Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ribh]

What about those of us who love them and want to give them better lives? One of my favorite birds ever was a red sexlink. I gave her a good life for the few years I had her after rescuing her. Penalizing owners? Idk.

The way they have been bred is bad for the birds. They may be lovely but their breeding means short lives & nasty ends usually. If they were not popular their breeding would stop & healthier breeds could replace them. My 1st birds were rescued ISA Browns. They were gorgeous ~ but never again. I don't think they should be bred ~ but that's me. Obviously the majority disagrees with that idea and while that continues to be the case backyard owners who get them partly as pets will continue to be devestated when the 18 month/2yr mark comes round & the health issues begin. I lost my complete flock within a 2month period over the summer. They were a bit past 2 years old & past their use by date. I happen to think there's something wrong with breeding a bird to die so young. I think the same about Cornish Xs ~ all about human convienience. You don't have to agree with me lots don't ~ but that's how I think about it.

 

[Aunt Angus]

The way they have been bred is bad for the birds. They may be lovely but their breeding means short lives & nasty ends usually. If they were not popular their breeding would stop & healthier breeds could replace them. My 1st birds were rescued ISA Browns. They were gorgeous ~ but never again. I don't think they should be bred ~ but that's me. Obviously the majority disagrees with that idea and while that continues to be the case backyard owners who get them partly as pets will continue to be devestated when the 18 month/2yr mark comes round & the health issues begin. I lost my complete flock within a 2month period over the summer. They were a bit past 2 years old & past their use by date. I happen to think there's something wrong with breeding a bird to die so young. I think the same about Cornish Xs ~ all about human convienience. You don't have to agree with me lots don't ~ but that's how I think about it.

I agree. But punishing owners seems drastic. I own a handful. Commercial operations, yes. Pet owners, not sure why you'd start there.

 

[Perris]

An incentive to hatching your own is that you're not introducing viruses or bacteria that you're not already coping with. For me, that holds some appeal.

that's why I import new genes via hatching eggs not live birds. Also means no integration worries.

im not sure what it was about

hot and bothered I'd imagine, given the weather here atm.

 

[ManueB]

I felt the same when I saw farmed horse meat in some parts of Europe.

Horses have been eaten a lot in France until WW2 though now most people won't eat them. I love horses and would never have eaten horse meat, but it was probably what saved a number of draft breeds which would have disappeared when farm work became industrialized.

I hate the decision. Not the person.

It's a wise attitude and one I wish I could maintain. Most of the times when people make conscious decisions they have thought about, there is something to be gained by trying to understand why they have a different point of view than yours. However it does make me see red when people who have opposite opinions from mine are so certain being right that they will laugh or attack anyone who sees different. My step family has that kind of attitude toward vegans and I've already mentioned that my stepfather believe people voting green should be left naked and wounded and attached to a tree for the wolves to eat them .

I'd like to be completely on board with @TheFatBlueCat and come to terms with respectfully consuming and honouring home hatched cockerels, but the lessons we learn as children are the deepest and I spent a LONG time arguing for a pet when I was a kid, which was disallowed until I was a young adult earning my own money. That experience led me to place a very high value on the pets I keep - they're not taken for granted.

Nope. I don't eat my friends. I understand those who can but I'm way too squeamish.

I could have written that. It would make complete sense for us to eat excess cockerels and have a small number of livestock like people used to here- raise a pig a year, have two cows..but I don't have it in me to eat the animals I've lived with. I've never eaten much meat, I was vegetarian as a teen, and I also longed for years to have a pet which I never did before getting married. We now only eat meat when we are invited and cooked for, and when we are given bits of game from the hunters or live rabbits. We don't even have to do our own processing as my step-mother's husband used to work in a slaughterhouse and also went around people's house butchering their livestock, and he does everything for us. So I guess I'm being squeamish. I do wish eating meat wasn't taken for granted by so many though.
I think I sort of agree though with Shadrach that in a way I could take better care of animals if I didn't see them as pets. Pets are artificial construction made up by humans and I think if one has more emotional distance one may sometimes make more rational decisions about what is best for the animals.

This is the dog I was frustrated with earlier this spring but she is coming along nicely. It was a slow task overcoming her nature but she loves to please and is a very sweet dog.

You forgot the photo, I'd love to see it . I don't know if many would have tried what you did, to retrain her, that was a good job and must have needed a lot of attention on your part.

 

[ManueB]

Seriously, it's like being sentenced to a life time of mall shopping with your wife (if applicable) or in my case my eldest.

I hate shopping and particularly malls.
The clinic where I took Caramel was in the back of a giant outdoor mall and when I got out of there I was in the middle of huge parking lots and stores in scorching heat with not a bench or tree in sight, having to wait an hour for my partner who had an appointment. People were coming in and out from their cars to the stores with arms full of shopping bags and I was standing in the middle trying not to cry. I've had several bad dreams of that horrible moment since and malls will always be a place of death for me.

Well! What can I say about today. It's still too hot. I've got mites. The hens kicked off in the coop. C who was supposed to help with a couple of health issues this evening arrived and then wandered round picking bits of fruit like a character is Alice In Wonderland and then wandered off home. I got a couple of hens sorted but there's a good two or three hours health work to be done.

I thought I would clean out the small coop. It's infested with mites. I got it clean enough to spray Permethrin but in the process I got covered in mites. I had to spray my hair with Permethrin while I was there and my top. I itched and slapped my way home and headed for the shower. No wonder none of the chickens are interested in sleeping in there. The mite explosion has happened in the current heatwave.

