ELI5 Why do so many ppl treat chickens expendable??

[talkinboutchickens]

Hopefully there will be technology someday that could tell whether an egg contains a future male or female chick so that we will only incubate the females that we need and we wouldn't need to kill and completely waste thousands of male chicks.

 

[Hucklekree]

I love my birds. I give them the best life I can and I cull them whenever and for whatever reason I decide I need to. Loving them and taking the responsibility to also cull them is part of the deal with livestock. It is done humanely and never out of malice. But done nonetheless. My birds are there because I want them for food. I have littles. It is important then, that they are well behaved. I sell eggs, it is important I don't have egg eaters. I don't default to culling birds just because. I always try to correct issues as much as I can on my end first. Yes, we have had to throw carcasses away that were questionable. (new, quarantined birds in the past that turned out to be ill.) I am not putting diseased anything into my ground. Majority of the time, though, the culls get an after death use of feeding something around here, usually it is the humans. It is a farmer's perogative to take responsibility for their stock and all that it entails, life to death.

Now, if we are making the birds into pets....that is a different ball of wax. While I understand people wanting to have various birds (poultry and fowl) as untouchable pets, I could never. However, that doesn't mean I can't comprehend how someone else may have a problem with taking the life of a bird they have viewed as a part of their family. That is rough.

 

[z3lda3]

I agree @z3lda3, it's not a rooster's fault that he was born a boy. Just because of a rooster's gender we humans hate him just existing. Just 'cause he doesn't lay eggs and isn't that useful. So we shred all of the innocent little boys up in the shredder at chick factories or gas them And what did they do? They were simply born.

I’ve got 2 roosters, one was a hen until a few weeks ago lol I’m already planning out my 2 flock situation. I know not everyone can do that but what else can I do? I have the land, and more hens are not a problem so 2 flocks it is. Unless by a miracle my roosters get along..

 

[FrostRanger]

And as one with anemia just an fyi iron supplements cause constipation. I know it’s off topic, just sharing lol

Good to know, thx for the info

 

[z3lda3]

I love my birds. I give them the best life I can and I cull them whenever and for whatever reason I decide I need to. Loving them and taking the responsibility to also cull them is part of the deal with livestock. It is done humanely and never out of malice. But done nonetheless. My birds are there because I want them for food. I have littles. It is important then, that they are well behaved. I sell eggs, it is important I don't have egg eaters. I don't default to culling birds just because. I always try to correct issues as much as I can on my end first. Yes, we have had to throw carcasses away that were questionable. (new, quarantined birds in the past that turned out to be ill.) I am not putting diseased anything into my ground. Majority of the time, though, the culls get an after death use of feeding something around here, usually it is the humans. It is a farmer's perogative to take responsibility for their stock and all that it entails, life to death.

Now, if we are making the birds into pets....that is a different ball of wax. While I understand people wanting to have various birds (poultry and fowl) as untouchable pets, I could never. However, that doesn't mean I can't comprehend how someone else may have a problem with taking the life of a bird they have viewed as a part of their family. That is rough.

Well said!

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Wow, I am not against culling, but those are absolutely abysmal reasons to cull a bird. They're chickens, of course they're going to eat your plants if they're unprotected and of course a rooster is going to mate your hens, it's his job. I am hoping they meant they wanted to bring in fresh blood to avoid too much inbreeding and not that he mated too many hens and they hatched too many chicks that he fathered. As for the non-cuddly hen, perhaps they had a breeding program and were breeding for a particular temperment. Not that I'd cull for that personally. The pullet in my profile picture is my late girl Sage who passed from wet fowl pox last year. She was very much skittish and absolutely did not want to be petted and if you managed to pick her up, she'd angrily give you a lecture until you put her down. Sure, I got easter eggers 'cause I heard they were friendly but I still loved that girl just the same - probably because I found her relatable as while I love petting and holding animals, with people I am totally hands off. She was still friendly in her own way. She may have hated getting pet, but she still followed me around, wiped her beak on me, gently pick at my feet and even perched on me very rarely. She also had an amazing resting grump face which combined with her lovely high pitch voice made her seem always annoyed even when she wasn't xD

Apparently by 'Making too many chicks' They meant the rooster was only supposed to mate with one hen and make one batch of chicks, as soon as another hen hatched a chick the man killed the chick and the rooster.

