Since I have to live in town for a year or so, I left my "real" chickens with family and bought some bantams that fit in my new yard a bit better. Out of eight chickens, four are roosters. I am willing to keep one, and put the other three on craigslist. The first person to answer the add saw our snakes, and immediately mentioned his constrictor. An alarm went off in my head . . . I went with my instinct and mentioned I would be willing to dispatch the chickens for him, so he could feed them to his snake. He said, "Oh no, my snake only eats live food."
I am certainly not against my chickens being used as food, but I am against them being fed live to any animal. Now I'm too paranoid to offer them on craigslist, knowing that other people may not be as honest as to their intentions. I've removed my craigslist add, so now . . . What do I do with them? I thought of seeking snake owners and offering my chickens, on the condition that I kill them first, but I feel as though I'm somehow robbing the roos of the slim chance they have of finding a home if I do that. On the other hand, in the belly of a snake is a better place than a neglectful home, and I'm finding myself getting more and more paranoid about that the longer I think about it (one reason I quit working at shelters was I was finding it increasingly difficult to trust anyone wanting to adopt). I've never had this problem before because I've always had large breeds that could go straight to my grandmother's freezer. I suppose meat is meat, so I could put them in soup or something, but still . . . they are so small, it seems like alot of work for very little, especially since they were raised as pets and it's always so painful for me to eat something I took the time to get to know.
I keep going over my options and can't seem to make myself start firmly leaning towards one decision, so I was hoping some different thoughts would help sway me towards a decision. I am thankful for absolutely any tips, opinions, or thoughts on this.
Oh, yes, for the record, the roosters in question are two BTW Japanese bantams and a black cochin bantam from ideal poultry. Frankly, the cochin is my favorite of the whole bunch. I hate it when I get attached to a rooster.
I am certainly not against my chickens being used as food, but I am against them being fed live to any animal. Now I'm too paranoid to offer them on craigslist, knowing that other people may not be as honest as to their intentions. I've removed my craigslist add, so now . . . What do I do with them? I thought of seeking snake owners and offering my chickens, on the condition that I kill them first, but I feel as though I'm somehow robbing the roos of the slim chance they have of finding a home if I do that. On the other hand, in the belly of a snake is a better place than a neglectful home, and I'm finding myself getting more and more paranoid about that the longer I think about it (one reason I quit working at shelters was I was finding it increasingly difficult to trust anyone wanting to adopt). I've never had this problem before because I've always had large breeds that could go straight to my grandmother's freezer. I suppose meat is meat, so I could put them in soup or something, but still . . . they are so small, it seems like alot of work for very little, especially since they were raised as pets and it's always so painful for me to eat something I took the time to get to know.
I keep going over my options and can't seem to make myself start firmly leaning towards one decision, so I was hoping some different thoughts would help sway me towards a decision. I am thankful for absolutely any tips, opinions, or thoughts on this.
Oh, yes, for the record, the roosters in question are two BTW Japanese bantams and a black cochin bantam from ideal poultry. Frankly, the cochin is my favorite of the whole bunch. I hate it when I get attached to a rooster.
