Okay sorry I didnt know what to post it under..

[PrairieFarmer]

List of "immoral" things my birds have done:

* My chickens sometimes eat their own eggs (whether I have offered them or not)
* My male ducks gang rape my female ducks
* My male ducks homosexually gang rape each other
* My goose gander was raping my female ducks (thank goodness he finally figured that one out).
* My male geese and ducks mate with their siblings and children
* My turkeys all starting picking one turkey and poked a hole in his head!
* My first set of goslings, at about 6 weeks old, decide to conspire in goosey genocide and pecked to death the second round of newly hatched goslings. All 8 of them.
And I'm sure they are sitting in their coop conspiring many more EVIL things to do right now (wah-ha-ha...).

Animals are not humans. Trying to put human "morals or ethic codes" or animals will only cause confusion for the animals and consternation for the humans.
If you decide not to feed chicken meat to chickens because it's "not moral" just remember it's not moral TO YOU. The chickens really don't give a darn.

 

[bethandjoeync]

Quote:

 

[nanawendy]

beathandjoeync... I appreciate what you said in post #28 ( I can't do the quote thingy) We all need to claim our beliefs and let others do the same w/o judgment.

 

[DuckLady]

Please either discuss civilly and address the OP in a helpful manner or just exit the thread without comment.

 

[Laigaie]

Thankyou, terrielacy! I've been amazed at how personally so many BYCers are taking the OP's personal opinion. The OP never said everyone else needs to stop this behavior. The OP said it wasn't for her! I get that a lot of folks here feel like they have the answer, and that their answer is the only correct answer, but a lot of times there isn't one singular correct answer. There are differing perspectives.

Personally, I'm not veg, but my girlfriend is. I respect her opinions in regards to the way we treat our chickens. They get mealworms and trout worms as treats, but their layer feed is vegetarian, as are the scraps they get. That's just the way we prefer to do it around here. Nobody said the chickens have a moral compass, but people do. For some folks, feeding chicken to chickens isn't something our moral compass can handle. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have chickens. What's more, not everyone feels like animals are here to serve humans, or were "put here" to provide food for humans. While humans are adapted to eat meat, and chickens were selectively bred to provide food, that doesn't make them "put here" for food. That means we made them the way they are in order to provide ourselves with food. For us at my house, that means eggs, not meat. For others here, chickens are pets, not food at all. Please respect the BYCers around you. Our diversity is what makes us strong.

 

[RainbowBirds_of_a_Feather]

Aloha,

Wow this is an interesting post! Everyone's thoughts, opinions, and "take" on this subject are so unique. I do not want to offend anyone so I will make that clear now so I do not cause a rift with anyone. In case I do my apologies, before hand.

Cannibalism in general no matter what the creature and or thing is does or has occurred.

Example:

If you google "Tribes, Practice, Cannibalism" there are tribes that have or did practice cannibalism. But it was a cultural thing on some kind of level. Plus I believe that they had it on some Discovery channel or something. Hypothetically speaking, if I was born in that kind of culture, where it was practiced, I would think it okay. However, I am not but I do not want to condone those who come from a culture that does, or has ancestry that did practice that. If I was to go to a country that had that type of culture and it was told to me by a guide I would be interested as to why they did it so i can better understand that culture. But would I ever partake in that act, no unless it is a dire situation. Like that plane crash where people ate the dead to survive until help came.

Now going to the chickens, cannibalism occurs too. It often occurs under tight confinement or other reasons. I know people have experienced that in their flock. I have read posts on it. It also has occurred on my flock and I had to figure out why they are doing that. Be it eggs, chicks just pecking each others pin feathers, or birds that bully others, etc... So it does occur. But there are solutions to that, which we have to figure it out the best solution.

Okay now back to the primary poster of this subject. I would like to say I think I see where you are going with this. If I am wrong i apologize before hand, if I offend you, I hope I do not. I love the fact that you are a vegetarian, I really think that is awesome! I also turned vegetarian for almost a year when I was in my early 20s. But I truned back to eating meat cause I couldn't keep up with that. But one thing I liked about it was because I lost weight and looked great, that was really nice!

