Some people...

[ziL]

I'm sure we've all had strange encounters at places like fairs, parks, stores, ect, with rather confusing people. Here we can share some funny, irritating, or confusing stories. (Feel free to rant)

We recently had our county fair, so of course there were some erm.. unique people. I had just walked in the parade with my 4H club, carrying my rooster. He wasn't dealing with the heat very well, so I was lingering in the poultry building (not that I wouldn't have been there anyway) when the a couple of boys about my age came in. They were looking at the dyed silkies, argueing over why they were that color. When I told them they were dyed with Kool-aid, they gave me a "yeah, whatever" response, so I was going to ignore them until they left. Then, a duck that was drinking splashed one of them, so of course they freaked out and flipped it off. They complained to someone I would assume was their mother, and she asked them if swore at it and deserved it. ( I'm sure you have about the same opinion I did at this point) It got even better when the goose started honking... (Their expressions were priceless) I calmed her down and told them that they needed to stop yelling, bacause they were scaring her. The lady stepped in front of them and said (in a rather rude tone herself) "Could ya say it a little nicer?" That was not the way to get me to be polite. I explained to her that they should know to behave, she said they're not used to animals. I said (pointing to the young club members around me) that they didn't yell at other people's animals like that. She claimed that they knew, but we only have occasional barn meetings. I tried explaining that I was on edge because someone had let one of my cockerals loose the previous night, and they interpretted it as me accusing them. She continued a petty arguement before leaving and wishing me a "pleasant day".

I found it a bit odd that she would start an arguement with me (a high-schooler) for addressing a problem with the boys that hid behind her during the arguement, making rude gestures at me, while another lady with them watched. However, it was amusing.

Your turn!

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Ohhhh, I just hate the County Fair. I had to quit 4-H this year because the people are obnoxious!

1. Every year in the poultry class a Best Herdsman prize is given to whoever takes the best care of their animals. Well, I was begging the cafeteria ladies for some ice for my chickens water and another girl had 2, yes 2, chickens die at the fair. And she left their carcasses there in the heat all week! Luckily the wind was in my favor! The same girl had no idea how to handle her chickens and they were absolutely beserk! She won the Best Herdsman prize!

My chickens, except one cockerel, that year were so tame. I walked around with chickens on my shoulders and head so that they could get some fresh air, that's how much they are handled. And of course the girl who everyone knows her mom, gets the prize!

2. One girl was walking around putting bread in all of my chickens cages and getting the chickens out. I didn't want her holding my chickens so close when it was 110 degrees out. Like I said, my chickens were very calm, except one, and I'm glad I caught her before he got to that one. The next year I put padlocks on the cages.

I used to host a Petting Zoo for some local non-profit events, some people drive me crazy!

I brought my Naked Necks one year. One guy walked up to that one and told his little kid, "Don't touch that one, it's sick." I walked over, "Sir, that is a Naked Neck, they are supposed to look like that. It is not sick at all. Would you like to feel its neck?" So he says, "LITTLE GIRL, that is a very sick chicken, don't touch it." I say, "Sir, that is my chicken. This is my petting zoo. If you are not going to listen to me you can just leave. Now, you listen to me. That is a Turken Naked Neck, get it, N-A-K-E-D N-E-C-K, don't say it is sick, it is not." So he turns his back, gets his kid, and says, "Some people are just rude."

UGHHHH! It just makes me mad to think about it!

 

[ziL]

The cockeral that got let out, my bantam barred frizzle cochin, was one that occasional can act aggressive, and it was his first time away from home. Luckily, my friend caught him (I wasn't there) You can imagine how I felt when I found out in the morning (before the parade and arguement). Later that day, an elderly lady, her daughter(?) and her kid came to the poultry building while I was sitting on the step, holding my over-heating rooster (from the parade) on the grass. The younger lady told her kid "Look at the chicken, like the chicken we eat" The older lady says, "Don't tell him it's a chicken, it"s a rooster." I told her that roosters are just male chickens, and she proceeds to tell me that she knows, but you don't eat roosters. *facepalm* She walked away, so I was left trying to figure out her logic.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I am glad that children listened to me at the petting zoo. I was able to teach them that all are chickens, babies are chicks but girls are pullets and boys are cockerels, then they become hens and roosters. Roosters crow, hens lay eggs. The tiny ones are bantams. The ones with no feathers are not sick. Then I told them to go try and talk some since into their stupid parents.

Why can't they hold fairs in like, April or October when it's cooled down? Another reason I quit taking my chickens to fairs.

I love that you took your rooster in the parade! I wanted to take my hens, Sophie, Lily, and Eliza, but they said it that no chickens could come out of the poultry barn (shack, really). For some reason they had no problem with my friends GIGANTIC steer, who really could have caused some damage. (The hens were riding on my head and shoulders anyway, the obviously would have flown away a long time ago, if they were planning on it!)

 

[7 Biddies]

The one I still haven't recovered from was a remark made by my neighbor's 40 y.o. daughter, a mother of 2. She came over to see my chicken coop and the girls. Asked why I had them, I responded, "For the natural, non-factory produced eggs." She replied, "I don't trust anything natural."

?

Well, I guess that's one way to thin the herd.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Nice...


I get so mad at my grandma. Her parents owned a large egg business, back before it was all a steroid and other chemically induced haze, when it was hard to make any money, unless you made your own feed (which they did). I was crying over the loss of a hen (Buddah, the bantam mottled cochin) and my grandma said: "Don't cry. I used to have to raise 300 chicks every 6 months. Do you think I cried when they died?!?! No, I didn't!" I retorted, "Exactly, 600 white chickens that are totally identical. I'm sure you didn't cry and I know that YOU didn't take care of them personally!"

Ughh, and my aunt who tells me "These are nice, but why are they so dirty (I don't wash them anymore, to keep the bloom on, plus they come out really clean anyways), you know my daughter's eggs are never dirty. You know, my daughter has a lot more blue eggs (I wonder why, oh yeah, she has four EEs! No wonder she has enough time to wash all of her many eggs!). You know my daughter always puts hers big end up. You, know my daughter has her own cartons. You know my daughter....

I will do this my way. Deal with it!

 

[ziL]

I've only lost one, a red bantam that everyone loved, but I'm fighting to keep some cockerals out of the butcher's. I know I can find a home for them...

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I hear you. I have 10 roos right now, way too many. Luckily 4 are dolls and I will never get rid of them and 3 are babies and best friends with each other. Only one is a total a-hole but he is a bantam d'Uccle and I don't think I could bring myself to slaughter him. Two really need a good home, but people who want to buy them want to eat them, and I love them too much for that.

I wish there was just one place that all the unwanted roos could go....

 

[galanie]

The sad truth is, that boys hatch from 50% of all eggs on average but only about 10% of all boys are needed or wanted. After the experience I had giving my last rooster away I have come to the firm decision that from here out, I will personally dispatch a rooster before giving it away to anyone I don't know. That boy was abused but I won't say what happened.

All I know is, if I do it myself I'll know that he was never abused or mistreated and "went" in a peaceful, humane way.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

I know this one person who owns chickens, and it is her job to collect eggs. She complained that she didn't like the feeling of a warm egg in her hand. I , myself, don't mind the feeling.