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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel sad they have no dm to cuddle.

92 replies

Aprilmightbemynewname · 02/05/2018 10:27

School chicks started to hatch this morning. First one just sat there alone with no lovely fluffy dm to snuggle into.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the idea of them in glass tank and then rehomed as the teacher said will happen. Who teaches them how to be, well, a chicken?
Sad

OP posts:
Viviennemary · 02/05/2018 11:30

Yes it's mean. Report them to the RSPCA. Children shouldn't be encourage to view animals as scientific exhibits in a classroom.

IHeartMaryLennox · 02/05/2018 11:32

I shouldn't think the RSPCA would would give two hoots.

missbonita · 02/05/2018 11:32

PS I did give the headteacher of the school a photo of the chicks - dead, dying, wet thru, frozen, no food, no shelter - just disgusting, and her response "well, it's difficult because we don't have anywhere to keep them here"
Well think about that before you get them you selfish idiot.

Only 2 survived even thou we did our best with heat lamps and pipette feeding.

getoutofthebath · 02/05/2018 11:34

I don't really agree with chicks being pawed at by kids in schools but I also think, well, they're chickens aren't they? They don't give a shit about being 'cuddled by their mum'.

Original poster
Aprilmightbemynewname · 02/05/2018 11:36

I may return to school wearing a balaclava and carrying a sack...
Will keep on at teacher about the long term plans, I know a farm who may have the females but they have a Cockerell already.

OP posts:
saucepot8 · 02/05/2018 11:36

Me too. I asked if being away from their mother would damage them and was told there was a heat lamp and the other baby birds. But I realised I was asking if it was emotionally damaging. ConfusedI have too much empathy. Also do they get sent to the abattoir?

IHeartMaryLennox · 02/05/2018 11:37

getoutofthebath why not? Confused

KirstenRaymonde · 02/05/2018 11:37

Those of you that eat chicken and eggs - what life do you envisage those chickens having...?

DearMrDilkington · 02/05/2018 11:37

I really hate animals being in schools.

It's cruel and inhumane.

Itscurtainsforyou · 02/05/2018 11:39

The whole thing is depressing. We went to a farm, saw sheep with their lambs not long before they're separated, saw cows in the milking shed. It's like the Handmaidens Tale for animals...

getoutofthebath · 02/05/2018 11:39

IHeart because they have a brain the size of a thumbnail. That doesn't mean I think we should mistreat them, btw. Not at all.

GorgeousJaws · 02/05/2018 11:39

The RSPCA are a shower of shit, I take no notice of anything they have to say. But that's a different thread 🤐

StopBeingNosey · 02/05/2018 11:40

I’ve always hatched my own chicks and never worried that they’re missing their mum Confused. They learn to be chickens all by themselves. I wouldn’t let a bunch of 5 year olds manhandle them though, they’re just too fragile.

Are they from Living Eggs or similar? The local farmer that does that round here really does look after his chickens well. Although the boys are obviously swiftly dispatched once the are returned.

StopBeingNosey · 02/05/2018 11:41

How did you think farms worked itscurtains? Not being goady, genuinely interested.

StopBeingNosey · 02/05/2018 11:42

saucepot you don’t send chicks to an abbatoir! You just break their necks or decapitate them. You can buy a little tool, a bit like pliers but for heads.

MotherOfThousands · 02/05/2018 11:43

getoutofthebath well, they're chickens aren't they? They don't give a shit about being 'cuddled by their mum'.

They might not think about it in the same way humans do, but they have a basic need that is a sort of emotional system. It's what makes them naturally huddle close to their mother.

Munchkin08 · 02/05/2018 11:43

It is very difficult to determine the sex of chickens until they are much older. The male chickens have an extra claw half way up the leg, this is what they use when they fight.

Bluelady · 02/05/2018 11:44

Completely agree, missbonita, all fed by sentimentality and "cuteness".

getoutofthebath · 02/05/2018 11:47

I'm sure they don't like having their necks wrung either MotherOf but they're keeping Nando's in business!

StopBeingNosey · 02/05/2018 11:47

The breeds they usually use for schools to hatch you can tell as soon as they’ve dried out. Males are yellow, females brown.

Itscurtainsforyou · 02/05/2018 11:48

@StopBeingNosy - I knew how farms work Smile. But went to show the kids the animals (they loved it) and found it depressing.
You know how it is, you can put it to the back of your mind until you're confronted with it.

Original poster
Aprilmightbemynewname · 02/05/2018 11:54

Lots of ways to dispatch, chucked in a mincer being one of them.
Sad
Def dont want to come back as a male chick.

OP posts:
MrsRhubarb · 02/05/2018 11:55

I often worry about this. I've kept chickens for many years, and hatched eggs in an incubator and under hens. The incubator chicks seemed happy and perfectly socialised hens until I got them to hatch their own chicks. It wasn't pretty. One of them systematically killed each chick as it hatched. The hens raised by a hen looked after their brood.

missbonita · 02/05/2018 11:56

We kept the 2 thats survived - they are poor layers and permanently cross but hey ho.

I eat eggs and chicken and I know exactly where they come from - my field. Other meat I eat comes from within a 20 mile radius and from my local butcher who knows the farmers he buys from.

Sheep and lambs are separated for the ewes benefit - to wean the lambs. Sheep farming in the UK is sustainable and ethical as sheep cannot be raised in factory conditions. I have never met a shepherd that did not love their flock and saying its 'the handmaids tale for animals' is either naive or inflammatory. My ewes are exceptionally happy healthy animals.

Do some research and learn where your food comes from.