Im sick of people shoving this away it NEEDS to be noted!!!!

[Q9]

I wouldn't say chickens have emotions, it's just their responses to the surrounding situation - fighting over dominance, fighting over food, etc. - for survival reasons. However, I do agree that the battery farming is disgusting. I'm probably the last person you'd expect to say that, as I'm a total free-market, pro-industry guy, but I can't stand two things:

#1: It really is awful treatment of the chickens. No sunlight, just poo, other hens, and hormone injections.

#2: It's just disgusting - thousands of hens, chemical injections, no sun, no grass, no anything. It's plain unhealthy.

 

[Eliza]

Quote:
Emotion is not "foreknowledge", I never stated that animals plan their day. They live in the now and in some cases their behavior is goveroned by increases or decreases in light (such as in preparing for hibranation). The responses of fear, depression, anger, joy, excitement are a range of emotions capable of animals. Who hasn't witnessed evidence of this in our own farms, or in the wild. Elephants, whales, greater apes, various parrots all have exhibited the capablity of learned behaviors that are outside of their "normal" experiences. I also stated that animals are free from the burden of understanding good and evil - that gift belongs to us. Is man dominent over the world in which he has been given? Yes, but that does not mean that we are the only expression of creation that can be endowed with feelings.

 

[Beekissed]

I find it odd that so many of you are enraged by that post. I am the last person to condone CAFO practices~I find it a needlessly cruel and greedy way to produce large amounts of meat.

It is because I can feel a greater spectrum of emotions than a chicken that I can care for my chickens with more diligence and practicality. The fact that I recognize what allows my chickens to live a less stressful life is what assures me that I am on the right path when I exercise "dominion" over the animals entrusted to me.

Because I can imagine what would bring "joy" to a chicken is why I free range and don't mind that they turn my yard into their own private playground. That I use rounded roosts instead of square because the rounded roosts are more tree-like and chicken feet clasp that shape when their knees are bent~I want them to be "content" when they roost and more comfortable.

It is because I want them not to suffer for my sake that I would kill one that was in great, unrelieved pain or having a terrible time breathing or maimed horribly in some way. That I can put my "humanness" upon this chicken and imagine how I would feel if I were that creature is what assures me that I do not view my chickens with the arrogance you claim I possess.

The reason I provide cool, clean water, good foods, a secure coop, safe free range and all that things that make a chicken "content", is so that my chickens won't have to feel any discomfort in their daily living. So they will be what I would refer to as "happy" being a chicken.

It is not that I think of my chickens as so less human that they are beneath consideration that I say they do not have human characteristic emotions....I say this because it is true in my world. I have witnessed my chickens drinking the blood of their flockmates and not showing any sign of distress or fear as I kill their buddies. Which is as it should be....God has not given them the capacity to know good and evil, worry or sadness. Do I think less of them because they lack this higher function? No. I just recognize it as fact.

I treat my chickens with compassion and consideration and provide a safe and healthy environment. I don't let anyone or anything unduly stress them and I provide for their comfort in all ways. If that makes me an arrogant, unfeeling human in everyone's eyes, so be it. I am exactly that.

 

[newfoundland]

Whether or not chickens have emotions is a contentious issue as we see from these posts. Surely we all agree however that some practices on some intensive farms are an obscenity and as such must not be tolerated. Chickengal505 is right to draw people's attention to this and she is right to be outraged by some people's lack of interest. Being idealistic when we are young is a good thing. The world would never move on without the idealists among us. It may not be popular but that doesn't make it wrong. Bless you my dear!

 

[chooniecat]

If you are a kind person you will not buy your meat/eggs from a grocery unless you are assured the food animals were treated well. The producers won't get it unless you hit their pocketbooks. PERIOD.Thus I have not purchased store bought meat for several years. I won't eat it at family get togethers and I preach of my happy chickens when someone in the family wants free eggs.

 

[equine623]

Quote:
Many people struggle daily to be able to feed their children, their families or themselves. Often through no fault of their own. So you make that kind of a close minded statement and consider yourself to be a kind person?

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
Many people struggle daily to be able to feed their children, their families or themselves. Often through no fault of their own. So you make that kind of a close minded statement and consider yourself to be a kind person?

I agree that "kind" word is a bit broad sweeping...

......However....

I think that is a little bit unfair...(IF we call buying local from small producers as "good treatment" and CAFO's as "bad treatment".)..

We all make choices and have our own priorities. Yes sometimes it takes effort and a passion to pay less or the same amount for local wholesome foods... We are currently not "well to do"

....
I find buying local and in season saves money... (Not talking about shopping as some high end city slicker type store.. But local at the source for what we do not raise our self.. ) I am rural so maybe that is the difference...

I just get concerned that cheap massed produced foods is the "excuse" of the industrial agribusiness, with their processed foods and fast foods...Sure the cheapest food is to go to Mcdonalds for a meal.

IMO in times not to long ago people spent more time gathering food... That may have a different meaning today but still applies IMO..

I am just trying to say you can be on a tight budget and know where your food comes from..


ON

PS...Beekissed... I loved your last post...

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks, ON!

 

[sewchick]

We are poor and cannot afford home grown chickens. I keep the ones I have for egg selling. Chicken down at the supermarket is .49 a pound. Now if someone wanted to sell me the same grade chicken for the same price or less I would buy from them. I think it might be good for some people but for me I will always go the less money route. I don't think chickens get treated very good in those big farms but I also do not think the average person could produce enough meat for everyone at a reasonable price. What would be the solution? Stop buying meat all together? That would not work. I think the Government should make tougher guidelines for these places. Maybe.

I am sometimes not so kind to the ugly roos. I have picked him up side down by his claws so he would not attack me. It that abuse? What defines abuse? A small cage? I think before we address that maybe we should address the dog and cat problem. They live in cages at the shelters. Some of the cages have 3 or 4 cats in them. I think it is all the way you look at things. How long does a meat chicken live? Layer hens would only be good for a couple of years. Right? I don't know much about egg farms. We used to have Decosta until they made him leave. Big egg farm. He did not treat humans very good. I think he was part of the salmonella thing a while back. It would not surprise me if he was. His egg factory was filthy.

 

[Beekissed]

Stop buying meat all together?

I did. We rarely ever eat meat, but when we do, it is our own. It may be cheaper but eating healthy is never a poor investment. It just takes a little longer to see return on the profit.

We also stopped buying dairy or eggs. Not really because of the animal abuse issue but more for the horrible quality of these products and how much potential harm can come from consuming them.​