One of my 4 week old Welsummers is beginning quite different from the other girls - bigger, pinker comb, emerging red wattles, short stumpy tail feathers, odd bald spots on the wing joints ( where shoulder blades would be on a person) different feather patterns from the other Wellie. I think "Ethel" might be an "Ethan".
I called the feed store that I bought the chicks at and they advised waiting another couple of months (okay) and if it is indeed a Roo, they will take it back, where it would be destined to become someone's dinner. Gulp ... okay, cycle of life. Then she suggested that, if I didn't want to make the drive down to Half Moon Bay, that I simply pack him up in a box and go to one of the nearest Home Depot and give/sell him to one of the day workers. When I asked what would happen to the roo if the worker happened to find a job that day, she said, "no big deal, he'd be in a cardboard box, right?"
I don't mind one of my chicks eventually becoming someone's dinner, though I'd prefer he(?) go to a farm to live out his life lording it over a flock of hens. But shoving him(?) in a box and pawning him off on someone who would probably keep him cooped up in the box for the day, who may or may not provide water & food throughout that day , and do G_d knows what with him when he got home (bait for dog fighting, cock fighting ... all worse fates than being eaten)? Can't do that, and yet another reason I'll never shop at Half Moon Bay Farm & Fuel.
So, is it possible to re-home a roo in an ethical and humane way? Like I said, I don't mind an animal becoming dinner, as long as it's remaining time on the planet is in good conditions and it's demise is quick and humane. But I can't just hand off an animal without knowing that it will be treated well.
- Michelle
I called the feed store that I bought the chicks at and they advised waiting another couple of months (okay) and if it is indeed a Roo, they will take it back, where it would be destined to become someone's dinner. Gulp ... okay, cycle of life. Then she suggested that, if I didn't want to make the drive down to Half Moon Bay, that I simply pack him up in a box and go to one of the nearest Home Depot and give/sell him to one of the day workers. When I asked what would happen to the roo if the worker happened to find a job that day, she said, "no big deal, he'd be in a cardboard box, right?"
I don't mind one of my chicks eventually becoming someone's dinner, though I'd prefer he(?) go to a farm to live out his life lording it over a flock of hens. But shoving him(?) in a box and pawning him off on someone who would probably keep him cooped up in the box for the day, who may or may not provide water & food throughout that day , and do G_d knows what with him when he got home (bait for dog fighting, cock fighting ... all worse fates than being eaten)? Can't do that, and yet another reason I'll never shop at Half Moon Bay Farm & Fuel.
So, is it possible to re-home a roo in an ethical and humane way? Like I said, I don't mind an animal becoming dinner, as long as it's remaining time on the planet is in good conditions and it's demise is quick and humane. But I can't just hand off an animal without knowing that it will be treated well.
- Michelle