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Wow, I am not against culling, but those are absolutely abysmal reasons to cull a bird. They're chickens, of course they're going to eat your plants if they're unprotected and of course a rooster is going to mate your hens, it's his job. I am hoping they meant they wanted to bring in fresh blood to avoid too much inbreeding and not that he mated too many hens and they hatched too many chicks that he fathered. As for the non-cuddly hen, perhaps they had a breeding program and were breeding for a particular temperment. Not that I'd cull for that personally. The pullet in my profile picture is my late girl Sage who passed from wet fowl pox last year. She was very much skittish and absolutely did not want to be petted and if you managed to pick her up, she'd angrily give you a lecture until you put her down. Sure, I got easter eggers 'cause I heard they were friendly but I still loved that girl just the same - probably because I found her relatable as while I love petting and holding animals, with people I am totally hands off. She was still friendly in her own way. She may have hated getting pet, but she still followed me around, wiped her beak on me, gently pick at my feet and even perched on me very rarely. She also had an amazing resting grump face which combined with her lovely high pitch voice made her seem always annoyed even when she wasn't xD

And by 'Not so cuddly hen' The other person killed that one just because of its personality and even that is not acceptable as you could have at least sold it or gave it away.

I am really sorry about your fowl that passed, She looks beautiful. Some hens do not want to have human love inflicted on that and its completely fine and is 100% not a good reason to cull it.

 

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Ridiculous. It can't make baby chickens unless they either incubate or allow a broody hen to incubate the eggs. I'm calling a technical "fowl" on this one. Put that guy in the penalty box!

He would understand how the chickens felt when they were having such a wonderful time eating and pecking away at grains until they were suddenly killed by the owner they thought were their friend. People are cruel, and majority of the time their excuse is "I can get more." Ridiculous indeed.

 

[z3lda3]

Apparently by 'Making too many chicks' They meant the rooster was only supposed to mate with one hen and make one batch of chicks, as soon as another hen hatched a chick the man killed the chick and the rooster.

@WaterfowlsPoultry I think I know the type of person you’re talking about. My Step MIL said years ago when she had meat birds , she and her husband would chop their heads and see how long it could walk around, she told me how funny it was! I asked her how she could be so cruel and told her to leave my house. Too toxic for me!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Yes, but their bioavailability is different. Not all protein and iron is the same

Agreed. My body treats plant based iron and protein supplements like poison. I will start projectile vomiting uncontrollably within 10-15 minutes of taking iron pills and end up with the worst stomach ache after taking plant based protein powders. It does not matter how gentle on the stomach they claim to be. I cannot eat vegetables raw whatsoever or I end up with terrible stomach pains as well. I tried going vegetarian once focusing on iron rich plant based food sources and I became very sick. My skin became sickly pale, I was so exhausted I could not function, I had stomach pains the entire time and I was constantly chilled to the point I was shivering constantly. At one point I tried to stand up and my legs started to shake and buckle. I now eat only organic grass raised meats, eggs from my chickens, organic dairy and I can eat certain types of vegetables if they are roasted on the side. I also take organ based supplements. My health did a 180 and my lifelong stomach issues (doctor suspected Crohns) along with POTs syndrome symptoms I was having are gone. I also no long have freezing cold to the touch skin or show signs of anemia and my vitamin deficiencies are fixed as well. I truly believe that my body was meant to use meat as my main food and when I had testing done it showed the same thing. My body responded best to wild game meats. Also every dentist I have ever been to comments about how my bottom set of teeth are “textbook perfect” and then go on to say that my top set of teeth “are almost canine like” with my incisors extending at the gumline far above my other teeth and extend at the bottom lower than my other teeth as well coming to a very sharp point. They also protrude out slightly. When the Twighlight movies first came out I had teenagers asking if I had my teeth made to look like a vampire or werewolf on purpose