Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[MarkBevBen]

In the sense that we're 'obviously' going to eat our girls if they pass away?

 

Someone has just cracked a 'joke' on my Facebook wall about us having roast chicken dinner today.

 

I couldn't even beging to contemplate eating Cottie

[Dizzy-Deb]

I know exactly what you mean Bev. Have had similar comments about time. One of my neighbours has even offered to do the 'despatching' if need it doing! as used to do it years ago.

 

I know and appreciate some people do have chickens for table birds, and have no problem with it.... but to me my girls will be for eggs only, and then when they stop producing will live their lives out. No way could they end up on the table. Couldnt do it, and know hubby couldnt either. He did joke about it at first when we had them but not now hes getting attatched to them

[jill the potter]

It's amazing how insensitive people can be, even really close friends, with the attitude of "it's only a chicken". I had some very insensitive comments made to me when I had taken Korma to the vets, and then later when I had to have her put to sleep - about making curry etc One 'friend' was appalled that I had paid £12 to have her put to sleep, when it turned out that she had paid £20 to have her hamster put to sleep, but she said that was different!!!

 

Another friend thinks I am bonkers to give them names and see them as pets, when she has a pet lizard who is really boring and sits under a log for 23 and a half hours a day!!! But of course 'that's' different.

 

On some level I think people don't like to think of chickens having a life as it may start them to question the whole ethics of chicken farming/egg production. A case of what they can't see......... I make it my business to try and educate friends to try and understand where their 'cheap' chicken and eggs come from.

 

Sorry to rant, this topic makes me soooo mad!!!!

[Cranfield Kate]

MarkBevBen I am totally with you on this. I was FUMING and really upset when i put up pics of my new ex batts on facebook and my friends made comments like "when will they be ready to eat?"

 

Makes me mad too JillThePotter.

 

i'm just not very impressed with people right now. they all need a trip round a battery farm.

[chicken bark]

I think people don't realise there is a distinction between chickens as livestock and chickens as pets. My chickens probably fall somewhere between the two camps but I wouldn't dream of eating one unless I had specifically bred them for that reason.

 

People can be really insensitive. I remember when I lost a cat I associated him with a certain song. When that song came on the radio in my friends car I asked my friend to play another as it upset me. She just laughed and thought my distress was silly. I can see that some people don't get as attached to pets as others do but they shouldn't go out to offend and upset.

 

I'm not in touch with her anymore.

[Toots]

my next door neighbor was having a party and BBQ a while ago.

one of their guests 'jokingly' asked if they could have one of my girls for the BBQ.

 

I said fine as long as i have one of their kids for my BBQ in return!

I don't have or want kids, my girls are my kids.

 

They didn't make any more jokes!

[coco]

People can be very insensitive, when I told someone at work that I'd had Coco Pts the first thing they said was did you eat her, I felt like crying. He did apologise to me after and said he just though thats what you did when a chicken died. The general opinion from non chicken people is that chickens are just something we eat. I had a comment at the vets the other week about if its not laying it should be in a pot. Best thing to do hard and annoying as it is is just to ignore and let it go over your head.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I had exactly the same comments from colleagues when 2 of my girls died recently . I made some comment about them eating their cat when it dies but it seemed to fall on deaf ears .

 

We all understand so you'll get sympathy from all of us . We'll just have to accept that non-chicken people just don't get it .

[daxigirl]

I know what you mean, colleagues at work asked if I was going to eat her so I said I was letting her hang a bit to ripen, that shut them up. I've now just been asked again so I said I double bagged her and popped her in the bin when dog walking. In reality I couldn't face doing any of that so paid £20 at the vets for her to be cremated properly.

 

They wouldn't understand.

[Egluntyne]

It is based on ignorance of the subject. People don't realise that laying hens and table birds are very different, and that a hen that has died of an illness should never be eaten.

[Dolly]

As someone said earlier, 'non chicken people' just don't understand that HENS CAN BE PETS TOO! It's really upsetting when jokes are made in ignorance and I know exactly how you feel. When Roxy was injured, I had a couple of 'jokes' along these lines too but responded with the 'oh, you'll be eating your dog / cat / rabbit when it goes then'?

It's hard but you have to ignore them, you know how you feel about your girls and how special they are, and when it boils down to it, that's all that matters.

[stoice]

I get a lot of interest from the guys at work about the chickens. I think as I don't watch football they are often stuck for a subject to talk about when we're making a brew. Quite often the only experience people have of chicken is what lands on their plate and so their next question is - are you going to eat them? When it's general chat, i suppose it could be an ok question as I may be rearing birds for the table a-la-Hugh. Once i have explained they are pets and would never consider eating my pet, usually people don't press the issue. There are, however, those insensitive ones or ones that just want a reaction. It's at this point i mention the fact you'd never eat your pet dog, cat or hamster or certainly wouldn't eat a sick animal either.

[Lavenders_Blue]

A 'friend' asked me yesterday if he could have one of my girls for the bbq and use the feathers for a pillow. I offered to make him a dog-skin belt when my pooch passes on too. He shut up after that - I think he realised at that point that my girls are as much my pets as my dog.

[Raina]

I've had a couple of comments on Facebook with people saying are you going to eat them

 

 

What really upset me though was the day Lady Lay died my mum was talking to my uncle over the phone and he asked if we were going to eat her.He said if not he'll have her

[AmberSky]

I get exactly the same comments, Miss orange had to be dismissed a few days ago and i got stupid remarks on facebook as well, people are so inconsiderate, laying chickens have little meat on them anyway as all their energy goes into the eggs, not that i would ever dream of eating my girls, just as i would not eat my pet dog, or tropical fish!