should i let my chickens die naturally?

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

I think we should eat plants and animals! I am simply stating that life should be respected across the board, animal or plant. I eat both on a daily basis. I just don't feel worse when I eat an animal then when I eat a plant. That was the only point I was trying to make.

Also, assuming plants can't feel anything because they don't have nervous systems we recognize is ignorant. I am nit naive and like I said, I think peoiple should eat pretty much whatever they get their hands on. But don't cry for the chicken and think nothing of the broccoli stalk.

I thought you were vegan?!?!

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

I think peoiple should eat pretty much whatever they get their hands on. But don't cry for the chicken and think nothing of the broccoli stalk.

Well, plants don't feel anything, so there's no reason to cry for them. Animals, on the other hand, kick and "cry" (some different than others) while butchering them.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Well assuming that because they don't have a way to process sensations we recognize means they can't is very naive. 100 years ago people said animals couldn't feel pain. 40 years ago people said fish couldn't feel pain. We now know they can. Perhaps soon we will figure how plants do too. Also, stepping on grass doesn't kill it pal! It is made to bend. I think we should eat and respect everything. Don't assume because you can't understand how something interacts with the world that it is just a passive non-sentient food item.

Should've told this to my grandma way back when, always telling me to get off her grass.

 

[Aapomp831]

I thought you were vegan?!?!

This person never claimed to be vegan. They claimed to be an omnivore

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

Hi. I basically agree with you. However, I was wondering. As a vegetarian, why is your line drawn at animals? Plants are genetically modified and grown in ways that really hurt the environment just like factory farmed animals. Plants have been proven to react to stimuli, and form symbiotic complex relationships with animals and other plants. Why is it totally fine to eat a Monsanto tomato, but not a cornish x or an egg? Or why do most people not think twice when they rip an apple from their mother tree and tear it's flesh with their teeth? Or dice an heirloom carrot into 100 pieces? I get really hung up on this. Because plants don't have a nervous system YOU can recognize they are morally free of guilt to eat? Or they don't make noise when you pick/kill them? Either way for one to eat something has to sacrifice its life. That is just the way it is. Whether it is a Waygu or a soy bean. Why is it acceptable to kill plants not animals?

This person never claimed to be vegan. They claimed to be an omnivore

 

[Aapomp831]

Ok, vegetarian. Which is not vegan.

 

[Tre3hugger]

OMG. That does make me look like a vegetarian! I was responding to the previous poster, who said they were a vegetarian. Should have @ED them. I am sorry for any confusion that may have caused. I LOVE MEAT

 

[Araucana Nest]

Yeah overall agree. I think composting is a wonderful to use that apple core. I just don't get why it is cool to eat plants and not animals. I eat both, a lot. And respect both, a lot.

I have no rosy picture of being vegetarian. I do however, feel happier and more peaceful within since I stopped killing animals for food and stopped eating meat. It works for me. I breed for health in my animals so breeding for egg-laying machines, walking milk factories, epileptic goats, double-muscled cows, or ape x humans to harvest their organs is not within my view of ethical livelihoods. Neither btw, is breeding exclusively for egg color, or feather color, or ignoring or interfering in instinctual/biological mechanisms like broodiness. My ethical choices set me back considerably from the purely economic plans of other breeders.

You bring up interesting points about not knowing if plants suffer or not. As a Buddhist, I can explain how I understand this. The first Buddhist precept which is not to take "the breath away" of living beings is explained as human and animal (including insects) but it is the intention behind the killing that qualifies the action as neutral, aversion-based, greed-based, or ignorance -based. The first, neutral intention is when, in full understanding one takes the life of say a mosquito in an area where Zika is causing tragic birth defects (or a police officer takes the life of an active shooter to save the lives of others). The latter three are far worse. Killing a human out of anger creates graver, karmically-charged results for the doer of the deed. This intention-based explanation is also scaled on the severity of the action. Cutting off a human's lifespan is more serious than cutting off the lifespan of an animal because a human has more potential to do good in the world or to Awaken. So killing a plant for food, like a lettuce, doesn't carry anywhere near the same consequences as killing a chicken for food. Killing a fruit, which doesn't kill the plant, carries even less karmic consequence. Buddhist monastics as I mentioned elsewhere cannot uproot a plant or take its fruit. They can't store food and must be offered their meals everyday. They can't cut open a fruit or vegetable either. The fruits and vegetables must be offered so that any viability of the fruit i(seed) is not wasted.

It's a complex subject and I don't pretend to be an expert. Offered in the spirit of community to explain another way of understanding

 

[crazy_chicken99]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens

it’s a huge moral dilemma but they are here. Chickens hatch everyday for super layers that will lay 300 eggs a year. People in countries worldwide demand eggs. They are a great source of protein.

is it morally right? I don’t think “natural” animals should be bred to be super producers. No. I don’t believe we should be creating monkey- human hybrids for organ transplants or goats with epilepsy so people can have a laugh and get a tender cut of flesh.

It’s a huge tragedy few people think about. It’s also a huge movement that is probably impossible to stop. diminished land, resources and increasing population will increase the likelihood of more “unnatural” breedings of animals to create more moral fissures in our fabric of compassion and kindness. What I do is that I remove myself from that equation. I’m vegetarian and don’t breed for any of the popular ethically ruinous trends like dwarfism and epilepsy. You can protect your heart by not participating in these trends, opening your quarantined spaces to take in suffering animals when they present themselves and spreading kindness wherever you go.

i like your way of thinking... for me it would be optimal if i cold do homesteading where you give animals good life and do not focus on maximal production... owerbreeding and so on
thanks for the answer much love

 

[MotoMoto]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens

it’s a huge moral dilemma but they are here. Chickens hatch everyday for super layers that will lay 300 eggs a year. People in countries worldwide demand eggs. They are a great source of protein.

is it morally right? I don’t think “natural” animals should be bred to be super producers. No. I don’t believe we should be creating monkey- human hybrids for organ transplants or goats with epilepsy so people can have a laugh and get a tender cut of flesh.

It’s a huge tragedy few people think about. It’s also a huge movement that is probably impossible to stop. diminished land, resources and increasing population will increase the likelihood of more “unnatural” breedings of animals to create more moral fissures in our fabric of compassion and kindness. What I do is that I remove myself from that equation. I’m vegetarian and don’t breed for any of the popular ethically ruinous trends like dwarfism and epilepsy. You can protect your heart by not participating in these trends, opening your quarantined spaces to take in suffering animals when they present themselves and spreading kindness wherever you go.

Very well said!!!