How about you just leaving your chickens alone?

[BBQJOE]

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.

 

[aart]

Hear, Hear!!

.......and ROFLMAO @Ridgerunner 's ovation comment!!!

 

[newhamplover]

I agree with you, except for the pets part. My Grandpa had a magical way with kids & animals, they adored him. In my lifetime with animals, 38 years competing in horses, a few years showing dogs, cattle, I always have & will subscribe to my Grandpa's teaching. On all animals he always said the closer you keep them to mother nature the better off they will be. He said it is fine to use them for the purposes they are bred for but never abuse or overstep that right. Always respect them. They have to be horses, dogs, chickens, first.....as nature intended. My Grandpa was always as concerned with the mental health of an animal as much as the physical because the two go hand & hand. Of course when you are competing with horses there was always that fine line to not cross. I would always stop to think....it has to be a horse first. Over the years I have seen horses that were sound of mind under one owner, go to another, & in a matter of months be a neurotic mess. My whole life my Grandpa had chickens & ducks & like everything else he had they were happy, healthy, free roaming, normal chickens. I thank my Grandpa so much for the love of animals that he instilled in me & all of the love & happiness the animals have given back.

 

[gatrapper]

Well said BBQJoe!

 

[Scooter&Suzie]

Sure, I'm not vet but I've healed deep flesh wounds all the way down to the muscle, cared for chickens with missing toes, and mended torn combs. I've heard of others doing as much as healing broken bones and fixing slipped achilles tendons. Thing is, it seems most vets don't take in chickens, so we have to be our own vets. Some do, and if your chicken is very precious to you, I see no shame in going to get help with a broken bone or anything else too tricky to take care of on your own.


According to the Oxford dictionary, a pet is "A domestic or tamed animal kept for companionship or pleasure." Many people have tamed their chickens; I once had a rooster that would follow me around the yard. It just takes some love and affection. And these birds definitely give a lot of us pleasure. Who doesn't love watching chicken antics?

A lot of people on here want advice for their livestock, which is an absolutely great thing. I love local farms and buy as much of my produce there as possible. But then there are a lot of us who are on here because we adore our pets and love talking about them to others and want help from others when we notice our birds' eyes aren't clear and alert, their droppings are an abnormal color, or when what we thought was a perfectly healthy bird drops dead, out of concern it may affect the rest of the flock.

 

[newhamplover]

I agree with you also. Over the years I would not even want to know what my total would be on vet bills. What I think BBQJoe was referring to, or how I read it, was let them be chickens. Stress is the biggest determent to animals, all animals. When you take them from how mother nature intended them to live ....you are stressing them. Mother nature did not intend horses to live in stalls, dogs to live in crates, anything to be in unnatural living conditions. The young especially have to have plenty of feed & exercise. They have to develop & learn. I never had a horse learn or condition anything, except bad habits, from being in a stall. I never had a dog learn anything from being in a crate, etc. If they are not fed at the same times everyday...it stresses them. The point I thought BBQJoe was making & that I whole heartily agree with is to put the least amount of human stress on any animal as possible & you will have the happiest, healthiest animals.

 

[limited25]

LOL ... Well said Joe!

 

[donrae]

Hear, Hear!!

.......and ROFLMAO @Ridgerunner 's ovation comment!!!

I agree....you feeling alright, Joe?

 

[BBQJOE]

I agree....you feeling alright, Joe?

Actually no.
It appears many here have understood what I was saying.

Even rotten things happen to me.
I ran over one of my Jack Russell's in the driveway a couple of days ago. Massive grieving at fort Joe.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sorry to heart that Joe. I did that to a really good cat once, still feel bad about that.