My thought in my beginning poultry (husbandry) years, feeding chickens, chicken was a terrifying thought when I was younger. I couldn't fathom it. But I have seen people feed their chickens their own kind. It was at first repulsing and I kind of shunned at it. But then I had something happen when i was eating a chicken sandwich outside while the flock was out.

First, i was taking pieces of bread from my sandwich and throwing it to the chooks. As I was finishing it my cat "Ro-do-nam" came by and wanted some so I tossed chicken for him. Well that was a big mistake because the chooks literally stole it right form him. I was OMG! I tried to get it away from my chook but it was gone, she gobbled it up. God I was so scared that something bad would happen to my hen. I was a nervous wreck and would check on her to see if there was any negative affects. But nothing, she was fine. I also feed my chooks slop and they eat it. It contains a lot of things that others would feel is inappropriate for them. But it comes when we do have slop and food is food for them chooks so I am alright with it.

I really admire and respect you for your opinion.

I do not condone you for that either cause that is your own belief and that is your right to express yourself. I wouldn't doubt that there are others that feel the same way you do. I am glad that you were not afraid to speak your mind. I do not think you were meaning any harm or disrespect. If you do not want to feed your chickens, chicken, that is up to you. You are still awesome in my book, an individual among individuals. But please do not condone me because my chickens do eat their own kind but not on a daily basis. Only when I have slop is when they do. Again, if I have offended anyone that is not my intention.

 

[Tala]

mother o' chicks72 :

Okay this may just be me as a vegetarian, but it seems very wrong to feed chickens chicken. It's cannibalism. And I also heard that feeding them meat (other then bugs) is bad for them, so dont do it. Please just the thought repulses me.

You are entitled to your opinion and you feed your chickens however you please. I don't judge.
But don't tell me "don't do it" just because the thought of it repulses you.

I'm HOW many miles away from you?? Just forget that me and my birds exist if you must, because I'm sure both of us do things that would bother you. It works for us, so why should I change what I'm doing just to make you happy??? Nope, sorry. Can't think of a single reason.​

 

[LadyinRed]

Oh dear! If chickens eating chickens isn't right morally then someone really needs to let the king snakes know! The primary diet of a king snake is other snakes and lizards!!!

On a more serious note.. I give my chickens any leftovers in the fridge. Chicken, beef, veggies, venison. If its there they get it. I figure that if THEY feel bad morally then they don't have to eat it. They aren't mindless, they don't eat everything. I've gone back out later plenty of times and they have rejected pasta so if they feel bad about eating other birds then they CAN refuse to eat that too!

I can understand people not wanting their chickens to eat chicken. And even the vegetarian diets. But I don't understand throwing away perfectly good food when you have the perfect disposal service ready to turn all leftovers into nice eggs!

The thought of my girls getting to eat whatever I ate doesn't repulse me and I find I have some very happy hens that ALWAYS Greet me at the gate to be the first to get 'treats' as long as the treat isn't noodles.

 

[mother o' chicks72]

I apologize for my first post, i did not word it correctly. I didnt mean to be forcing anybody to do anything, I was just stunned by the fact that people openly accept and encourage cannibalism, and i impulsively posted. I am sorry.

I feel bad about it, what I meant to say was more like "Does anyone else agree that feeding chickens chicken is wrong?" And now that I see that no one here agrees with me, I feel horrible for even raising the subject. I basically just wanted to say that it seems odd to me that people would choose to feed their animals that way, when they could choose a more moral path. I dont have anything against eating meat, the thing I hate is when people disrespect animals or vegetarians, because I try not to disrespect meat-eaters. It's almost like religion in a sense; I wouldn't yell at anyone for being christian even though I dont agree with them. I apologize once again, and I hope to choose my words more carefully in the future. And some of you should re-read your posts, most of you sounded perfectly kind and cautious of others feelings, but a few of you were a bit rude.
Thank You.

 

[annaraven]

Quote: