Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sartorially Challenged Chickens...

After grocery shopping at a local farm that supplies many of the stores around here with free range eggs, I walked across the parking lot to the field to get a closer look at their chickens.
They had a number of roosters, none as big and handsome as Buck.  In fact, a couple of the roosters were limping.  There weren't any that weren't bedraggled, and the hens were sparsely feathered.  Some had been so chewed they looked as though they were suffering from freezer burn.
The woman at the farm stand told me that all the chickens would soon be moved into the big chicken barn for the winter.   She said they wouldn't be coming out again until spring .  I suppose that in order to be in the egg business, you have to have a volume of chickens, but it doesn't seem to be as good for the chickens as it is for the egg business.
I'm seeing what kind of time and thought it takes for someone like me with no veterinary background flying only on good intentions to keep my chickens cheerful.  If my livelihood depended on them as commodities instead of sentient beings, my perspective on their happiness would be different.
Plenty has been put out there about the treatment of meat chickens without me adding to the gross out fest, it's enough to get to know some chickens to see their beauty, sweetness, humor and intelligence 

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Glad to hear from you, but criticisms will be ignored. It's the beauty of the web. I will answer all friendly remarks. Buck handles the rest.