Is it morally right to breed more chickens????

[klnlehmann]

We bought pullets for the last few years. After researching what happens to those poor boys.... I couldn't bring myself to support that anymore.. My boys (we hatched 7 this year, 4 boys) well, one went to a good farm to be the rooster and the others will go in the freezer. about 20 good weeks of free range scratching. Happy boys.

Also, we have rescued befor the hens never live more than a year. not saying there arn't exceptions. My girls are on their 3rd summer with me and still lay an egg a day!Happy girls!

 

[Heathercp]

PineappleMama, as my son is these days wont to say, Word!

(iow, I couldn't agree more.)

 

[gmendoza]

We breed and hatch chicks here.Dont let it bother you.You do what YOU want to.

Dont sweat the petty stuff,just dont pet the sweaty stuff.

 

[AinaWGSD]

According to Petfinder, there are 131 chickens available for adoption on their websight right now. Considering that there are plenty of people not commercially farming chickens who's flocks are larger than that, I would hardly say that "there were so many chickens needing homes" I have seen chickens listed at my local humane society exactly once. Compared to the dozens of listing for other small pets such as parakeets, iguanas, hamsters, rats and mice and the hundreds or thousands of listings for rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, and dogs. Considering that chickens are a food animal, I don't really see a moral dilemma to breeding more chickens in the same sense that that argument could be made for dogs and cats (and for the record, I also don't think that *responsibly* breeding dogs and cats is a moral or ethical problem either, although I do think that the majority of dogs and cats should be neutered as they are not breeding quality). It's not like we have flocks of feral chickens causing problems in the cities and towns in this country (or any country that I am aware of).

 

[SallyF]

oesdog, that is the strangest advice I have heard yet. I assure you, many of us breed and raise chicks and do not feel the slightest twinge of guilt. You apparently got hold of the champion "tree-hugger" of the chicken world. I have yet to find large flocks of chicks waiting to be rescued from cruel and abusive homes, nor do I see them wandering the roadsides, having been abandoned! You are NOT, I repeat NOT, irresponsible. Yes, either rehoming or eating your extra roos is a perfectly accepted practice. You are not Cruella. Carry on, and be happy! Enjoy your chicks, and continue loving the experience, as you obviously do.

 

[LadyBeartoothMamma]

Quote:

I agree

PineappleMama you are a WiseMama !! Well said

Exactley see you have so many people on here that agree with you. its okay to breed your own. I have seven hens right now. the five are still little but soon they wont be. I have three Dark Cornish Bantams two are Roos and one is a Hen Peanut. And then I have one Hen a Australorp and she will be laying soon too. My daughter named them all. Cotton, praline, Peanut, Peachy. Dark Brownie, Lighty, Sam, Ash, Lucky. Yes they arent pets but they are in a way, I have the hens for eggs. But I dont think I could eat them because I have gotten so fond of them. You do when you're the one whos taking care of them all the time. Letting them out of their home. Letting them free range protecting them from hawks, the little ones changing their water and food, and bedding.

I might some day breed the others but not right now. I have the Bantams for my daughter, She is in 4H right not but is still too little to show them but when she gets about 8 then yeah she will be able to show Peanut(hen) and Cotton(rooster).. I think its okay to breed them. Youre not hurting anyone. Nor are you overbreeding them either. I can wait for my Aussies to be moms. Dont worry what other people have to say espicalley something like that. It usually means their life sucks and they have nothing better to do than to make people feel bad. Their just a bully. I say do what feels right to you.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

I'm big on animal rights and not breeding more dogs, cats, or horses (because so many are in need right now), but I'd draw the line at poultry. I disagree with hatcheries and don't buy from them and rarely see hens available locally in the breeds I want, so if I don't hatch my own I can't really add to my flock! Plus, I am always able to easily find homes for any extra birds I can't keep (yes, even the cockerels). If for some reason I can't find homes for excess birds, honestly it's not that much trouble for me to keep a few more. I breed responsibly, don't breed considerably more birds than I would want, and all of my chicks either go to good new homes or stay with me for the rest of their lives.

I'm very involved in animal rescue and have only rarely come across chickens that needed to be rescued. Usually chickens find homes very easily.

So, no, I don't think we should stop breeding chickens. In fact, I encourage all of us hobbyists and backyard chicken keepers to continue breeding our birds, and hopefully eventually the factory farms will have to downsize and breed less of their poor birds as a result.

And yes, if there ever got to a point where there were tons of chickens urgently needing homes and rescues were overflowing with birds, then at that point I would stop breeding my birds.

 

[FourPawz]

Quote:
It isn't wrong to breed your own chickens. Breeding any species needs to be done after some study so you know how to begin with good stock, and how to raise that species successfully. In this day and age we get bombarded with the message that breeding "fill in the blanks" is wrong, that there are not enough homes, etc., etc. and there is always someone around the next corner to make sure you know how "wrong" they think it is.

Breeding Silkies, for example, or Persian cats, or Saluki dogs is a personal choice. It doesn't make you evil, certainly. It makes you a person with a free will and a love for a specific type or breed of domestic animal, which may have existed in its present form for well over a thousand years.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
That's exactly the right answer!

I think I would have told her to go ahead and bring em to my house for dinner.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

Echoing some others here, chickens are in a different class than dogs, cats, horses and some other pets. It is totally acceptable to turn chickens into someone's or something's dinner. So thereis no reason to have an abundance of unhomed chickens, unless the folks are unreasonable in that they require 'forever' homes. I'd think that most of us would not qualify to adopt unwanted chickens under those requirements. While some do keep them as pets, the vast majority are kept for their ability to provide eggs and meat.

"Rescuing" battery hens is fine ... I used to buy those layers from the farmers years ago, let them lay eggs for me all summer and then turn them into chicken soup (didn't want to winter over chickens at the time).