Filthy Coop Condition

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I keep mine on the ground as well, chickens will eat the grossest stuff in their natural state and poop is righ up there on thier tasty seasoning list.
That said I don't think there is any way to politely turn down food that someone is proud of raising . . . probably in the same manner their grandpa did (remember in the old day free ranging chickens got their corn from the cow poop). I would accept with gratitude and if you can't make yourself eat it find someone who will. A Good neighbor policy.

AND WELCOME TO BYC!

 

[silkiechicken]

Welcome!

If the birds are just poopy, which meat birds do get, and otherwise healthy and you eat meat from the store, I'd still accept a bird. The meat birds poop A LOT, and even given free range, often hang around feeders eating food from them and from the ground under feeders. Honestly, most meat birds are bred to gain weight so fast they do look pretty miserable at times just sitting and eating with food on their face. The thin feathering on the birds also doesn't help the 'clean' looking image.

Sounds like the set up your neighbor has is called a tractor style set up, which in my opinion is the best for the little poop machines. Only one of my coops has a floor, and that is a 4x4 brooder. Everyone else is raised directly on soil and are cleaned once a year with poop and litter moved to the gardens.

BTW, most chicken yard/coops are cleaned out and spiffied up before their photoshoots.

 

[SallyF]

I grew up in the country and now I live in the country where I grew up. Compared to what most chickens around here live in, including mine, most of the chicken coops I see on this website would get me laughed out of the county. No offense to anyone, please, but chickens don't really care what color their houses are painted, and most of them eat off the ground. Chickens are just birdbrains; they just do what comes naturally, including scratching around in their own poop and eating bugs. Health, cleaniliness and charm are neither mutually inclusive, or mutually exclusive. As long as the chicken is cooked, I'm sure it's safe to eat. There's a reason why no one ever came up with a recipe for chicken tartare!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

funny

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

Quote:
Same here.
We just harvested some of our dual purpose birds and Ill bet they were raised cleaner then store bought. AND. I didnt give mine any growth hormones or other unwanted chemicals.
My meat birds.....gross, dirty birds compared to the dual purpose. But man, we are going to chow down on some yumminess.
Geez, this thread goes right along with another here that has now gone to 'a little dirt never hurt'. Whats ppls aversion to dirt?

 

[noahsark]

If you watched FOOD INC......a documentary you can rent from blockbuster, you wouldnt eat any store bought meat again!

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
See filthy chicken here... see filthy chicken over there... we all eat chicken. YUMMMM !!!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:

 

[sosanista]

It's interesting to see the range of replies on here and how there is no one set of ethics the define this forum. I too have seen the range of treatment of these animals. My first exposure to these birds was from my mexican grandfather who raised game birds, for fighting I presume (yikes) but probably more for the love of the breeds he kept . However, he treated his birds like kings. Holding them in his arms in my grandmas kitchen for hours at a time, everybody had time outside a cage or coop and they were always kept CLEAN. The birds ran the yard and were above other common pets like dogs on the chain of command. Also when I was growing up my neighbor raised chickens and his chicken run in the winter would get really muddy. So muddy that it would coat the entire legs of his hens, I even witnessed some of his birds legs fall off because of rot. He wouldn't cull these birds either so I saw a lot of chickens who just got used to having one leg. Can you imagine? I never saw a loose chicken there even though there was ample space for it. We obviously have a lot of freedom to decide what's right and wrong as we come up with our own set of ethics and when it comes to chicken farming there is no small degree of differences of styles. IMO I think that a lot of how we raise chickens or what we learn is directly from the factory farm, in other words we are replicating what they do just on a very small scale. If you look at some of the pre industrial coop designs and the debates that were going on around the turn of the century you can see it was much different than it is today. My goal, is to keep the chickens as healthy and clean as possible while balancing the fact that their needs are very simple and basic. My latest coop is on the ground too. It's a hoop house, one end is covered and is comfortable with clean shavings which I intend to clean every 4-6 weeks or so and it's nice and dry. I'm not afraid of poop but my design is very open air. A coop that doesn't have much fresh air the smells and the gasses from the poop are IMO disgusting and should be cleaned more often. The smell test works well. The other end got muddy pretty quick and with those childhood memories all to well burned into my consciousness I heeded the advice of someone else on BYC and put sand in there. No more mud and it took about 10 bucks worth of bulk sand to solve the problem. My birds are on pasture and forest everyday so the coop doesn't get that dirty that quick.

BTW - I cleaned the coop the other day and put the pile of fertelizer laced wood shavings in a pile near the coop. When I let the birds out to range they went straight for the pile and scratched in it for hours until my pile wasn't a pile anymore. I guess they're not afraid of poop either.

 

[Ironmaiden]

I don't think you will be able to eat whatever he offers you, so I go with accepting graciously and giving the bird to someone who wants to eat it, or your local shelter. I personally don't see anything wrong with a tractor, but would not chose to have one myself. My birds are kinda spoiled when it comes to elbow room.