Re: Sick Black Rock


"A_ L _P" <hay_hell_pea@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:48576514.2050109@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


Jill did the straw man of, in effect, if you have ex-batts then somehow, you're doing down other breeds, which is crap. It's no different to someone having a moggie as a pet as opposed to a purebreed Siamese cat. Nor is saving some ex-batts and not liking the battery system somehow mean that you're against feeding folk. If someone has ex-batts then it doesn't mean they don't give a stuff about other breeds of poultry.

I don't think she said that at all, not the way I read it anyway but then I wasn't feeling defensive to start with. I can see her point of view, that some people's energies and resources are going into what may often be kind impulses without enough understanding to recognise that battery birds don't have the "know-how" or the stamina for what would to humans seem to be the best thing: freedom. From what you said about the way you keep yours it seems that they have a good balance of shelter and freedom to range around. You may not have seen the down-side of what happens when people's compassion is greater than their understanding of the needs of birds, and lets face it, ex-battery chooks are not the same as barnyard birds.

I worked with a couple of animal welfare organisations, not just an interest in ex-batts. I've seen what 'kind impulses' can do and they aren't just limited to dealing with poultry, and it's not just limited to the obvious basket cases of abused animals of all kinds. I've seen pedigree animals of various types in shelters too. Ignorance isn't the sole prerogative of some interested in ex-batts. And nor should the highlighting of the ignornace detract from the wider issue of humane treatment of our food producing animals.


It's like if you or I were whirled up like Dorothy and dropped down in the middle of a huge expanse of goodness knows where, no familiar sights, no idea how one is supposed to negotiate this vast space and find the necessaries of life. I had a couple of ex-factory chooks some years ago, poor looking things with long toe-nails that had to be clipped before they could scratch in the deep litter. They stood around looking bewildered, had to be placed in front of the food and water. It didn't take long before they had found out about the joys of scratching and dust-bathing but until they did I hate to think how they'd have managed if I'd just put them into a big open pen and expected them to find their way into the house at night and find food from a hopper - they truly didn't have any survival skills, poor things.

And it's not that we can't love and care for ex-batts and old breeds, but Jill's point was as I understood it the very obvious one, that few if any of us have unlimited space and money resources. So what I think she was on about was, why not give that love and chance of a great life to the old breeds that as well as being fascinating and delightful - as are IMO any chooks, but I may be prejudiced (!) - carry genes that we may need in the future.

But it's a straw man that Jill has placed. It really doesn't have to be one over the other and it isn't. Some folk will get pure breeds, some the hybrids, some raise form chicks, some POL, some rescues. And long may it be the case. It really isn't taking one at the expense of another. Indeed, the hen that introduces someone to poultry may well be the hen that starts a life-long love of all sorts of poultry. That's good, as is the gaining understanding of where food is from.



Remember the potato famine? No, not personally, I'm sure you aren't THAT old! I mean, potatoes being the one vital crop at the time in Ireland, when the virus attacked the crop the people starved. We need genetic diversity to combat viruses and parasites etc that may attack our present food sources including poultry and eggs. The way to keep our options open is for people who have the luxury of being able to put private efforts into chickens as a hobby rather than as a commercial business, to keep and breed and improve the strains of birds that have their own unique characteristics. This can be one's investment in the future... alas despite appreciating the wisdom of this I am personally crazy about my patchwork-quilt collection of this, that and the other - the most genetically mixed up collection of chooks you could find in a long day's march!


So who is against genetic diversity? The who brought up this straw man argument is Jill. She's clever, I'll give her that.


A L P

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