This discussion is in reference to the article series:
Egg Production: Facts That People Should Know
All chicks grow to full weight. Rooster or not, some roosters are given away as pets, some are butchered for use as fryers, others are kept to ward off predators and breed.
Keep in mind we have sitting hens that hatch the young. we do not incubate.
If its the butchering for use as meat that you have a problem with, may I remind you the native Indians were in harmony with the animal life around them and still used what they needed of the animals for nourishment. Would you say the natives who worshipped animals would kill then for no reason?
The bible also talks about sheep herds, god did not condemn the shepherd for slaughtering his sheep. And of course in the old testament they were used as blood sacrifices. I view sheep sacrifices as a far more cruel act than butchering a chicken to feed a family.
Chickens are also naturally omnivores and are unable to break down plant based proteins without animal protein also present. This is why fish meal is often added to store bought feed for chickens. I personally do not use fish meal because my chickens eat bugs and mice as they forage the field. They do this naturally, so their animal based protein is accounted for. Do you believe the chicken eating a mouse is inhumane to the mouse? It's being pecked to death or digested alive!
While I respect your choice to be vegan. All animals die either by another animals hand or a humans, many times when a hen reaches a certain age she will be often be picked off from the flock by prey or killed by the flock itself. So the only logical thing I see is to use the chicken for your own nourishment rather than letting other chickens turn into cannibals or feed the raccoons. Either way you look at it someone or something is getting fed. Even if it's a worm. May I also remind you the chicken manure from those big chicken factories is then used on your veggie fields.
If animal farming did not exist we would strip all nutrients from the soil and all you would be eating eventually is organic matter with no nutritional value. We are almost to that point anyway thanks to synthetic chemical applications. It is truly the circle of life. If you eat, you in some way still support the killing of animals. And we have to eat. I am of the opinion that we can at least give the animal a good life while it's on this earth until it is needed in another form.
Ps. I mean you no disrespect! You are 100% entitled to your opinion and have every right to express it as you see fit.
-Jack
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