Why Do People Buy Live Chicks From Breeders and Farm Stores‭?

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm pretty sure they bring your chicks up to the front store area, they're not going to let people off the street walk into the actual chick/egg/breeder areas.

Bio-security is so tight at most commercial hatcheries that one would have better luck crashing a Presidential State Dinner.... wait, didn't someone already crash a former President's official State Dinner? The same of course cannot be said about the bio-security at most chicken breeders.

The founder, past president, and a former director of Green Peace, Dr. Michael Moore PhD correctly stated that when the Former Soviet Union and Eastern European Communism imploded back in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the Communist who were looking for a home like the poor boll weevil all found a new home in the Green or Environmental movement. That is when I also abandoned the Environmental Movement and left those poor fools to blunder around looking for a home much like the boll weevil did.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?

 

[Shadrach]

Sometimes the only thing a person can afford is a $3 chick. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to have chickens. Most backyard and small flock keepers value their birds beyond what they spent to purchase them.

Yes, hatcheries want to make money, that's what businesses are for, and selling healthy chicks is good for business. They want a healthy breeder flock so they lay more eggs and get better hatch rates. Just because they do it to make money doesn't make it bad.


If your argument is that hatcheries shouldn't exist because it devalues a chicken's life then it would be hypocritical to also argue that people should just buy chicken meat instead of raising their own because it's cheaper. Grocery stores sell chicken at a price that is less than their cost because it brings people to the store; then they get people to buy things with large profit margins. I know how factory chickens are raised. Even the organic raised ones don't have a life as good as my birds. I might spend a little more per pound but I know exactly how that chicken was treated from start to finish.

I have a rather different view of hatcheries and the easy availability of eggs and chicks. It would take me some time to explain my view in order to keep in mind the sensitivities of the BYC membership.
There is a prevailing view that, those who want should have the right to have; I don’t subscribe to this view, particularly when it comes to live animals. Hatcheries make profit based on the right to have. Chickens are treated as a commodity by hatcheries. Their adaptability and the egg laying capacity is the great misfortune of the chicken. Where I live, there are song birds and the rescue center in the adjacent National Park gets hundreds of these birds that are confiscated from trappers who sell these birds to people who ‘want’. Fortunately the trapping is illegal but many of these birds are injured in the traps. I can’t explain how heart breaking it is to hold a gold crest, or one of the other tiny little birds in your hand as you try to mend a broken wing. This happens because there is money to be made because people want.
Recent research has shown that chickens are highly intelligent and social creatures. This is a very good basic overview of some of the research.

https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/...kgo.com&httpsredir=1&article=2005&context=bts

Of course, many people do not want to accept this. If one does accept this then one is left with the problem of how we treat such a creature and packing such creatures in boxes as babies and posting them to people who want, may seem unacceptable, as might keeping them caged and the multitude of other abuses the chicken has undergone since it’s domestication. Given the majority of contributors to this forum fall into the I want and have the right to have, category I don’t expect my views to be well received, so in the normal course of events I don’t promote them. What I hope with my articles based on my observations and with my book, if I ever get it finished, is to gently persuade people to reassess their view of the chicken.


This isn’t my argument. I wondered about the price of a chicken because some contributors have implied at least, that they keep chickens because the cost is lower than buying a ready processed carcass and they save money on eggs. I have my doubts about such claims.

 

[Shadrach]

Like the second poster said, ECONOMICS! Humans have been artificially hatching chicks for perhaps the last 5,000 years. It is forever more impractical to hatch off enough chicks to make a living from using only the mother hen. You only need to go to the chick and the health forums to get some idea of the death rate or perhaps the life rate among new hatched chicks to begin to understand this..

Like the second poster said, ECONOMICS! Humans have been artificially hatching chicks for perhaps the last 5,000 years. It is forever more impractical to hatch off enough chicks to make a living from using only the mother hen. You only need to go to the chick and the health forums to get some idea of the death rate or perhaps the life rate among new hatched chicks to begin to understand this..

What proportion of the BYC membership is trying to make a living from hatching chicks?
I think it’s an extremely small percentage.
Most buy, or hatch as a hobby.
A percentage of unhatched eggs is natural when a broody sits.
More thoughtfully designed nest boxes that go some way to replicating a hens choice in nature might help with successful hatching.
While we expect a hen to control a dozen eggs on a floor made of man made materials I don’t expect to read about less disasters on the chicks and health forums.
I've written an article on this subject.

 

[Shadrach]

A cooked and roasted chicken around here is usually $8.99 or more.
Skinned and deboned chicken breast is usually at least $3 per pound.

Personally I have no interest in ever having a rooster. I like my small flock of 5.
They all came from the same small breeder. He doesn't allow anyone on his property for biosecurity reasons. He only breeds nice birds that meet the SOP, and he's fair.

I didn't have to go through all the trouble associated with new chicks. I was able to bring fully feathered girls home. Any new birds get quarantined for 30 days.
Fingers crossed these ladies will be with me for a few more years though.

I love reading a post that says they've quarantined a chicken.

 

[centrarchid]

What proportion of the BYC membership is trying to make a living from hatching chicks?

You do not have to be trying to turn a profit to be concerned about cost of an endeavor. Cost figures into almost every activity, even hobbies. You have to participate in these activities yourself to understand, not just be a bystander passing judgement.

 

[Shadrach]

The post is about making a living. Usually, at least in the long term and without subsidies, this requires making a profit.

 

[centrarchid]

My post in context of thread started by somebody. Am I to assume transition made to consider commercial production only?

