Very obscure bird server encounter

[ElGoose]

Made a thread about a critique made against me in a bird server I joined recently but I’m honestly very shocked right now from the conversation that happened there as it was so hostile and just got more and more obscure until it made no sense ?

It went from
“hey letting your geese have access to a river is risky even if it’s a river with seemingly no bird activity” (which is a very valid concern which I was willing to discuss until one of the moderators started mocking me)
To
“You shouldn’t be letting any of your birds free roam at all they should all be kept in completely safe wire mesh bio safe boxes or you’re a horrible person and if you don’t like our tone then leave!”

Do people really do this? I can imagine keeping chickens in a wire mesh run - but my geese? They need room to stretch their wings and run and they need a pool to clean themselves in, they wouldn’t let the argument go because they wanted me to admit that by letting my geese wander around a garden (not even taking into the account the shallow river) I was effectively killing them and that my flock (10 birds that eat sleep and poop separately) will all die?

 

[Goosebaby]

Made a thread about a critique made against me in a bird server I joined recently but I’m honestly very shocked right now from the conversation that happened there as it was so hostile and just got more and more obscure until it made no sense ?

It went from
“hey letting your geese have access to a river is risky even if it’s a river with seemingly no bird activity” (which is a very valid concern which I was willing to discuss until one of the moderators started mocking me)
To
“You shouldn’t be letting any of your birds free roam at all they should all be kept in completely safe wire mesh bio safe boxes or you’re a horrible person and if you don’t like our tone then leave!”

Do people really do this? I can imagine keeping chickens in a wire mesh run - but my geese? They need room to stretch their wings and run and they need a pool to clean themselves in, they wouldn’t let the argument go because they wanted me to admit that by letting my geese wander around a garden (not even taking into the account the shallow river) I was effectively killing them and that my flock (10 birds that eat sleep and poop separately) will all die?

Sorry you encountered the loonies. There’s a lot of that over on Facebook, which is one of the main reasons I avoid that site, Reddit is almost as bad. Some of the parrot oriented forum sites sound exactly like what you just described, overly opinionated and snooty over things they know nothing about.
Also I found one site that forbade the posting of pictures of cats or dogs do to how emotionally triggering the sight of them is….

I’ve noticed some surprising similarities with parrot and chicken/goose/other poultry behaviors but there’s definitely a breed difference between menagerie/ backyard flock people and just parrot people.

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

Exactly why I love the BYC community here so much! People are so friendly, kind and helpful - I've yet to see anyone get nasty/mean. (Good folks here and no doubt good moderators to keep troll-types from spoiling things.) I'm sorry that happened to you, ElGoose!

 

[Callender Girl]

Well, if you're killing your geese, @ElGoose, I'm right there with you. My two American Buffs wander around my fenced yard during the day -- with a stock tank and a baby pool when they want to splash around -- and are secured in their small house at night. The first thing they want to do every morning is get out and spread their beautiful wings! I can't imagine never letting them out to enjoy their lives and behave like geese.

We live in a world where civility is too often in short supply. I don't understand why some people believe that being hostile and browbeating others is acceptable -- as if being the loudest voice in the room is the same as being the most correct.

IF the bird server moderator truly cared about your geese and their welfare, offering gentle suggestions instead of insulting and demeaning you would have been more helpful and persuasive.

I have encountered a very few of those my-way-or-no-way individuals even here at BYC. I no longer engage with those folks. When I see their user name on a thread, I ignore their posts. Let them fight their imaginary battles with someone else -- ideally, each other.

Long live your happy flock of 10!

 

[ElGoose]

Well, if you're killing your geese, @ElGoose, I'm right there with you. My two American Buffs wander around my fenced yard during the day -- with a stock tank and a baby pool when they want to splash around -- and are secured in their small house at night. The first thing they want to do every morning is get out and spread their beautiful wings! I can't imagine never letting them out to enjoy their lives and behave like geese.

We live in a world where civility is too often in short supply. I don't understand why some people believe that being hostile and browbeating others is acceptable -- as if being the loudest voice in the room is the same as being the most correct.

IF the bird server moderator truly cared about your geese and their welfare, offering gentle suggestions instead of insulting and demeaning you would have been more helpful and persuasive.

I have encountered a very few of those my-way-or-no-way individuals even here at BYC. I no longer engage with those folks. When I see their user name on a thread, I ignore their posts. Let them fight their imaginary battles with someone else -- ideally, each other.

Long live your happy flock of 10!

I really have loved it on this website and didn’t realise how much I had taken this place for granted before seeing how some communities treat others I also have another friend who was apparently also in that server and they also left after being berated and dog piled over something minor

I’m sure my flock will live fine as most came from another free range flock and she’s never dealt with mass bouts of illness or disease either haha

 

[ElGoose]

Sorry you encountered the loonies. There’s a lot of that over on Facebook, which is one of the main reasons I avoid that site, Reddit is almost as bad. Some of the parrot oriented forum sites sound exactly like what you just described, overly opinionated and snooty over things they know nothing about.
Also I found one site that forbade the posting of pictures of cats or dogs do to how emotionally triggering the sight of them is….

