Yesterday I received a friend of mine's chickens. A pair of hawks had taken up residence at her house and was perched outside her coop,just waiting to snatch one up if she ever let them out. They had gotten several before she realized what was happening,and rather than take the chance,I offered to take them and foster them with the understanding that she could have them back whenever she asked(she was heartbroken and crying when she gave them to me,poor thing). That's not what aggravated me. What did is this woman knew nothing of chickens when she they were given to her almost a year ago and since she knew I had chickens,we talked about hers. She told me they were red silkies and were so pretty and small and asked me some questions about the care of silkies. Now,I am not a silkie expert,but some of you are and I passed on some information I had read about the breed. Imagine my surprise this Summer when a chick, hatched from some of her eggs, looked nothing like a silkie! I told her this,but she said all she had were silkies and I dropped the subject,confused and scratching my head. Well, I found out last night why my chick did not resemble a silkie. She has bantams,not silkies!! It makes no difference to me,but I am aggravated that she was told that they were silkies. The person she got them from raised them. They had to know what breed the chickens were. My friend would not have known that there was even a silkie breed, had she not been told. I downplayed it,just told her what they really were and brought them home. They are cute little birds and she loves them.
We all have lots of areas in life that we know nothing about. But, to pass off information like we do know always frustrates me. Why can't people just say "I don't know." Or, worse yet, what if the person that is breeding these bantams and calling them Silkies was told that by someone else so they thought they did know. Now they are passing on incorrect info to who knows how many other people (including your friend)! Someone up the line is giving bad info either out of ignorance (misinformation) or to be mean. At least you were able to correctly and nicely reeducate your friend. I'm glad you are able to give them a safe home... I hope your friend can get them back someday when it's safer.
Yeah, people can be ignorant. Back when I was looking for a Haflinger (breed of horse), I saw one adverised here in Nebraska. It turned out to be Belgian cross. I called the guy to ask if the horse was registered and about it's history. The dingbat said, "Why, they can't be registered. Everybody know they aren't purebred horses. They're half Belgian and half Quarter Horse!" I very quickly let him know that Haflingers were an actual breed from Austia, and they were not half Belgian. I'm just glad I didn't ake a 5 hour drive to see it.
I can't stand people that don't ask questions and then proclaim that they know everything...these are the same people that think bantams are a breed.
