Dear Humans, Birds and Elephant,
Tonight brings back one of our favorite speakers: Craig Russell, president of the SPPA, Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities. Craig, my chicken GURU, knows more about chickens and the development of their breeds than just about anyone else in the world........and I can say that with authority because I love chickens and have studied about them for many, many years, so that makes me know!.
Chickens are one of the most abused animals that are raised in agribusiness. They are raised in places which are too small for them to even walk. They are slaughtered on assembly lines by people who have no compassion.. They are even, at times, scalded and plucked alive because they have not been killed enough to be fully dead (hope that makes sense) There have been expose's about this gross industry but they rarely find their way to the public. I remember seeing one that got out of the killer's grasp running on the street in South Fallsburg, bleeding profusely from the slaughter wound on it's neck.
Gone are the days when chickens were raised on farms where they were able to walk around, feed off the earth or in a regular coop and then kept for either eggs, meat or both. Today, like so many other farm animals, chickens are a commodity, a product with no feelings, dead far before they are killed.
There is, however, a new movement of "backyard chickens' where the old times are coming back. The old breeds are having a renaissance with a renewed interest in keeping chickens like they were kept a couple of generations ago. They live like chickens should live until they die. Some people keep them for their entire natural lifetime and others are kept as long as they are useful as egg layers and others are raised for meat. All of these are far kinder and humane than the big factory farms where so much cruelty goes on that it is unconscionable. I think more people are aware to the depravity of factory farming of calves that are raised for veal than they are about chickens that are raised for eggs or meat.
Craig will be discussing how the standard breeds were developed. There are over 300 breeds, some which lay over 300 eggs a year. There is a tremendous variety of colors and body shapes, sizes, comb types and I personally recommend that chickens make great pets.
In the inside of my house, Aristophanes, Emma and Zeke are doing fine. I have a new puppy, a Sealyham Terrier, named Edison and we are all very happy with him, even Jackie. I always loved Sealyhams and I was more than thrilled that Jackie got one for me for my birthday.
We have some great news about our 30th anniversary dinner. We are going to have it at the Eagles' Nest. The Eagles' Nest is a beautiful venue, near Wurtsboro. The food should be very good too and the price will be just about the same as last year. I am still working on a special program, but I do have an idea. More information will be coming soon and I hope that we fill that place with our Catskill Exotic Bird Club specialness.
Next month will be the return of Avian Vet, Dr. Don Factor. I look forward to enjoying the knowledge he will bring us.
Have a great month; the weather is beautiful and that is a great change.
Love,
Richie
Tonight brings back one of our favorite speakers: Craig Russell, president of the SPPA, Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities. Craig, my chicken GURU, knows more about chickens and the development of their breeds than just about anyone else in the world........and I can say that with authority because I love chickens and have studied about them for many, many years, so that makes me know!.
Chickens are one of the most abused animals that are raised in agribusiness. They are raised in places which are too small for them to even walk. They are slaughtered on assembly lines by people who have no compassion.. They are even, at times, scalded and plucked alive because they have not been killed enough to be fully dead (hope that makes sense) There have been expose's about this gross industry but they rarely find their way to the public. I remember seeing one that got out of the killer's grasp running on the street in South Fallsburg, bleeding profusely from the slaughter wound on it's neck.
Gone are the days when chickens were raised on farms where they were able to walk around, feed off the earth or in a regular coop and then kept for either eggs, meat or both. Today, like so many other farm animals, chickens are a commodity, a product with no feelings, dead far before they are killed.
There is, however, a new movement of "backyard chickens' where the old times are coming back. The old breeds are having a renaissance with a renewed interest in keeping chickens like they were kept a couple of generations ago. They live like chickens should live until they die. Some people keep them for their entire natural lifetime and others are kept as long as they are useful as egg layers and others are raised for meat. All of these are far kinder and humane than the big factory farms where so much cruelty goes on that it is unconscionable. I think more people are aware to the depravity of factory farming of calves that are raised for veal than they are about chickens that are raised for eggs or meat.
Craig will be discussing how the standard breeds were developed. There are over 300 breeds, some which lay over 300 eggs a year. There is a tremendous variety of colors and body shapes, sizes, comb types and I personally recommend that chickens make great pets.
In the inside of my house, Aristophanes, Emma and Zeke are doing fine. I have a new puppy, a Sealyham Terrier, named Edison and we are all very happy with him, even Jackie. I always loved Sealyhams and I was more than thrilled that Jackie got one for me for my birthday.
We have some great news about our 30th anniversary dinner. We are going to have it at the Eagles' Nest. The Eagles' Nest is a beautiful venue, near Wurtsboro. The food should be very good too and the price will be just about the same as last year. I am still working on a special program, but I do have an idea. More information will be coming soon and I hope that we fill that place with our Catskill Exotic Bird Club specialness.
Next month will be the return of Avian Vet, Dr. Don Factor. I look forward to enjoying the knowledge he will bring us.
Have a great month; the weather is beautiful and that is a great change.
Love,
Richie