What is it like in a hatchery?

[SIERRAS MOM]

"A few are good, but I really don't want to support inhumane hatcheries."

Again what you are seeing on UTUBE, national news programs, Facebook, etc. are the large corporate food industry hatcheries that produce chicken for all our food, frozen, canned and fresh and also the chicken that goes into all our pet food cat and dog. So if you open a can of soup or a can of dog or cat food your supporting the inhumane treatment. Not the feed store selling a couple hundred baby chicks to individuals that they got from a family hatchery.

 

[allosaurusrock]

I understand that. You know there will be a few that are bad, and some that are good, so I'm trying to find both sides of the story.

 

[tta583]

Mike Rowe taped a segment for Dirty Jobs at McMurry. Its on YouTube.

 

[allosaurusrock]

Thanks!

 

[loujeany]

I live near Meyer hatchery and my friend and I drove to the hatchery to pick up the birds. We got 16 between the 2 of us. One of his RIR chicks died. 15 lived and are very happy and healthy. We ordered all hens. We got 1 rooster. They guarantee a 90 percent accuracy rate so they were inside of that. The workers were excellent and extremely helpful. I did not see the back of the store but the front was very clean. I would definitely go back.

 

[Pork Pie]

You may wish to consider buying future chickens from other BYC members. We do it because we love raising chickens, so naturally the care and welfare of our respective birds are paramount. If you go to the "where are you" pages you may find other BYC members in your area who could help out.

 

[allosaurusrock]

I understand that. The problem is my parents not wanting to drive a long way so I can get my chickens.

 

[ShellyJensen]

What is vent sexing? Like how do they do it?

 

[donrae]

What is vent sexing? Like how do they do it?

The vent is the baby chick's sex organs. Chick is held in one hand with the fingers spreading the little bum apart. The belly is squeezed a little to make them poop and that's wiped off, so the organs can be seen better. Then a trained person looks at the organs and decides if it's male or female. Sounds easy, but it's not like sexing say kittens. The sex organs of the chicks are inside and can have different appearances, that's why most hatcheries only claim 90% accuracy.

 

[SamCox]

What about the hatchery called "My Pet Chicken" ??? Are they any good?