It looked like everyone going to roost, bar Henry, Matilda, Lima, Copy and Carbon who were on the outside roost bar, was going along nicely. I had just propelled the last bum through the pop door and walked over to Henry's lot when a riot broke out in the new coop. I opened the back door to find five hens in one of those if it moves whack it type scraps. They were jumping over the roost bars to get at each other. I had to practically get in the coop to put a stop to it. I got a few scratches for my troubles. im not sure what it was about or even who was in the fight. They did settle down.

Bad picture day to top it off.




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The heat definitely makes keeping animals harder. They don't bear well to it, mine also quarrel more and had trouble laying. And parasites love it. I hope you got rid of all the mites in your hair, maybe wear a hat next time or something to cover your hair ?

I'm still fighting my unknown type of mites in the coop but I haven't seen anymore sticky fleas- but our temperature has gone down for more than a week now. Everyone is feeling better.

Skeksis will always be one of my favorites!

Not one of mine . She scares the heck out of me!

Out of subject rambling tax : it has been confirmed Merle isn't a blackbird, she has a white feather coming out !

 

[no fly zone]

Not one of mine . She scares the heck out of me!

Skeksis is an absolute sweetheart.

 

[Shadrach]

Horses have been eaten a lot in France until WW2 though now most people won't eat them. I love horses and would never have eaten horse meat, but it was probably what saved a number of draft breeds which would have disappeared when farm work became industrialized.

It's a wise attitude and one I wish I could maintain. Most of the times when people make conscious decisions they have thought about, there is something to be gained by trying to understand why they have a different point of view than yours. However it does make me see red when people who have opposite opinions from mine are so certain being right that they will laugh or attack anyone who sees different. My step family has that kind of attitude toward vegans and I've already mentioned that my stepfather believe people voting green should be left naked and wounded and attached to a tree for the wolves to eat them .


I could have written that. It would make complete sense for us to eat excess cockerels and have a small number of livestock like people used to here- raise a pig a year, have two cows..but I don't have it in me to eat the animals I've lived with. I've never eaten much meat, I was vegetarian as a teen, and I also longed for years to have a pet which I never did before getting married. We now only eat meat when we are invited and cooked for, and when we are given bits of game from the hunters or live rabbits. We don't even have to do our own processing as my step-mother's husband used to work in a slaughterhouse and also went around people's house butchering their livestock, and he does everything for us. So I guess I'm being squeamish. I do wish eating meat wasn't taken for granted by so many though.
I think I sort of agree though with Shadrach that in a way I could take better care of animals if I didn't see them as pets. Pets are artificial construction made up by humans and I think if one has more emotional distance one may sometimes make more rational decisions about what is best for the animals.

You forgot the photo, I'd love to see it . I don't know if many would have tried what you did, to retrain her, that was a good job and must have needed a lot of attention on your part.

I must admit I don't understand the divisions people make over what other life forms they wiil and won't eat. Preference by taste I can understand. I'm with the chickens. I don't see them worrying about any of this stuff.

I don't keep pets, none. Maybe I'm worried I'll get a bit peckish one night and eat them.
I don't view chickens as livestock either.

 

[ManueB]

Skeksis is an absolute sweetheart.

I'm sure she is and you've proved she's intelligent too. (And Mr Bumble is in love with her). It's her hairdo (and her name) that scares me .

 

[Molpet]

So many points of view on chicken's breeding and purposes.

I'm in the livestock camp. I don't like how the big AG raises food. However if they raised food like I do chicken would mainly be Sunday dinner again. ... Eggs would be once a week until spring.... unless you spend half your income on food like I do lol

I think everyone should try to raise as much of their own food as they can. I mainly eat poultry since that's the meat I can raise and harvest somewhat easily. I could have a couple pigs, but I think they would have to go to a butcher. Not sure I can kill something that smart or could handle that size.
I will say when I bought chicken I ate a much bigger serving. Now that it takes a lot of work and I have to take a life, I get 6 to 8 servings and soup .

 

[GregnLety]

Horses have been eaten a lot in France until WW2 though now most people won't eat them. I love horses and would never have eaten horse meat, but it was probably what saved a number of draft breeds which would have disappeared when farm work became industrialized.

It's a wise attitude and one I wish I could maintain. Most of the times when people make conscious decisions they have thought about, there is something to be gained by trying to understand why they have a different point of view than yours. However it does make me see red when people who have opposite opinions from mine are so certain being right that they will laugh or attack anyone who sees different. My step family has that kind of attitude toward vegans and I've already mentioned that my stepfather believe people voting green should be left naked and wounded and attached to a tree for the wolves to eat them .


I could have written that. It would make complete sense for us to eat excess cockerels and have a small number of livestock like people used to here- raise a pig a year, have two cows..but I don't have it in me to eat the animals I've lived with. I've never eaten much meat, I was vegetarian as a teen, and I also longed for years to have a pet which I never did before getting married. We now only eat meat when we are invited and cooked for, and when we are given bits of game from the hunters or live rabbits. We don't even have to do our own processing as my step-mother's husband used to work in a slaughterhouse and also went around people's house butchering their livestock, and he does everything for us. So I guess I'm being squeamish. I do wish eating meat wasn't taken for granted by so many though.
I think I sort of agree though with Shadrach that in a way I could take better care of animals if I didn't see them as pets. Pets are artificial construction made up by humans and I think if one has more emotional distance one may sometimes make more rational decisions about what is best for the animals.

You forgot the photo, I'd love to see it . I don't know if many would have tried what you did, to retrain her, that was a good job and must have needed a lot of attention on your part.

Maya and Lobo back when Lobo was small. He's now taller and longer than Maya. Raised from 6 weeks old we had no problem with Lobo. Maya was still in training here so that's why she was on the chain. I would sit with her as the chickens ranged around her.