NBC News Article "Backyard chickens dumped at shelters"

[Haunted55]

This is another case of people not being responsible. My husband always says our pets eat better than us and he's right... I would starve before I would let any of my animals suffer. I took that responsibility on when I got them and I take that seriously. That's the problem with our society, when we are tired of it we throw it away.

Xs 2!!! Mine are here for the long term as well no matter what happens.

 

[TXchickmum]

You have to remember that these "experts" are from rescues who don't advocate any type of animal keeping for human consumption. If you want to adopt something from Farm Sanctuary you practically have to be a sworn vegan.

...and therein lies precisely the point of view from which this article was written. It was the first thing that I noticed after reading it. The following statement from the article shed a bit of light on the perspective of the sanctuary owner:

"She (Coston) hopes the enthusiasm for raising backyard chickens will fade and that consumers will take a second look at their appetite for eggs and poultry."

Well, there it is....

 

[Fred's Hens]

...and therein lies precisely the point of view from which this article was written. It was the first thing that I noticed after reading it. The following statement from the article shed a bit of light on the perspective of the sanctuary owner:

"She (Coston) hopes the enthusiasm for raising backyard chickens will fade and that consumers will take a second look at their appetite for eggs and poultry."

Well, there it is....

Whooop! There it is.

 

[joan1708]

I was wondering when I would find postings about that article. As in previous posts, I agree that there are people who buy chickens without knowing the first thing about them and the chickens wind up dead or in a shelter. I also agree with previous posts regarding feed stores trying to sell chicks to everyone, with no regard for the chicken. And I've read posts on this site where the chicken owner would rather shoot all the loose neighborhood dogs than secure his/her yard and coop. I don't think that describes most of us chicken owners.

Many of us are gardeners and will use the manure long after the chickens stop laying. And they are backyard pets. Of course "the homesteader/farmer's" can butcher their hens when they stop laying. It's still a better life than a commercial chicken farm. I don't think having a few chickens around is any more predator attracting than an open wild bird feeder. No one talks about outlawing bird feeders.

I think coop tours are so helpful in showing the public that chickens don't have to be smelly or varmint magnets.

It was obvious that whoever wrote that article knew very little about chickens and has that "ewe/unclean" attitude about chickens. They probably scream when they see a gecko. I was also surprised the sanctuary people were so negative. It's so frustrating to me.

There is no getting around the fact, that chickens have needs and risks, just like every other creature. There was a recent outbreak of Salmonella that was traced back to feed stores and hatcheries. Last I read they were still working on it, but ~130 people became very ill especially children. But all in all, I'll bet more children are hurt or killed by dogs than chickens.

In the end, that article was a bunch of bull.

 

[RaZ]

“Many areas with legalized hen-keeping are experiencing more and more of these birds coming in when they’re no longer wanted,” said Paul Shapiro, spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States.

Now there is a group with an agenda.

 

[Happy Chooks]

The typically uninformed making statements that many people will take as fact since it came from a news source. I am sorry that people have become so urbanized. The chicken, pig, and cow fairy doesn’t show up at every store at night and fill all the food cases with meat from animals that volunteered to be food for our tables. I plan to raise chickens for meat as well as eggs. It is how you do this that makes the difference. People want to say that’s mean. Well going to the store to buy it doesn’t make the fact that someone somewhere killed the animal all nicely vacuum sealed it Styrofoam and plastic they a putting in their shopping cart.

Absolutely too far removed from their food source. We processed some of our spare roosters for this very reason. We felt if we ate meat, we should be willing to kill the animal to get it. It's not easy to take an animals life. Much easier to go to the store and not think about it. But when you do process your own meat, you have a whole new respect for the animal, and you certainly don't waste it.

 

[Homestead girl]

My husband and I have a small homestead. I have never done this as an adult. I grew up on a small farm. But I am smart enough to know to do my research and ask lots of questions about the animals I want to raise. We now have a chicken coop a 12 x 24 coop. I have 29 chickens . Is it work ? Yes, Do you have to care about your chickens ? YES.....You have to be dedicated to your animals.
You know we are Gods keepers of the animals , we are supposed to take care of all the animals on this earth.
I raise my chickens for eggs and for meat . I will be raising rabbits soon. Then next year we will be getting some goats. I want a farm not a petting zoo. These will be animals that will feed my husband and I. This is what you do when you have farm animals. Sorry if I offend those who don't eat their chickens. But they come from some farmer some where that kills them and sends them to your local grocery store for you to buy and eat.
We rescued a German Shepherd this past September , My daughter volunteers one day a week to help at her local Shelter. The number of dogs and cats that are put down everyday is crazy stupid. I have my view on people owning dogs and cats but that would be another whole page . So what I was getting at is the chickens aren't any different than the dogs and cats that are abandoned every day at the shelters across our great country of ignorant folks. The one's who follow the weekly trends like what breed do the movie stars own OH WELL LETS GO BUY ONE THEY GOT ONE . I WANT ONE. This sort of ignorance and stupidity is why we have animals in the shelter to begin with..
You don't buy a chicken ,rabbit , dog or cat just cause it is the trendy thing to do. But we have a nation full of folks that treat animals as if they were a paper plate that you just can throw away in the trash when they are finished with it
. Now we can add chickens to the list at our local shelters. Because we have a nation full of people that fit the bill of monkey see monkey do. Instead of thinking about the long term dedication that you must give to the animal when you buy it and bring it home. They live in a disposable world, animals are disposable to them not a long term dedication of work, love and caring.

 

[RareDuck]

Chickens properly cared for usually lay eggs for as long as they live. Years ago I bought 20 "spent" battery cage hens that would have gone to slaughter in less than a month. Most of them had stopped laying eggs and both times I went there was a pile of dead birds on the floor. All of the hens went back to laying eggs and grew new feathers. The few that were still laying when I got them had weak shelled eggs and after I had them awhile the eggshells got much stronger. All these birds needed was good food,clean water,shelter and the chance to be chickens running around scratching in the dirt catching insects,etc. The stress of being constantly crammed together and being picked on by dominant birds kills a lot of them. I had others that I raised from chicks who layed eggs as long as they lived also. I seriously doubt those nameless vets ever had chickens. My birds always layed eggs while moulting also.

 

[icbleu]

Chickens properly cared for usually lay eggs for as long as they live.

Very true. I grew up on an organic homestead in the early 70's. All our hens, especially the RIR's, layed for a solid 6-7 years, with many laying the odd egg here and there until they died of old age. Well, the nice ones anyway, we culled the mean ones early. With proper care chickens reproduce all their adult lives.

Which raises the question, if this rescue person is not seeing eggs from her older hens, perhaps she shouldn't be caring for them. :/

 

[3riverschick]

excerpt from original article in newspaper: "“To go back in time sounds wonderful,” she said. “But there is not enough land on this earth to sustain the amount of meat, dairy and milk that people want.”

And that just about sums up how I feel about the reality of that statement.
They weren't really serious when they printed that were they?