How I Got Unfriended

[Ibicella]

What is it with people arguing with farmers?! It's like, "Uhhhh, I actually do this? You don't?"

Nope, I don't know nothing 'bout no chicken keepin'. Don't mind the velociraptors around my feet.

 

[MeepBeep]

Sounds like they were not a true friend or someone that needs not to be your friend...

It never ceases to amaze (and sadden) me as to how sanitized our society as a whole has become to farming practices...

 

[Sylviaanne]

Probably what bothered me most about this kind of petition is the lack of knowledge people have of the "real world" of agriculture. This is the same kind of thing that happens when people move into a farming area and then complain about the animals making noise, late night planting/harvesting and the smell. Or that male chicks and calves have to be euthanized or used as veal. They see something, immediately find it wrong and attempt to stop it without know the story behind it. We're becoming a people that are so removed from our farming roots that we no longer understand the how and why things have to be done. Farming is a messy business but most that practice it love their animals and aren't cruel, but they do have to be practical.

You know, it's not just farming. There are other things going on out there where people butt in thinking they are doing it for the right reasons. For instance: there ARE people out there being exceedingly cruel to animals but the do-gooders go overboard. Child services has people calling in over things that are not what they seem to be. I think in a lot of cases, elderly, children, domestic violence, pets that given some counseling things would improve greatly but in most cases, there is not enough money for counseling services.

This is my soapbox but I'm not good at it. LOL

 

[speckledhen]

Apparently there is some website called, I believe, "Change" where busybodies with nothing else to do can post petitions for members to sign to get changes made, Seems some woman went into the PO and heard a shipment of chicks from My Pet Chicken peeping. Since the package carried a warning that said not to open in presence of children and since the birds were "crying for their mother" this woman was convinced the poor neglected chicks were on the verge of dehydration and starvation. Consequently she started a petition to have this cruel practice stopped. At the point that one of my Facebook friends posted the petition she already had over 2000 bleeding hearts sign the petition.

I went into a nature lesson for this friend, explaining how once chicks hatch they have the ability to go without eating and drinking while waiting for the rest of the clutch to hatch. I mentioned that the reason for the peeping was not that they were calling for their mama but that they were probably not at an ideal temperature but, except for idiot USPS employee placing a shipment in areas of extreme heat or cold, the shipper had been doing this long enough to know how to package the chicks so they would not suffer from temperature problems. I also pointed out that some chicks, whether brooder hatched and shipped or hatch under a brooding hen, are fragile and could die during the first couple of weeks of life. Since these chicks were probably being shipped to a family for pets, this was what prompted the warning on the box. I pointed out to her that in the last 20 years or so I had received at least 15 shipments of newly hatched birds(over 500 chicks, including 32 this year) and never found one dead in the box. Finally I suggested she do some research before blindly forwarding petitions.

I haven't heard from this "friend" since.

Haha, my friend, every time I see this type stuff, I think of Jack Nicholson in that military trial movie yelling, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

Here's a story for you about someone not handling the truth. My own best friend was almost removed from a FB swap group for telling a woman the truth about her very sick birds. She was vindicated, of course, after the entire conversation was analyzed. There was an argument when another member joined into an exchange between my friend and another member who was seeking advice for very ill birds.

The woman with the sick flock wasn't angry at all and took the advice to heart, took the proper course of action, but the other man in the group was furious and when called on his carrier flock -he said the woman should not cull her birds, that my friend was evil to suggest that, to treat them with Benadryl or some such nonsense, that's what he does when his are sick so, by saying that, he outed his carrier birds, shot himself in the foot, as it were. It was a long heated conversation, more than I can even recall to tell you. Remember, this is a swap group, so they buy and sell chickens through this group and he put himself in quite a position by admitting he had to repeatedly treat his flock.

This is the crazy part: If you can believe someone would stoop so low over a chicken conversation, he had a friend of his contact my friend's husband via FB messenger and tell him that his wife, my friend, was using poultry swaps as an excuse to have affairs and go to motel rooms with men instead! Needless to say, the head of the swap group got the full conversation handed to him and the troublemaker has been banned from the FB group, from the swaps and his name is being spread amongst the area swap organizers. What goes around, comes around, doesn't it?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good reason not to lead a FB group.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I run a livestock page in that part of the country an may need that mans name...

I have not had any issues like that but I am strict about who I let join.

 

[speckledhen]

I run a livestock page in that part of the country an may need that mans name...

I have not had any issues like that but I am strict about who I let join.

This was in Kentucky, but what a mean, vindictive, over-the-top reaction to a chicken conversation!

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

What is it with people arguing with farmers?! It's like, "Uhhhh, I actually do this? You don't?"

Nope, I don't know nothing 'bout no chicken keepin'. Don't mind the velociraptors around my feet.

 

[rancher hicks]

My take on all this, Unfriending thing? If you disagree with someone you're toast. I personally no longer think of fellow forum members or FB members as my "Friends". We throw that moniker about far too freely. Here's why.

To BE a friend is to forgive. If you choose to be someones friend then you need to be prepared to forgive.

My pastor says "when you point your finger remember you've got three more coming back at you". He also says, "If you've come here looking for dirt you'll find it".

I've gotten in trouble here for my favorite saying "When you find the perfect church it won't be after you get there". You see none of us is perfect. Someone once said "the church is a hospital for sinners".

Yes I'll mention God, religion, faith.

How many times have I stood at a funeral and listened as folks "repeat after me"- the pastor/priest/minister. "And Forgive us our trespasses as WE forgive those who trespass against us." Do folks really consider what they're asking God to do? There is plenty in the bible about forgiving others and you can pm me if you'd like more examples.

I am not one to hold grudges. I may tick you off and you may tick me off. Such is life. Our opinions may differ but I am still your friend. I can only tell you I'm your friend, I can't be sure if you're mine.

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" - Prov. 17:17 ( to clarify, a brother is born so when you're in adversity he will be there. We know to live is to experience adversity or trouble.)

Finally think before you assume someone is your friend, even more so before you take on the responsibility to be someones' friend.

So Woody, chin up, I'm here for you.

Your friend,

Rancher Hicks

( You know those labels you get in the mail for a donation, that you didn't ask for? I got some for "Mr. Rancher Hicks" )

 

[woodmort]

Lest you think this bothered me, it doesn't. What bothers me more is the fact that we're getting to the point where, when someone errs they can't take being "confused with facts", rather than research things for themselves, they shoot the messenger. What bothers me about the Internet is there is some much "stuff" out there that is plainly wrong, distorted or just created to make a point that we no longer seem to be able to distinguish the truth. However, the Internet is also a good tool for digging up the truth but most people won't use it. If someone does and the results aren't what is expected then it is discounted. I see now that Snopes is being discounted whenever what is written there isn't in agreement with some people's idea of the truth. So if I am unfriended because I point out the error in someone's thinking I am sad, especially when I thought the person unfriending me was reasonably intelligent.