August 2014
Dear Birds, Elephants and Humans,
My third favorite animal in the world is the chicken. My first, of course, is the elephant and that is followed by the dog. Don't worry, birds, especially parrots, come soon after. Tonight's program is about amazing chickens. I have always been crazy about chickens (actually I have always been crazy, but that is another story) The first time I remember being with chickens was when I must have been 3 or 4 years old. We lived in an apartment house in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and we had very orthodox Jewish neighbors. They bought live chickens and brought them home before the holiday of Yom Kippur. I saw them and got so excited. There were 2 white and 2 barred Plymouth rocks. . I sat with them for hours, petting them and begging my mother to buy some for me to keep as pets. Those poor chickens were not pets and were taken to be killed and eaten the next day. I cried terribly when I found out and refused to eat chicken for a few years after that.
Then, a few years later, my father took my great aunt to a farm upstate New York, probably somewhere near here, to buy fresh eggs for our whole extended family. The farmer had a coop full of white leghorn pullets that were about 8 weeks old. I implored him to give me one and he did. We took the baby chicken home and it became my pet. My brother and I loved that chicken. We named her "Slick Chick" and played with her every day until my mother gave her away saying that we couldn't keep a chicken for a pet in an apartment. Boy, was she wrong! Actually, I had a pet chicken who had her own bedroom in my apartment on the top floor of an apartment house when Jackie met me. I had rescued a crippled infant chick on a my friend's farm. I took it home to Brooklyn where it healed and I kept it as a pet. At that time I may have been the only person who had a chicken in an apartment. Today things are different and chickens have become popular as pets.
There are hundreds of breeds of chickens that have been developed over a few hundred years. Some for eggs, some for meat and some for both, those being called dual purpose breeds. My favorite breed, the New Hampshire, is a dual purpose breed. There is amazing variety in color and body shape among the many breeds. My picture this month is with my blue Jersey giant, Louis. Today, however, with the advent of factory farming and genetic engineering, it is rare to see these beautiful old breeds on anything but backyard farms. Everything today revolves around "how can we make the most money with the smallest output" and chickens, as well as so many other farm animals, are nothing more than products way before they are dead. The conditions in which they are housed on factory farms are cruel and unconscionable. Laying hens are housed 6 to a small cage in which they cannot walk or move around, just squat down, lay an egg and eat. I have rescued cages of these hens. Their combs, which should be bright red, were almost white, their beaks were cut off, leaving blunt stubs and their nails were about 2 to three inches long. They had to be taught to walk, eat and drink the way normal chickens do. The conditions of housing meat chickens are just as abominable. These meat birds are bred to grow so fast that those who are not killed at a few weeks of age, and actually grow, cannot walk because their legs cannot maintain their body weight.
Today, however, there is a renaissance of keeping the old breeds of chickens on homesteads, in back yards and just as pets in homes. There seems to be a renewed interest in the breeds that were carefully developed and nurtured over time. Seeing chickens kept because people are loving chickens makes me feel like a trend setter because I have done that all my life. I have had chickens that were so tame and friendly that they responded like dogs. Imagine my surprise and happiness when I am not the only one at the vets office with a chicken that is being kept as a pet.
Tonight's program is all about chickens and the great man who I call my chicken guru. Craig Russell, president of the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities, knows more about chickens than anyone else I know. His knowledge about all these old breeds and how and why they were developed is astounding and fascinatingly interesting. Anybody want to start a chicken club, let me know.....I'm in!
Try to work for laws to be passed to protect chickens and stop the horrible cruel conditions in which they are kept. Housing in factory farming isn't the only horror that chickens undergo. Millions upon millions of male chicks are smothered to death right after they are born because they do not lay eggs and there is no practical use for them. . There has to be a kinder way of dealing with them.
There is an awful practice, that goes back to cock fighting, called dubbing. Dubbing is cutting off the comb and wattles of a fully conscious rooster without any anesthesia. The amount of pain in slicing off a piece of living tissue has to be agonizing. This is a terribly cruel and sadistic practice that needs to be outlawed. Cruelty is never right.
Have a great evening and a great month. We need to begin work on our next bird show which will be held on October 12th at the Liberty Firehouse. See Matt, our show chairman, to see what you can do and how you can help.
Be kind to chickens.......they deserve it.
