How about you just leaving your chickens alone?

[limited25]

If that is the only issue, then why hijack this thread? Why not just start a new thread with that topic?

 

[centrarchid]

It seems to me that a lot of people here every day are chasing their chickens around, trying to diagnose one thing or another. Some folks are trying to feed them this and that hoping for some kind of result.
They worry about each feather and they way the bird walks or acts.
They are all worried about their poop and runny little noses.

There's death in numbers. Sometimes chickens up and die for any number of reasons, or even for no apparent reason at all . Bury them, throw them away, and quit fretting about it, it happens.

Most of you aren't aviary vets, and most folks here aren't either.

I leave my birds free to be birds. I don't chase them around trying to pick each one up for inspection all the time. I feed them, water them, and am grateful for every egg they give me. If they're off by a few one day, they'll make it up in a day or two, or maybe a few. I don't run to adjust their diet, or try to find a medicine to cure something they don't have.
Birds aren't perfect. You get the sniffles, I get the sniffles, they also get the sniffles. No reason to run to the vet and spend your hard earned cash. Leave them alone.

Throw them a treat every now and then, or make them a toy. They'll keep busy being chickens, and doing what chickens do. They don't need a darned Mariachi band to keep them entertained. And they certainly don't need to be handled every day. Do you want to be handled and inspected every day? I'll bet you might quit producing eggs too.

Birds are just like you and me. They naturally want to be well, and will be most times if left alone, unless the whole flock is afflicted with something.

They're food. Not pets. They produce food, and they are food. The sooner this is realized, the less neurotic you will be about your chickens.

Don't be neurotic, and on behalf of the birds, just leave them alone.

I did nothing to hijack. I did present an alternative view that I think is less biased.

You old-timers (not really targeting OP on this) need to suck it up and be more tolerant of the neurotic poultry keepers. They do need help, not pointing out of ignorance.

 

[MeepBeep]

I believe nature dictates that predators don't eat other predators, they only kill them, unless they are starving.

There are plenty of natural predators that eat other predators if opportunity arises... Even your common K-9 will eat other predators (even their own kind) if it's meal time and that is what is available...

One also has to be careful of what they define as predator and prey... A chicken might very well be prey to many things, but it's also a predator to smaller prey like mice, and insects...

 

[chickmomma03]

This whole thread has gotten a little out of hand. Everyone has a different opinion on animals and how they should be cared for. Some view them as more than just animals. I have a healthy respect for animals, I love animals. My dog is treated well, my chickens are treated well, even my ducklings are treated well, my fish are treated well, and my gecko is treated well. BUT, I have had to learn limits in knowing where I should and shouldn't intervene. Just like anyone else. We need to just agree to disagree on who treats what animal what way (within reason).

 

[limited25]

I like all animals. I like some of them on a plate. I am a predator. I happen to eat predators. I consider bobcat one of the best tasting meats there is. Very similar to veal. I have heard that mountain lion is also good, to those who wish to eat it. As someone well versed in biology, I know of no natural law that this violates. Predators eat other predators all the time.

The point is, that it isn't for anyone to decide how someone else makes a pet of, or conversely, consumes their animals. To do so is to succumb to the powers of madness displayed by those who would have none of us keep a pet or eat an animal of any kind.

There is a bobcat that sometimes comes to our sons house and kills (and eats) his cats. What is the best way to trap it? He lives in the suburbs.

 

[newhamplover]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/22/health/living-near-nature-linked-to-longer-lives/index.html

I read this interesting article on CNN. This was my point with mother nature. I believe it effects all animals lives. All livestock see vegetation as food & life, which it is. In chickens the green attracts all manner of insects & bugs which is also food. The more abundance of food, the less stressed. Shrubs & bushes offer protection. As I take my now 3 week old chicks for their daily outing they just love it. They go straight for the honeysuckle, they are hid. Then they come out & run, play, flap their wings & they have found a few worms too. At the rate they are growing it won't be too many weeks until they can do that full time. They have a big run set up on the back porch with a dirt bath in it. I bring them clover from the yard about 5 times a day & they go for it like a swarm of bees.