I thought I'd be all organized with my helpful hints about raising chickens - instead, I ran into a big dilemma, which is: what do we do with the males - when killing is not something you want to do? (That is why I chose a somewhat serious looking image here, for now). Yes, I have a definite opinion on what coop floor is best and how my chickens ought to be fed and how to deal with roosters so they don't become aggressive - but the discovery of the billions of male chicks being disposed of and the killing of these beautiful birds for our use - or because they are a nuisance - is driving something home about this planet in a deep way. Whether one likes to face it or not, it IS a moral/ethical dilemma. Most happy homesteaders and city backyard chicken keepers, let alone those buying eggs and chickens in the store, seem to not address this, and I do understand. I too don't want to be depressing but share about the happy chicks & healthy eggs in colorful fotos - and - I also have seen the brothers of all those happy chickens being chopped up alive...and I just am not built to ignore it or able to put it aside as many others seem to.
I love birds, and I LOVE chickens. They are amazing creatures.
Pardon my state of dis-organization. I have seen very helpful chicken sites who make money from advertizing ...well, I don't think this will qualify anytime soon, because the direction that I am headed includes questions like: What IS responsible chicken keeping - as long as we allow chicken keeping at all?
The scope is big, and expands into how we eat, what we have been indoctrinated with, the uneven distributing of wealth. It extends into ethics and morality and human evolutions. It extends into the whole vegan concept. I can't cover all that and will stick to the garden and the chickens, what I am willing - or not willing to do, and what I have learned on the way in this adventure of raising chickens for gardening - and eggs. You are very welcome to join in any discussion or share any of your own experiences on any of the topics.
I have learned a lot and am writing about chickens here and on 3 different venues: facebook, chicksandweeds.com and http://quanyingardens.blogspot.com/.
I would be delighted if anything was useful to someone at some point in the journey of their Life with Chickens.
Myself, I am humbled by what I have experienced in my life with chickens so far and there is a deep appreciation for their beingness - and I also stand in stunned silence at the values that govern the behavior of humans resulting in the horrendous abuse that chickens have experienced at the their hands and especially in large scale mass murder in the last 100 years. If we really are what we eat, we can't possibly be surprised at the violent nation this and other "civilized" nations have become.
Many Blessings to you.
Christiane
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