I’ve noticed some surprising similarities with parrot and chicken/goose/other poultry behaviors but there’s definitely a breed difference between menagerie/ backyard flock people and just parrot people.

It was quite wild how so many of these people who have super super strict bird rules always have some kind of horror story lined up about how they took every safety precaution and then apparently a wild bird lands on a patch of grass next to their mesh coop for 2 seconds and the whole flock dies from disease.

I have a lot of free range friends and they’ve never dealt with their flock getting AI or other diseases passing through and it often makes me wonder if the over protection gives birds a very weak immune system - that or their ‘bio safe’ tiny mesh run for their abundant amount of chickens is so cooped up and dirty that disease is just inevitable they actually shamed me for taking advice from people who weren’t constantly having their flock wiped out via illness - I think I’d rather stick to advice from people who DON’T have 50 horror stories about how their flock suffered the bubonic plague

 

[Goosebaby]

It was quite wild how so many of these people who have super super strict bird rules always have some kind of horror story lined up about how they took every safety precaution and then apparently a wild bird lands on a patch of grass next to their mesh coop for 2 seconds and the whole flock dies from disease.

I have a lot of free range friends and they’ve never dealt with their flock getting AI or other diseases passing through and it often makes me wonder if the over protection gives birds a very weak immune system - that or their ‘bio safe’ tiny mesh run for their abundant amount of chickens is so cooped up and dirty that disease is just inevitable they actually shamed me for taking advice from people who weren’t constantly having their flock wiped out via illness - I think I’d rather stick to advice from people who DON’T have 50 horror stories about how their flock suffered the bubonic plague

Yeah free ranging the flock absolutely develops their immune systems. Birds that have never been exposed to the world have limited gut biomes and have poor resistance to disease. Even the best probiotics have around 9 bacteria species whereas a healthy hen or other birds gut contains thousands of species of beneficial bacteria that it’s picked up from their environment and other birds.

Viruses are trickier pests because we’re really at the whim of whatever the latest mutation is, some viruses are slower to mutate and are kinda stable and easier for immune systems to adapt to them, other viruses like herpes and corona viruses are the b*ches that keep giving. COVID, IBV, the Spanish Flu, and HPAI are examples of the corona viruses, Marek’s is an example of the herpes viruses. They mutate so fast it’s hard keeping up with just making a vaccine.
Because they mutate so quickly they can also be their own foil, HPAI has been devastating bird communities world wide but it’s been found that birds who were infected with a low pathogenic strains that are also circulating have developed antibodies that make them resistant to high pathogenic strains.

Bad luck will find a way to happen but overall there‘s more benefits to free ranging than not. I don’t think they understand that in the parrot circles because of course a small tropical bird isn’t going to survive long in a strange colder climate, exotics do require extra care and management, but they fail to see the obvious that a goose is very different to a macaw.

 

[Goosebaby]

Also evidence of the benefits of free ranging small backyard flocks is that the CDC found that there’s lower disease occurrence and outbreaks with pandemic potential from backyard flocks as compared to factory farming.
Small backyard flock owners are better able to recognize a sick bird, isolate, and treat it, whereas large overcrowded cramped farm sheds breed and spread disease that isn’t recognized until it’s spread through the whole flock.

 

[ElGoose]

Also evidence of the benefits of free ranging small backyard flocks is that the CDC found that there’s lower disease occurrence and outbreaks with pandemic potential from backyard flocks as compared to factory farming.
Small backyard flock owners are better able to recognize a sick bird, isolate, and treat it, whereas large overcrowded cramped farm sheds breed and spread disease that isn’t recognized until it’s spread through the whole flock.

Yes they seemed to be under the impression that I had a large flock of chickens and that I was compromising them all by letting my geese free range. The truth is I only have 3 brahma roosters and 3 Muscovy ducks and I’m very quick to notice if something if ever off with a bird (albeit most of the time it’s just me being overly paranoid)

what was probably weirder is that although they accused me of sending my birds to their death by letting them free range, they seemed to encourage culling large amounts of birds the second they showed even the smallest symptom - someone in there had a chicken that was lethargic and they culled half of the flock if any chickens seemed tired at any point, no mention of attempting to quarantine at all! I don’t think they really cared about the livelihood of birds at all, they just had insane superiority complexes

 

[Goosebaby]

Yes they seemed to be under the impression that I had a large flock of chickens and that I was compromising them all by letting my geese free range. The truth is I only have 3 brahma roosters and 3 Muscovy ducks and I’m very quick to notice if something if ever off with a bird (albeit most of the time it’s just me being overly paranoid)

what was probably weirder is that although they accused me of sending my birds to their death by letting them free range, they seemed to encourage culling large amounts of birds the second they showed even the smallest symptom - someone in there had a chicken that was lethargic and they culled half of the flock if any chickens seemed tired at any point, no mention of attempting to quarantine at all! I don’t think they really cared about the livelihood of birds at all, they just had insane superiority complexes

I knew someone who’s roommate Was the same way, wanted her to cull all of her birds because one of them had the sniffles. I don’t think people like that actually like animals either, it is about their “ego“ and not the welfare of their birds.