What happens to all the Rooster chicks?????

[bobbi-j]

Sooooo I'm just wondering... what happens in the wild?  If there is 50/50 ratio male to female, what happens in the land of birds that are free in the world?  It seems that some birds are monogamous and mate for life.  And some, like the birds in New Guinea and Australia, the girls just line up and the boys flip their fancy feathers, sing and dance until those girls are mesmerized into allowing the boys in, or else they fly away saying "Naaaah, jus' not feeling' it."  The boy's are deflated, but try try again.  Nobody seems to need to grind the boys up alive in a chopper.  Really?  someone said it only took a minute or two?  I wonder how the people in the gas chambers would have related to that statement.  But they didn't hear the screaming, and if you know chickens at all... they are not quiet when they are threatened.  

But even more than that, it makes us monsters!  Closing our eyes isn't very effective - we can't unknown this now.  I heard that roos can live happily together in a bachelor pad.  Do they have to be a commodity for us to be able to let them live?  Maybe there should be a Roo Resort that can be factored into the price of our eggs or something.  Can't we come up with something more humane?  Our delicious, versatile eggs are the best bargain we've ever had!  We should pay back if we can.

Wow - where to start? Let's start with the 50/50 ratio myth. As previously stated, that's not a guaranteed thing.

Chickens do not mate for life.

Nobody "feels the need to grind them up alive in a chopper" in the wild, because they are not costing anyone feed expenses. In a domestic situation, a responsible chicken keeper feeds their chickens. It would get very expensive very quickly to keep and feed all the roosters one hatches out. Not everyone can afford to feed nonproductive birds. I can't even touch on your comparing instant death for a chicken in a grinder to humans in a gas chamber...

A Roo Resort - are you willing to take that project on? Feeding and housing hundreds of roosters? Keeping countless pens cleaned? Not me. I think the most humane thing is a quick death if the alternative is to be kept in a cage or pen for its entire life.

 

[Beekissed]

Incredibly well said!

"In the wild" excess male birds, and also the females, are often eaten as chicks by other animals....and, yes, they are often eaten while they are screaming, some are crushed so quickly they cannot utter a sound. Eventually ALL the birds living in the wild will die, be it screaming at the teeth and claws of another creature or quietly of illness....never of old age, that's for sure. They are eaten before they can get to the death from old age.

Shutting the eyes and ears to the facts of food production in this world does not make it go away and the best one can do is to undertake their very own food production so as to insure it's done as humanely as possible. Eating eggs comes with a huge responsibility and one of those is being able to kill or recognize that killing is necessary in that species in order for you to have your morning eggs. If one is not killing their own spent hens or extra roosters they cannot very well criticize how others are doing it, as it has to be done no matter what....whether one abstains or is horrified about it or not, animals need a humane death if they are being kept by us humans.

Death is a fact of life and with maturity comes the realization of that. Don't like chicks getting ground up? Raise your own and kill the extra roosters to use for your own consumption. Roosters are a necessary byproduct of egg production and that cannot be avoided.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

In broiler chicken production the chicks are sexed then the little cockerels are raised in a separate building from the little pullets because both sexes will grow off or mature to slaughter size at a different rate and it only requires one crew to catch and cage the entire flock for shipment to the processor plant. Then having only one sized bird to deal with is also much more efficient.

 

[redguinea]

In broiler chicken production the chicks are sexed then the little cockerels are raised in a separate building from the little pullets because both sexes will grow off or mature to slaughter size at a different rate and it only requires one crew to catch and cage the entire flock for shipment to the processor plant.  Then having only one sized bird to deal with is also much more efficient. 

The broiler farms I've been to dont seperate the sexes, everything stays together because they grow so quickly and large it doesnt matter what sex they are because they will be slaughter in such a short amount of time.

 

[Beekissed]

They don't do that here either....all birds, all sexes, all raised in one big communal space.

 

[Lisa Wood]

I believe that to every problem there IS a solution...sometimes you just have to look very hard for it...and if you think you cannot find one then you have not looked hard enough...and nothing worthy ever happens over night...often the most challenging struggles are the most rewarding.... I don't think that any one person or 100 people could do anything to help....but if it was brought to a high enough place, with enough support.... I believe someone could figure it out....and besides there are starving and needy families right here in the USA...maybe it would not be a free-b and there might be a cost involved but what is the price on a country that helps its needy, and takes care of it's people, high and low, young and old, mighty and weak ??? So many here have excess...I know so many people that will not even eat left overs...We are a wasteful nation and we CAN do something about that, one step at a time, one person at a time, one thought at a time....all it takes is one person and one idea to light a fire and watch it run

SO RUN BABY RUN!!!!