 

[Molpet]

Reading some of the deluded ‘I can make money by keeping chickens’ comments I was about to send out some job offers as to be my accountant.
Capital costs. They get mentioned but what gets included? It seems it’s usually the materials. It takes me two days to build the very straightforward coops I use. Say I value my time at minimum wage (I’m nice like that when it comes to chickens) Very roughly, that’s $10 per hour in your money.
So it’s materials and labour.
The materials didn’t drop out of sky for me anyway; I had to go and get them, another 3 hours.
A shed load of water holders and feed bowls. They need to be included in capital expenditure. Any tools that were bought for the job.
Running cost here mount up quickly. It’s not just the feed. All the cleaning materials and if you use any chemicals.
Vet bills.
Drug and medical cabinet supplies.
There are maintenance costs here.
And the profit killer; time. Even if you only spend 15 mins a day, which is about a quarter of the minimum time for me on a good day, that’s still $2.5 off the profit.
Oh, don’t forget to include your subscription to BYC.
If I let the chickens roost up the trees and didn’t feed them, just took care of the sick and injured I still wouldn’t make a profit on the numbers I can keep.

I have a rather different view of hatcheries and the easy availability of eggs and chicks. It would take me some time to explain my view in order to keep in mind the sensitivities of the BYC membership.
There is a prevailing view that, those who want should have the right to have; I don’t subscribe to this view, particularly when it comes to live animals. Hatcheries make profit based on the right to have. Chickens are treated as a commodity by hatcheries. Their adaptability and the egg laying capacity is the great misfortune of the chicken. Where I live, there are song birds and the rescue center in the adjacent National Park gets hundreds of these birds that are confiscated from trappers who sell these birds to people who ‘want’. Fortunately the trapping is illegal but many of these birds are injured in the traps. I can’t explain how heart breaking it is to hold a gold crest, or one of the other tiny little birds in your hand as you try to mend a broken wing. This happens because there is money to be made because people want.
Recent research has shown that chickens are highly intelligent and social creatures. This is a very good basic overview of some of the research.

https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/...kgo.com&httpsredir=1&article=2005&context=bts

Of course, many people do not want to accept this. If one does accept this then one is left with the problem of how we treat such a creature and packing such creatures in boxes as babies and posting them to people who want, may seem unacceptable, as might keeping them caged and the multitude of other abuses the chicken has undergone since it’s domestication. Given the majority of contributors to this forum fall into the I want and have the right to have, category I don’t expect my views to be well received, so in the normal course of events I don’t promote them. What I hope with my articles based on my observations and with my book, if I ever get it finished, is to gently persuade people to reassess their view of the chicken.


This isn’t my argument. I wondered about the price of a chicken because some contributors have implied at least, that they keep chickens because the cost is lower than buying a ready processed carcass and they save money on eggs. I have my doubts about such claims.

I was buying dz large eggs $7-8...chicken for $8/lb...at a local farmers market .. Non GMO feed, tractor raised cx by the Amish for the seller. Organic feed cost for me to grow out heritage/cx mix cockerels is about $5-6/lb. $6-7 for heritage...Depending on how much they can pick up free ranging... If I added in housing and time, double that LOL
My chickens get to be chickens and roam around the poultry yard, locked up at night in coops. I feel better about eating something that had a good life and 1 bad day.
I have bought chicks from a feed store, but for now I let the broodies hatch. I do have an incubator because the first years the hens had sept/oct hatches. This year I had broodies in April.

 

[MissChick@dee]

No....they raise chickens for meat because they know if they’ve had antibiotics (organic claim). They know what it was feed and how it was kept. A quality life with just one bad day.
If you got rid of all the commercial chicken producers and chick producers there would be SOMEONE who would become a chicken supplier.
What do you want someone in a covered wagon pulled by mules to deliver chickens?
I applaud people who raise their own meat.
What would the world be if we had to be self sustaining?
We’d be neighbors working together. Got chickens? Great! I’ve got potatoes and hay let’s trade. Or for a cow I’ll help you build your barn.
Come on now. Grassroots people have started many a change in the treatment of animals for production. ANGER is a awesome human emotion. When enough people got pissed about how many dolphins were being killed in tuna fishing nets. The world took notice.
I ask what did they do with all the dolphins? Hum?
I’ll stop now.

 

[Shadrach]

I was buying dz large eggs $7-8...chicken for $8/lb...at a local farmers market .. Non GMO feed, tractor raised cx by the Amish for the seller. Organic feed cost for me to grow out heritage/cx mix cockerels is about $5-6/lb. $6-7 for heritage...Depending on how much they can pick up free ranging... If I added in housing and time, double that LOL
My chickens get to be chickens and roam around the poultry yard, locked up at night in coops. I feel better about eating something that had a good life and 1 bad day.
I have bought chicks from a feed store, but for now I let the broodies hatch. I do have an incubator because the first years the hens had sept/oct hatches. This year I had broodies in April.

Maybe I should join the Amish

Likewise, even though I don’t eat much meat. I eat the chickens here occasionally because of the factors you mention. If all the chickens here died tomorrow I could start again without going anywhere near a hatchery, or a breeder. As a bonus I would get the local breed which are much more suited to the environment and the chicken keeping arrangement I have here. You don’t need hatcheries, or breeders to raise chickens.
I mentioned in an earlier post, I can’t give pairs away here. Most people on this mountain have chickens. None to the best of my knowledge have been anywhere near a breeder, or hatchery.
Good for you going the broody route btw. I love watching a broody hen hatch and rear her chicks.