Backyard chickens dumped at shelters when hipsters can't cope, critics say

[DainBramaged]

Despite visions of quaint coops, happy birds and cheap eggs, the growing trend of raising backyard chickens in urban settings is backfiring, critics say, as disillusioned city dwellers dump unwanted fowl on animal shelters and sanctuaries.

Hundreds of chickens, sometimes dozens at a time, are being abandoned each year at the nation’s shelters from California to New York as some hipster farmers discover that hens lay eggs for two years, but can live for a good decade longer, and that actually raising the birds can be noisy, messy, labor-intensive and expensive.

“Many areas with legalized hen-keeping are experiencing more and more of these birds coming in when they’re no longer wanted,” said Paul Shapiro, spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States. “You get some chicks and they’re very cute, but it’s not as though you can throw them out in the yard and not care for them.”

That accusation is disputed by advocates of home-grown chickens, who say that a few negative incidents shouldn’t give a bad name to a practice that encourages both self-sufficiency and the consumption of sustainable food grown in a humane manner.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/backyard-chickens-dumped-shelters-when-hipsters-cant-cope-critics-say-6C10533508


Just like pot bellied pigs, these animals are a for life, L-I-F-E comittment, not a fad.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I know someone who raises chickens, and she loves them

and takes good care of them, but admits they are a lot of work and are not for everyone.

[Sanity Claws]

2. They're not pets

They are farm animals. I am surprised that the hens were not slaughtered after the owners discovered that they no longer wanted to care for the birds.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Have you ever tried to slaughter a chicken?

The people who are getting chickens for the eggs are not thinking that far in advance, and they are not prepared to kill the chickens.

This reminds me of the story my mother told about when my father decided to bring a chicken home for dinner. Fresh chicken. In fact, a live chicken. My father went to kill it, and he just couldn't do it. Then my brother thought that he could do it (he was a hunter and was a teenager who thought he was macho), and he couldn't bring himself to do it either. So my mom had to take a hatchet out there and do it herself, then gut it, and pluck it, and of course she had to cook it too. She showed up the macho men, but at least there was never a live chicken brought home again. She said it was not easy to do.

[X_Digger]

6. I can imagine clouds of pinfeathers rolling down urban streets..

.. because the person didn't realize how much of a mess it really is.

When I was a wee lass, my grandmother would give me a switch to chase down the chicken after it's head was cut off.

[mopinko]

3. although i do not find it surprising that people try it and don't like it,

i would be really surprised if people were dumping chickens in massive numbers. most people just eat them.
and i disagree with the statement that chickens only lay for 2 years. they lay for 2 years by the standards of the big egg companies, which back the campbells soup truck up to the coop at 2 years on the dot. most lay less as they get older, but many are still laying once or twice a week at 4.

there are plenty of knuckle heads out there, tho. i can't argue that. but we really haven't had much trouble with this in chicago, and we have tons of chickens here now.

[X_Digger]

5. Coq au vin, anyone?

Older hens get tough, so don't expect to just fry them up.

Drag out your grandmother's 50 year old recipe book and look for recipes showing how to cook up an older bird.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Fifty year old recipe book?

Do you think? I bet it has to be longer than that. I have a 1940's cookbook that probably has recipes for an older chicken. But...what is old? Would a 2 year old hen who is not laying as well as it used to tough already?

I have so many questions about this whole thing, but the biggest one is how anyone could think raising chickens would be easy.

[X_Digger]

8. Showing my age, I guess, hehe.

This story made me curious, and I checked- my wife has one from the early 60's that talks about ways to cook 'older, tough' chickens (which they say is older than a year). 'Moist heat methods are better- braising, stewing, fricassee. Avoid dry heat methods like roasting, broiling, or frying' (paraphrased)

[Curmudgeoness]

9. You had to make me pull out my cookbook.

Actually, I am glad I did....it is really entertaining. Copyright 1942. "Older chickens" are said to be 9 months or older....wow.

In selecting full-grown poultry look for a soft smooth skin with no blemishes, short legs and short sharp claws, flexible breastbone, plump breast, back and thighs well covered with fat. Avoid coarse skin, rough loose neck skin (talk about showing our age, that will rule me out), long hairs, scaly legs, and dull claws, long bony body and long legs.

And if you want to know how to clean poultry, I have that too....singe the bird over a direct flame to burn off hairs and fuzz....use tweeters to pull out pin feathers....etc. And this is for a bird that is already "dressed" at the butcher shop. Oy.

Your wife's book is right about cooking older chickens.

And do you believe, this book I have is so good, it is still the only cookbook that I use.