Hatchery Practices

[mlheran]

Yep, it's a depressing situation no matter how you cut it.

And one more thing that would be bad if commercial hatcheries gave away the males -people who raise them for fighting would be thrilled because they'd never have to buy hens to raise chicks. (but let's NOT discuss those low-lifes, please!)

It's very much the same with dairy cows -what dairy wants a bull for every cow? Young males = veal.

It all seems very "darn if you do, darn if you don't."

 

[silkiechicken]

It is sad when you think about reality of what goes on around us. I think that each person must strike their own personal balance in life and do what they can do with what they have. There are things we can do in our own lives that will make a difference to the immediate surroundings, and every little thing on a local level can add up.

Like letting a car get into traffic, you're only going to be one car length behind, but the driver you let in won't be as po'd over traffic and will let someone else get into traffic ahead of them too. Makes traffic run so much smoother and reduces road rage.

 

[mdbucks]

silkie chicken In actuality now you are two car lengths back, because you let someone in then they let someone in, but whos counting

what does make me mad is those that think they are tooooooo important to blend in an gnore the lane ends 1 mile, 1/2 mile, 500feet, then look at you strange when you run them into the cones. read the signs and start merging into line when you notice traffic is coming to a stop, My truck is bigger and older than you SUV so all you moms out there when your running over cones you now know why.

 

[silkiechicken]

Haha, I wasn't counting the second car getting in front

.

And for the lane ends things really, let's make a thread of traffic complaints!!! That way we can avoid further thread drift.

 

[pattycake]

Quote:
You can say that again. I figure hatcheries HAVE to dispose of their unwanted chicks somehow -- not just males, but pullets of breeds that no one happens to want that week -- terribly sad, but what's the solution?

I thought about hatching my own instead of using a hatchery, but then I'd have to dispose of my extra roos myself. I'm not sure I could do it...

 

[EweSheep]

I am one of the low income people, disabled and hubby is working two part time jobs to make ends meet...somehow we managed to support all those chicks and older flocks and sell them when we have enough to go around or cull out those does not fit in the breeding program.

I think it is a great idea for low income people having chickens with miminual amount of space to support three or four pullets...I live in the city limits with an 80 x 124 ft lot so if the city folks are determined to have chickens, they will find a way even getting some Seramas.....

AS for the surplus chickens I can not sell or needed to be culled totally out of the breed because of some genetic or man made problems, I give the chicks and older birds to the zoo which they in turn would feed them to the alligators and leopards and other meat eating animals. At least I contribute to keep the zoo going by helping them feed their animals with chicks I dont need or could not sell. Hatcheries are good about putting in packing peanuts in the cold winter months and I gladly gave them to the zoo which they are small enough to feed their snakes.

When we do share orders, Pasochicken and I would order the breeds we want and any "packing peanuts" would be filled up with Cornish crosses so Paso can have all the meat birds she can handle and have done extremely well at that too.

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Strangely, I was just talking with a man today who used to work in a hatchery. He was commenting on what was done with the cockrels. He said this hatchery had 2 people who sexed chicks, they were fast, and had 2 conveyor belts running close to them, and the boys they put on one conveyor belt, and the girls they tossed onto the other. The belt dropped the girls into boxes, to be counted and shipped, and the boy's conveyor belt ran straight into a large trash bin, where they piled up and suffocated. Sad, but true. And, I have to admit, I don't know what they could do with the thousands of little unwanted male chicks that hatch out.