. -_-

Everything in the baby brooder has been complete harmony and peace since I removed him from there and placed him in his own brooder. He acts completely indifferent to the fact that he is alone and struts around with his beak in the air...doesn't chuck a fit like a lonely chick would normally. When I say a chick has a temper, it must be absolutely horrible because I know chicks can be mean sometimes. "mean" does not cover this baby.

Yeah, I've dealt with chicks like that. Anyone who causes trouble in the brooder doesn't even make it to eating age. If I can find someone willing to deal with them, I give them away. Otherwise they aren't worth the effort to raise. I believe temperament is just as much a genetic trait as vulture hocks, and even if I don't find vulture hocks to be a big deal, viciousness is another story.

I just wanted to chime in before this thread gets wiped. I think you're in the right and I hope you continue to put this much thought into your obligation to your birds- even if it sometimes means making hard decisions.