Okay so I went to visit a woman that raises chickens and sells them. I am looking for 6 hens. This is the first time I've ever visited anyone that raises and sells chickens. I arrived and started to realize that the way these chickens are cared for is horrific. The coops are small almost look like small wood dog houses with the run underneath. I would say that these little coops should house 3 chickens at the most. There were 5 in each and it was horrible. The bedding was straw and stinky and wet and the water and feed dishes were horrible (dirty water) and the poop was just unacceptable. There were chickens everywhere....The roosters were running around the property free.....there were wire cages with chickens in them...the poop tray was probably 2-4" deep with poop and it wasn't new poop it was old. The conditions were astonishing. Not to mention the other animals she had (Pigs, Goats, Cows, Emus, Ponies, Sheep, Llamas). Every pen I saw was dirty and smelly and to me an unacceptable way of taking care of the animals. Eggs were everywhere......on the ground, in straw, dirt, etc. I noticed an egg just sitting on a bale of hay and then noticed that between bales of hay was a hen brooding on her eggs. I was under the impression that hens like to lay their eggs early in the morning in a nice dark place.....who knows how long the eggs were strewn everywhere......that cannot be good for people to eat those eggs.....I definitely wouldn't eat them. I also left without any hens. I wouldn't buy hens from her or any other of the animals either. I would be afraid they weren't healthy...especially under those conditions. Now the dilemma....should I report her or just act as I never was there.......please give me some advice on this one. I'm an animal lover and my first instinct is to rescue all the animals, but then I'm thinking where they would go and what would happen to them. I'm heartsick over this. So, I've contacted another chicken seller and I'm going to go over and look at her chickens tomorrow. Hopefully they keep their chickens in better conditions.
