Help me decide what to do...story & questions

[Beekissed]

I don't know about an earlier post about nobody being honest anymore but I see many honest people responding to this post. It's encouraging!

And I agree to all the points made about what constitutes a neglectful situation~since when did free ranging become neglectful? And didn't anyone notice that the OP also free ranges?

Stealing is stealing, folks. The general concesus seems to be that the OP should return this bird to the rightful owner so they can choose how to deal with it.

 

[spartacus_63]

Quote:
The OP has said she knows where it came from, that is is from the adjacent property. She needs to give it back to the owners and if she really wants it offer to buy it. There is no wiggle room here, keeping the chicken when you know it belongs to your neighbor is stealing.

If the OP KNEW it was the neighbors, why then did she think it was hers? And did the OP do a beak count at the neighbors or was she just assuming that because it wasn't hers, that it must be the neighbors. I think I was pretty clear when I said, if it is not her chicken, she DOES NOT know who's chicken it is. You can always assume answers, but you know what that causes...

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
The OP has said she knows where it came from, that is is from the adjacent property. She needs to give it back to the owners and if she really wants it offer to buy it. There is no wiggle room here, keeping the chicken when you know it belongs to your neighbor is stealing.

If the OP KNEW it was the neighbors, why then did she think it was hers? And did the OP do a beak count at the neighbors or was she just assuming that because it wasn't hers, that it must be the neighbors. I think I was pretty clear when I said, if it is not her chicken, she DOES NOT know who's chicken it is. You can always assume answers, but you know what that causes...

Goodness, whatever happened to the days of neighbors just checking with each other when finding a stray (injured/dead or not) animal on their property? If the OP has a large property (as she stated to that effect), how many neighbors can she have that it would be difficult to check with any of them? Seems to me if she is wanting to go through the trouble of nursing it back to health, knocking on a few doors or ringing a few phones can't be that much more of a hassle. I don't have a problem with her wanting to nurse it back to health; in fact, I think it's great. But what are you going to do if you wait until it's all healthy & pretty & you find out who it belongs to & they decide they want the chicken back? Maybe they HAVE missed it, but (correctly) assumed that a predator got it & gave up on it because no one contacted them. Then you show up on their door step with their chicken (that coud take days or weeks to recover) and they want it back? Are you going to be able to just walk away from something that you spent time (& money) on & probably gotten attached to...only to have them say "THANK YOU" while closing the door on you? Yes, you will feel good about saving the chickens life, but how do you deal with the sadness of the attachment you developed?
Find out who it belongs to now, before you are too much more vested in it. Chances are they may NOT want to nurse/rehab an attacked chicken & want to put it down. That's your opening to OFFER to take it off their hands and do what you want with it--free & clear, and by that, I mean with a free & clear conscience!
Sorry that was so long & if I started rambiling...I think it's time to shut down for the night...

 

[GAchick]

My soon to be 15 year old daughter repeated something to me the other day that they were discussing in school. "Integrity" -- what does it mean? It means doing the right thing even when no-one is looking.........

 

[TwelvePalmsFarm]

Hello, this is a very interesting post. All the different viewpoints and strong feelings really get you thinking, which is good. Here's what I would do: go over to the "possible" owners house and tell them you found a badly injured chicken in your yard. Then say, it's still alive and you are doing what you can to save it. You then ask if they think it might be one of theirs. If they say yes, then say: "I've kind of become attached to the poor thing and would you might if I BUY it from you? If it were me I would offer a little higer than the going rate, even though it's injured. I've paid $15 to save a nice hen that was in a terrible place. The people were glad to take my money and I was glad to get the hen. I kept her separated for a while and then slowly introduced her to the others. They accepted her just fine. By the way, that hen has become the "spiritual leader" of our flock--we call her "The Dolly Mamma".

 

[spartacus_63]

Quote:
No, your original post asked if you should keep her..... You asked that if you nursed her back to health, shouldn't she 'belong' to you. The question of whether your flock would accept her is entirely secondary to 'should you keep her, knowing who she probably belongs to'. And, you stated that they 'probably wouldn't know she was gone', as though that made stealing morally okay. What is best for her is also secondary to 'this is someone's legal property'. Even if they do not take care of their chickens in exactly the same way that you care for your chickens. Stealing is stealing, whether you pick her up under your arm and walk away from the owners property with her, or are an accessory after the fact...Even concealing the fact that you have her at your house, under the guise of 'doctoring' her is wrong.
It is the owners right to put her down if they choose.

And lest someone accuse me of being 'excited', no, I am not 'excited' over this. I was just raised to know right from wrong, and, my opinion was asked, on a public forum...

Actually in most places, there is NO obligation to return something that was delivered to your property without solicitation. The government can not burden an individual with morality. If a puppy shows up on your door step, your have no obligation to find the owner. If a bag of money is deposited into your bank account, you are not obligated to tell anyone. If a chicken is deposited in your field by a coyote or any other act of God, there is NO OBLIGATION to find the owner.

That being said, common sense would dictate that if your neighbor has chickens, the prudent thing to do would be to inquire to see if they were missing any.

 

[lilbirdee]

THANK YOU Spartacus_63! For goodness sakes people...I did try to find the owners. Turns out she isn't from the neighbors and I have tried the few other "way down the road farms". God only knows how far that Coyote hauled her! I even put a notice on Craigslist and at the local feed store. And I don't feel sinful at all for waiting until she was well enough to carry door to door looking for her owner. Bottom line is...I feel that I did what was right for her. I wasn't trying to steal her. I even have second thoughts about keeping her now that she is homeless. Was looking into a chicken rescue, but I'll probably just see if my hens will accept her and go from there.
Interesting side note...I thought that the coyote had pulled out all her feathers on her neck and chest...I now believe she's a Turkin!

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Dont worry about it! The bird was on your property and injured. You did the right thing. You know you did the right thing.. why care what some people think? I wouldnt...

 

[sourland]

What Redhen said X 2!

 

[GAchick]

Quote:
I believe the original question was posed as a 'moral' issue, not a 'legal' issue. And that being said.... let's see you spend that million dollars the bank accidentally credited to your account. I'm pretty sure that WHEN the bank takes you to court to recover the money, the judge will rule that as you normally carry a balance of 2000.00 dollars in your account, you knew when you saw a balance of 1,002,000.00, it was an obvious error, and the money was not yours to spend.