Love,
Richie
My third favorite animal in the world is the chicken. My first, of course, is the elephant and that is followed by the dog. Don't worry, birds, especially parrots, come soon after. Tonight's program is about amazing chickens. I have always been crazy about chickens (actually I have always been crazy, but that is another story) The first time I remember being with chickens was when I must have been 3 or 4 years old. We lived in an apartment house in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and we had very orthodox Jewish neighbors. They bought live chickens and brought them home before the holiday of Yom Kippur. I saw them and got so excited. There were 2 white and 2 barred Plymouth rocks. . I sat with them for hours, petting them and begging my mother to buy some for me to keep as pets. Those poor chickens were not pets and were taken to be killed and eaten the next day. I cried terribly when I found out and refused to eat chicken for a few years after that.
Then, a few years later, my father took my great aunt to a farm upstate New York, probably somewhere near here, to buy fresh eggs for our whole extended family. The farmer had a coop full of white leghorn pullets that were about 8 weeks old. I implored him to give me one and he did. We took the baby chicken home and it became my pet. My brother and I loved that chicken. We named her "Slick Chick" and played with her every day until my mother gave her away saying that we couldn't keep a chicken for a pet in an apartment. Boy, was she wrong! Actually, I had a pet chicken who had her own bedroom in my apartment on the top floor of an apartment house when Jackie met me. I had rescued a crippled infant chick on a my friend's farm. I took it home to Brooklyn where it healed and I kept it as a pet. At that time I may have been the only person who had a chicken in an apartment. Today things are different and chickens have become popular as pets.
There are hundreds of breeds of chickens that have been developed over a few hundred years. Some for eggs, some for meat and some for both, those being called dual purpose breeds. My favorite breed, the New Hampshire, is a dual purpose breed. There is amazing variety in color and body shape among the many breeds. My picture this month is with my blue Jersey giant, Louis. Today, however, with the advent of factory farming and genetic engineering, it is rare to see these beautiful old breeds on anything but backyard farms. Everything today revolves around "how can we make the most money with the smallest output" and chickens, as well as so many other farm animals, are nothing more than products way before they are dead. The conditions in which they are housed on factory farms are cruel and unconscionable. Laying hens are housed 6 to a small cage in which they cannot walk or move around, just squat down, lay an egg and eat. I have rescued cages of these hens. Their combs, which should be bright red, were almost white, their beaks were cut off, leaving blunt stubs and their nails were about 2 to three inches long. They had to be taught to walk, eat and drink the way normal chickens do. The conditions of housing meat chickens are just as abominable. These meat birds are bred to grow so fast that those who are not killed at a few weeks of age, and actually grow, cannot walk because their legs cannot maintain their body weight.
Today, however, there is a renaissance of keeping the old breeds of chickens on homesteads, in back yards and just as pets in homes. There seems to be a renewed interest in the breeds that were carefully developed and nurtured over time. Seeing chickens kept because people are loving chickens makes me feel like a trend setter because I have done that all my life. I have had chickens that were so tame and friendly that they responded like dogs. Imagine my surprise and happiness when I am not the only one at the vets office with a chicken that is being kept as a pet.
Tonight's program is all about chickens and the great man who I call my chicken guru. Craig Russell, president of the Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities, knows more about chickens than anyone else I know. His knowledge about all these old breeds and how and why they were developed is astounding and fascinatingly interesting. Anybody want to start a chicken club, let me know.....I'm in!
Try to work for laws to be passed to protect chickens and stop the horrible cruel conditions in which they are kept. Housing in factory farming isn't the only horror that chickens undergo. Millions upon millions of male chicks are smothered to death right after they are born because they do not lay eggs and there is no practical use for them. . There has to be a kinder way of dealing with them.
There is an awful practice, that goes back to cock fighting, called dubbing. Dubbing is cutting off the comb and wattles of a fully conscious rooster without any anesthesia. The amount of pain in slicing off a piece of living tissue has to be agonizing. This is a terribly cruel and sadistic practice that needs to be outlawed. Cruelty is never right.
Have a great evening and a great month. We need to begin work on our next bird show which will be held on October 12th at the Liberty Firehouse. See Matt, our show chairman, to see what you can do and how you can help.
Be kind to chickens.......they deserve it.
Love,
Richie