I can completely understand those of you whose chickens are soley your pets, but I wish you would understand that not everyone regards their chickens soley as pets. It's not "sick" to eat chickens or chicks.
Snakes do eat chicks, among other things. It's their food just like we have our own food. To say it's sick to feed an already doomed chick is the same as saying it's sick for us to eat steak or fish. And while we can hide behind our cellophane wrapped food and call it a day without a thought as to where that food came from, how it was treated and how it was dispatched, snakes cannot. They have to eat, and unlike some animals, they eat to live.
Either way, the chick is going to die, whether it's euthanized or given to a snake. Why not give back to nature in it's place in the circle of life? Bugs that would have broken down a buried euthanized chick will always find food, but a snake in captivity relies on it's owner to feed it.
I thought it was a perfectly reasonable ad. If someone is upset enough about it, they can adopt that chick for rehab. Otherwise, why not feed it to a snake? It's her chick, she can decide how to deal with it the way that's best for her. If she cannot euthanize it herself, it will be dispatched by someone else. It works out for both parties involved in the transaction.
I know someone who pays for feed and hay by breeding rabbits and selling day-old kits for snake consumption. Those that don't get sold for snake consumption go in the freezer for her family's consumption. All animals need to eat. The difference is, when you take on a pet, you have to find food for it.
I also know someone who used to dump all her deformed chicks on me because she didn't have the guts to deal with them herself. Since at the time I didn't have the guts to either deal with it myself or say "uh, no thanks", I had to deal with a chick that didnt' fit in with the rest of the flock and failed to thrive. In each case I had to find someone to dispatch it for me months later. At least this person is doing something about it and not making it someone else's burden.
If you can rehab deformed chicks, that's great. Not everyone is going to do that though. Why not contact the lady who created the ad, and see if she'll ship it to you? That way everyone is happy and there are no sore feelings