It is definately good to be a positive thinker, but please allow me to point out: A mother with a child physically challenged for life, unable to communicate or say "I love you", what is her solution, or the childs A young man dieing of AIDS, what is the solution for him, his partner, his family What about cancer? One out of three in this country. Guarantee when you are going thru the solution, you will disagree that its a solution. I personally know people who prefer death. As you noted, what IS the cost of a government attempting to help its people? Where is so many African Nation's solution to the huge number of orphans caused by AIDS? The cost is huge not just for them, but also for US who supplies foreign aid. The populations are not controlled. A woman with three children she cannot feed, does not want three more, or one more. But she has sex. Therefore, my answer to some of third world country's hunger is we drop ship Birth Control pills, or whatever is the cheapest method to prevent pregnancies. Guarantee women will use them. That said, the idea that every problem can be fixed and the entire world lives problem free is not realistic, to put it mildly. So we will not have sickness, accidents, polution, animal habitat destruction, wars, birth defects, hunger, domestic violence, drunk drivers, learning disabilities............ Should I stop now? Just as it is not possible to make every group happy in the US, it also is not possible right now to have NO PROBLEMS. Even in a fairy tale there's a problem. The idea you are promoting, all good all the time, is called heaven. Lisa

 

[Lisa Wood]

I heard about that book. Want to read it myself. And I've seen photo's of the grinder (and the results)   I can't understand how a person could do things like that. I read lots about factory farming, not just chickens, but pigs, cows and sheep get a bum deal as well in many farms. I must say it's doing a good job putting me off animal products! I was so horrified when I read about broilers and batteries I stopped eating chicken and shop bought eggs. Hasn't been easy at times, but it's been 3 years and I'm not going back. I just cannot support cruelty like that! Nowadays we're careful when we shop and look for venison instead of farmed meat.

Thru pressure from public and humane organizations, Wal Mart has recently agreed to stop using battery products. The eggs now say "cage free," which is aomething in between battery and free range. IMHO also inhumane, but huge improvement.
Of course there is nothing to stop Wal-Mart or other big food suppliers from taking their business out of US to avoid these restrictions they agreed to.
No answer for the baby roos, but HSUS picks a subject and makes improvements. It is now illegal to breed Orcas in captivity, and to transport across state lines. The Dog Meat trade is currently a huge issue, and the soring done on gaited horses. I wonder how to bring baby Roos to their attention, although if you look at their track record, they are focusing on inhumane lives and deaths.

Lisa

 

[Lisa Wood]

We sometimes get Springbok and Kudu. They are kept on huge game farms, where they are allowed to do whatever they like, until hunting season begins. It's not always available, but I stock up if I find some for sale in the shops.
Guess it does help that we live in Africa...

Are they antelope?

 

[Lisa Wood]

I'll bite.

After the 100's of chicks I've hatched, the 50/50 ratio is garbage.  Big hatcheries would rather sell their chicks (cocks) instead of composting them, hence the "straight run".

Some birds mate for life, chickens most certainly do not.  Have you ever seen a rooster in action?

The grinders are instant, whoever told you a minute or two is giving you a line....

Comparing gassing humans to the instantaneous grinding of a male chicken is completely asinine and illogical at best.

If you don't like the practices of the meat industry, buy local.  Support the farms that have humane practices!

Every time you buy chicken/eggs/pork/beef at Walmrt/Fryz/Safewy/etc, you support big ag and it's "atrocities".


We're not monsters, just trying to feed our children.

Do you mind if I ask, what is correct ratio in your experience? More Roos?
Lisa

 

[Beekissed]

It is definately good to be a positive thinker, but please allow me to point out:
A mother with a child physically challenged for life, unable to communicate or say "I love you", what is her solution, or the childs
A young man dieing of AIDS, what is the solution for him, his partner, his family
What about cancer? One out of three in this country. Guarantee when you are going thru the solution, you will disagree that its a solution. I personally know people who prefer death.

As you noted, what IS the cost of a government attempting to help its people? Where is so many African Nation's solution to the huge number of orphans caused by AIDS?
The cost is huge not just for them, but also for US who supplies foreign aid. The populations are not controlled. A woman with three children she cannot feed, does not want three more, or one more. But she has sex.
Therefore, my answer to some of third world country's hunger is we drop ship Birth Control pills, or whatever is the cheapest method to prevent pregnancies. Guarantee women will use them.

That said, the idea that every problem can be fixed and the entire world lives problem free is not realistic, to put it mildly. So we will not have sickness, accidents, polution, animal habitat destruction, wars, birth defects, hunger, domestic violence, drunk drivers, learning disabilities............ Should I stop now? Just as it is not possible to make every group happy in the US, it also is not possible right now to have NO PROBLEMS. Even in a fairy tale there's a problem.
The idea you are promoting, all good all the time, is called heaven.
Lisa

And there lies the solution......and only one way to get there. Jesus Christ is the solution to all the problems mentioned here.