Dyed/Colored chicks @ Ideal Poultry?! Disturbing!!

[flakey chick]

That's what I love about the new Verizon commercial where one poor girl gets a pony. It shows the nasty pony tearing apart a dog house that it is tied to. The girl clearly didn't want the pony and the family has no clue about proper care of it. I hope it makes people reconsider impulse pet gifts for Christmas.

Oh, and the pony bites.

 

[Rosalind]

The impulse buying thing, lots of people do it. My mother, upon seeing my new chicks in their homemade incubator, told me how every Easter she and her siblings would get multi-colored chicks from the five-and-dime with a bag of food, and "somehow" they would all magically disappear in two weeks--dead, squashed, left outside and forgotten. They certainly weren't put into a brooder with heat lamp and waterer with marbles in to prevent drowning, or carefully wiped daily to keep their bottoms clean. They were not given any care instructions, it was pretty much assumed that they would kill the animals one way or another.

When she got older, she realized that the chicks had probably starved to death, and when she saw how I cared for my chicks in the brooder box, she realized that all those chicks she got must have died of cold AND starved to death, because the chick food I gave my peeps didn't in the least resemble what the five-and-dime sold as "Chick Food".

Now, I know that my local feed store is pretty good about giving care instructions for chicks, but I remember seeing the dyed chicks at the mall pet store when I was a kid, and they certainly weren't being sold with heat lamps and chick crumbles and chick waterers they couldn't drown in. IIRC, they were being sold basically as a cute fuzzy parakeet or mouse--with a smallish cage and birdseed. Sure, it was the pet store's responsibility to tell the buyers how to mind a chick, and sure it was the buyers' responsibility to make sure they understood that a $1 chick is not indestructible, but the whole thing just reeks of asking for trouble.

Even my mom pointed this out, saying that my brown, yellow, white, and buff chicks were "grown-up Easter chicks" while the pastel ones were for kids. It's all marketing, except live animals instead of plastic toys.

 

[JudyMcKinn]

The colored chicks in a feed store probably have more hope of going to someone who knows how to care for them, since they are in a "feed store", and usually farmers, etc. are what go there. What I object to even more is the little chicks they give away at local fairs around here. At a booth where you break a balloon, or something--you win a baby chick. A rather distant relative's 16 year old daughter got one. Didn't have a clue. Had it perching on her finger (or trying to) like a parakeet, and was feeding it birdseed. Had put it in the garage so it wouldn't mess up the house. The little thing was standing in the garage alone, with some birdseed and a lid of water, and the whole garage to run around in, with no heat. I said "good lord, it won't live like that" or something to that effect, and they had already realized they had no use for it, and were thrilled to give it to me. I put it with my other chicks, and it became a pretty rooster, which I kept for my flock.
But you are correct, it can be cruel to get them if you don't know how to care for them. But others on here are correct in that the little extra roosters are smothered in plastic bags and dumped by the hatchery, so......?? The world can be a cruel place. I guess trying to get them to stop doing this would be good, but probably hopeless.

 

[Crunchie]

While I commend and respect Ideal for posting here and offering their perspective and providing us with the facts, they have just explained exactly why the practice of selling dyed Easter chicks is inhumane.

While it seems as though some have come to BYC and have become responsible chicken owners from the initial purchase of dyed chicks at Easter time, how many have not? I have no problem with someone impulse-buying a chick at a feed store--IF they are willing and commited to educating themselves about how to care for them properly. And some are willing and commited, as evidenced by those who have come here or elsewhere seeking knowledge. But Ideal (and this is only one hatchery that practices this; I assume there are others) has just stated that they sell 90,000 dyed chicks per year. That's a lot of chicks. I think it's safe to assume that the majority of them did not end up with families from BYC.

As many of you have pointed out, and with which I whole-heartedly agree, it is the consumer's responsibility, whether we are talking about chicks or video games or whatever. But that doesn't mean that all companies should be entirely off the hook, either. Hatcheries are in the business of breeding animals; yes, bottom line, it's a business and they are in it to make money. That's fine, we've all got to make a living. But you can set examples by the way you do business. I think I can speak for the majority, if not all, of us who post here at BYC that it is very important to us how our animals are treated. It doesn't matter if the bird is a broiler and destined for the freezer, or a lap-chicken that lives in the house. They all deserve to at least get the basics: adequate food, water, and shelter.

And I think that's why a lot of us are here. Those of you who raise broilers/meat chickens and/or laying hens, how do you feel about factory farming practices? Can I chance to guess that you're fairly disgusted by them? And maybe that's part of the reason why you raise your own meat and/or eggs? Because it is very satisfying, on several different levels, to know that you know where your food came from. You see it, care for it everyday. You know those chickens were raised right; it's healthy. Even if that chicken is going to end up as Sunday dinner, it lived the good life. It saw the sun, maybe even got to be pastured on fresh green grass.

Those dyed Easter chicks, as the representative from Ideal just explained, come from a factory farming situation (excess males from a Leghorn hatching facility). They are being treated as waste. But instead of "just" disposing of them, they've found a way to make a few bucks off of them. Ideal's support of this practice, and those who might buy these chicks (as an uneducated, impulse purchase) are only aiding to perpetuate the mentality that animals are a disposable commodity that do not deserve any respect, not even to have its most basic of needs met or to have a chance at living a healthy, normal, chicken life. If we are going to use animals, be it for food or pets, it is our responsibility (as the supposedly intelligent, superior species) to ensure that they at least get to live the life that is normal and healthy for that particular animal. Buying "excess" chicks from large production facilities only helps to enable the practice of factory farming to continue.

As for the chicks possibly giving "a few kids a little joy for a short time," sorry, that's not a lesson I feel the need to teach my kids--sure, here's a living, breathing creature. Have fun and enjoyment at its expense. Don't care for it properly, and when it suffers and dies an unatural death, it's ok--it was going to die anyway! I cannot rationalize this line of thought. I think the more humane outcome in this situation is for those "excess" chicks to die at the facility. Why prolong their suffering?

If Ideal truly is a sponsor of BYC, then they should truly be a sponsor of, well, backyard chickens. They should be supportive of those of us who choose to keep small flocks for pets and/or food. But the practice of selling Easter chicks is supportive of factory farming goes against everything that those of us who choose to keep our own chickens believe and practice. Yes, Ideal is a business, and they need to and should make money...but profiting from the sale of factory farm excess?? Like I said, a company can set examples by the way they do business. Personally, I would be much more likely to do business with a company that led by the example of humane treatment to and a dedication to the health of the animals it sells. I would think that dropping the practice of Easter chicks and instead attempting more extensive outreach and education efforts on the care and health of the chickens it sells would be a much more profitable practice. Ideal's Web site does have a good, informative section on the care of baby chicks (and I think they send out a care sheet with the chicks as well), but being such a huge hatchery, think of how much more could be done! I realize that information and education is only good if the consumer also puts forth the effort and takes the time to seek the knowledge. I'm in no way saying that it is all Ideal's (or any hatchery's) responsibility as to how chicks are cared for once they leave the hatchery. But it would be commendable to expand its efforts in education--and a good lesson to all would be to do away with the sale of dyed Easter chicks.

 

[speckledhen]

Thank all of you, including Ideal Poultry, for your participation in this thread. I believe, however, that it has run its course.