ELI5 Why do so many ppl treat chickens expendable??

[MysteryChicken]

Those feathers are wider than the one Rose's posted

I wasn't comparing wideness.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Dog/cats or whatever the “pet” is, is replaceable as well. And since when does being livestock justify cruelty?

Everything on this planet is replaceable... Culling males is cruelty? Maybe its just you lol if everyone kept their males they would be overrun with them.

 

[z3lda3]

Everything on this planet is replaceable... Culling males is cruelty? Maybe its just you lol if everyone kept their males they would be overrun with them.

I asked why chickens were treated as expendable, the thread goes on and on about cruel treatment of chickens. You came back with ‘because they’re livestock’.

 

[igorsMistress]

Ah got it! I think most ppl here are in the “depends on the situation” camp. Like most things, it’s not black and white.

I would disagree that most people are in the it depends camp and more are in the I have to save my precious baby camp. Just my experience and I was in that boat once. Until I learned.

 

[NatJ]

I would disagree that most people are in the it depends camp and more are in the I have to save my precious baby camp. Just my experience and I was in that boat once. Until I learned.

The "it depends" camp will not tend to make as many posts asking for advice. So they aren't as noticeable on the forum. It's a lot like the number of posts about any other kind of problem: most people do not bother posting things like "my rooster did not attack me" and "my chicks do not have coccidiosis," and "my hens are not egg-bound today."

 

[igorsMistress]

The "it depends" camp will not tend to make as many posts asking for advice. So they aren't as noticeable on the forum. It's a lot like the number of posts about any other kind of problem: most people do not bother posting things like "my rooster did not attack me" and "my chicks do not have coccidiosis," and "my hens are not egg-bound today."

Yeah, likely. However, my son and DIL are in the save everything camp, most of their friends too, but they don’t post questions. They do research or ask me and go from there. The information for most of the questions asked is already here, either in articles or posts, so asking the question yet again is just more clutter they have have to weed through.

 

[NatJ]

Yeah, likely. However, my son and DIL are in the save everything camp, most of their friends too, but they don’t post questions. They do research or ask me and go from there. The information for most of the questions asked is already here, either in articles or posts, so asking the question yet again is just more clutter they have have to weed through.

Of the people I know with chickens, I do not think any of them are in the save everything camp. Most of them have a basic attitude of "don't let it suffer, but don't waste time and money trying to fix it." So they often "solve" chicken problems by dispatching the bird in question.

The exact people you know, or the exact ones that I know, make a big difference in what we each see as "normal" or "common" attitudes toward chickens!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Re-reading your earlier post, I think you're talking about how so many male chicks are destroyed at hatch. Again, this is not an emotional thing (no hate) but an economical one. Say a hatchery has orders for 10,000 pullets and 200 cockerels. So they hatch 20,000 chicks. Half of their hatch is cockerels. What are they going to do with 10,000 baby cockerel chicks? Not practical to raise them, feed them, and hope somehow to find homes for them. They know that's not going to happen. So they (putting this delicately) arrange for them to be made immediately into something like dog food, for example. Simple economics. But it is not because anybody hates them. It may be sad and unfortunate, but it is a simple, practical fact of life.

Gotcha It makes more sense now

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Gotcha It makes more sense now

I'm glad. Thanks for saying so.

 

[The Birb King]

Because chickens are livestock not pets? My males get processed every year. As they are replaceable. And if I dont eat them my rats eat them.

As if rats are better pets then chickens?