10/27/2024
Today, my neighbor watched a lady drive up to the edge of my property and throw a hen over my fence and drive off.
When I first found the hen, I went to neighbors to see if any of theirs had run away. Because that can happen on occasion, a predator scatters them at night, they get loose, etc. When I found out somebody had dumped this hen, my first impulse was to kill it on the spot as a biohazard.
Let me explain something to people. Dumping chickens over a fence into somebody else's flock is the livestock equivalent of r**e. It is an intentional violating pe*******on of sombody's flock without consent. A breach of biosecurity, a breach of genetic purity for breeding. It is an act of agro-terrorism. There are backyard keepers and pet people who don't realize what a big deal it is. They don't get it.
I don't care if I offend people for using words so strong, but people need to understand that dumping chickens can cause chicken owners measurable and tangible harm.
1. Chickens can be carriers of disease. Many of these diseases are chronic and stay with a flock forever. Chickens that are not symptomatic can still infect other birds. When you dump a chicken into somebody else's flock, you are potentially introducing a pathogen that will infect their flock forever. They can also introduce parasites that are difficult to get rid of. For backyard keepers that get rid of all their birds and get new pullet chicks at the feed store every couple years, this isn't as big of a deal. For breeders with closed flocks that have been breeding for generations, this can destroy decades of breeding effort. It can have devastating consequences.
2. Dumping chickens can ruin their breeding program. Many people like to dump roosters because they don't want them. Roosters, if they get in and mate with somebody's hens during their prime breeding season can ruin their entire spring hatch. It takes a month to clear out hens after a rooster has been with them to ensure the offspring are pure bred. For somebody who is breeding to show or breeding to sell, this could ruin their whole year.
The dumped hen was a pretty hatchery quality blue laced red wyandotte. I looked her over and she looked healthy. She was sweet. I didn't have the heart to kill her.
So I rehomed her.
It's not hard to rehome a chicken. Post them for free on Craigslist or in a Facebook group. Take them to a swap. It's super easy to find chickens a new voluntary home, which makes dumping chickens even more obscene and disrespectful.
Dumping birds is not rehoming birds. Its a violating act that is disrespectful to both the property owner and the poor animal being dumped who is a hapless victim. The ownership of animals is a voluntary process and nobody should ever have animals thrust on them without their consent.
I will never keep a dumped animal. I will never reward or validate somebody who r**es my property with animals, then drives by and sees them living the good life later on and they think, "I found that animal a good home. I did a good thing."
Dumping animals is always a bad and despicable thing.
Show these animals the respect they deserve and make the effort to find them a home where they are wanted.
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