About 1,000 Day-Old 'vulnerable' Chicks Dumped In Field

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-39015085

Words don't often fail me, but in this case ......

[Prudie]

Very odd and sad story. Unfortunately many day old chicks are destined for the exotic pet and zoo trade as food.

[mikey4444]

Prudie....if chicks are killed humanely, then I have no problem. But these have obviously been dumped, for commercial reasons, and it sickens me.

[mushroom25]

half of all chicks (the males) are nothing more than a by-product of the egg industry and destined to be terminated. think on, next time you bite into your breakfast egg mcmuffin.

[Jackdaw33]

What Prudie said. Male chickens are destroyed at birth as they have no economic value. Just the odd cock survives to fertilise the hens.

[Prudie]

I'm wondering if these were stolen and dumped either a) to sell on and the thieves panicked or b) by misguided animal rights activists

[Jackdaw33]

People were, and perhaps still are, employed as 'chicken sexers' so that the farmer didn't have to waste money on non-productive beasts. This was helped along by the EU's ban on the consumption of capons.

[pastafreak]

This may be a silly question...but how do they know which are male?

[Jackdaw33]

See my post above. It's an acquired skill. I'm not joking.

[pastafreak]

Thanks...yours wasn't there when I started to type.

[wolf63]

They are so young there is no way that they would have survived.

There are lots of people out there who are not very nice.

[hereIam]

^ Seconded ...

[Old_Geezer]

Capon consumption is banned ?
Is the another "bent banana" type law ?

[Old_Geezer]

THAT

[hc4361]

Chicken sexing pays over £40k a year if you fancy the job.
In the UK the male chicks are gassed but in other countries it can be a lot more brutal

[Jackdaw33]

Yes and no. Try going to the butcher and buying a capon.

[Peter Pedant]

// Words don't often fail me, but in this case....//

oh they dont fail me - - the driver had tried to sell them
" I have a thousand chicks here - all going 'cheep' "

no takers - - - ter daaah !

[mikey4444]

OG.....looks exactly like the bent banana story !

[Jackdaw33]

I am half right. Chemical castration of cocks was outlawed by the EU. Surgical castration is still legal but no one seems to bother because of the cost.

[hc4361]

It is illegal to chemically or physically castrate a cockerel in the UK but you can buy imported capon.
It is nothing to do with the EU,

[jourdain2]

I'm surprised about the capon ban. A capon was always one of the prizes in village lotto evenings. Friend of mine won one a few years ago and it was delivered, live and kicking in a box! She asked the elderly Frenchwoman next door to kill and prepare it for her and then cooked and shared the meat. :)