People dumpting their chickens

[CathyA]

I meant "dumping".

I was reading an article about how people in suburbia would get chickens for the eggs, but when they quit laying or they got tired of them, they would just dump them somewhere.. How sad that is.
And today, I was in town at a very busying intersection near the interstate.........and there was a poor chicken in the middle of the other side of the road! I hope it didn't get run over. :(

[puglogic]

People seem to dump anything -- living being or not -- that no longer serves them.

I work with the local rescue, and the horror stories that come in every day make me want to hit these kinds of people very hard with a heavy object. I've long since moved past "sad" to "consider yourself lucky I don't know where you live."

Poor chickie. I suppose it's possible it just escaped. Trying to be nice here....

[CathyA]

The thought did cross my mind to go after it, but there was so much traffic. I hope the little guy made it. I'm with you, Pug, on the heavy object idea............:devil:

[The Storyteller]

Was it white? I'm wondering if a broiler headed for a processor bumped out of the truck, which I hear sometimes happens.

[CathyA]

No, it wasn't a broiler. I'm thinking it might even have been a guinea. Wasn't sure of the breed. I'm glad I didn't go back the same way, in case it didn't make it.
I can't identify too many breeds, other than the ones I've had. It was fairly skinny and had tight feathers. Maybe its been on its own for awhile already.

[frugalone]

I used to see broilers on the highway when I drove to work (dead, of course). they had fallen out of the truck. I used to see the trucks, full of crates, with no protection. It only solidified my resolve not to eat meat. :(

[Gregg]

Not to be callous, but the past several generations of my family had no problem humanely disposing of hens whose laying days were behind them. Some people must just be more comfortable not acknowledging that the cellophane wrapped version of chicken used to look like the ones in the back yard. As far as the people who dump chickens, puppies, babies of any kind... I'm with pug, they deserve the wide end of a very big stick.

[CathyA]

That's not callous Gregg. I find nothing wrong with people who raise animals humanely and then eat them when their laying is over. I think the important word is "humanely". I think alot of people can ignore where their food comes from, since its all nicely packaged in the stores for us. But not being responsible, and not wanting to "hurt" an animal.......but thinking its okay to dump them in a totally different habitat, really irritates me.

[The Storyteller]

Well, on the bright side, guineas are fairly resourceful critters, if that is indeed what it was. They were domesticated (those that were domesticated... they still run wild in Africa) fairly recently and therefore survive better than chickens in the wild.

My neighbor had about 10 or so. They decided they liked my place more than his, so they moved in. After a month or two or six they decided they liked the creek a quarter mile away better than either place and moved there. As far as I know, they are still doing fine living on their own. They do go feral like that from time to time, I have heard. Hopefully, that is the case with this bird.

[jp1]

So, was the chicken just sitting there or was it, ummmm, trying to cross the road? :-) Sorry, I agree that it's horrible that people will just dump live animals and leave them to fend for themselves, but I just couldn't resist.

[CathyA]

jp1...........My SIL said something similar....... "maybe it was just trying to get to the other side?" :D