School hatching chicks

[frostedviolets]

AIBU to really, really angry at this?

8 chicks hatched according to the newsletter, the ‘living eggs’ company coming to collect the chicks unless any parents want to rehome them 🤬🤬🤬🤬

First of all, there is no mention whatsoever of vetting, making sure they are going to parents homes with the correct equipment, knowledge etc, remember these are baby chicks, not young chickens.

Secondly, ‘living eggs’ claims the chicks are rehomed ethically on ‘free range’ farms but this is surely bullshit given that no farm, free range or otherwise wants cockerels so what exactly is going to happen to the unfortunate chicks who have been boys?
Presumably they are going to be gassed or minced?

Not to mention the appalling conditions of most ‘free range’ farms.

AIBU?

Yes it's awful but given the fact most are minced anyway I guess they don't care if unsuitable people home them. I'm a vegetarian btw so not "not caring" but what can you do?

I’m just so annoyed about it.

I’m debating complaining to the school but then again I wonder if I should bother given they have never cared when I have politely voiced concerns about other subjects in the past.

The complete carelessness, as if they are mere ‘classroom tools’ rather than actual, living breathing creatures.

And you’re right, there’s truly nothing I can do.
I have kept chickens before but don’t have the knowledge or equipment to care for baby chicks or do I have the space outside
🤬

*nor do I

I tried to get some for my school. One of the other teacher is a avid animal rights activist. She said she really disagreed with them as all baby animals should be with their parents and not man handled by children (her wording was better than mine).

So we didn't get them (as I didn't feel strongly enough about having them to go against someone that strongly disagreed).

Years ago we had them in a school and one of the teaching assistants kept them as pets afterwards.... there was zero checks on her or her home to see if she was suitable (she was very suitable but they didn't know that).

The children loved having them and I was able to link it to so many areas of the curriculum and make their learning exciting ( we did life cycles, poetry, instruction writing, word problems, art work, fwgere food comes from, healthy eating etc). However we know more about treating animals better so I don't think I'd try and get them again as there's lots of other ways to excite learning.

It basically isn't very animal friendly

That is really awful OP. Bloody irresponsible.

I think I would say something to the school. Even if nothing comes of it this time it might prevent the same thing again. Are there any local charities you could tell who could step in? I don't know if any would even bother tbh as I guess their little lives are seen as so irrelevant

Yes it's awful to hatch chicks when they have no home to go to. No farm wants the boys.

Even if they do manage to 'rehome' them a lot of free range farms kill their hens at 72 weeks old anyway when the birds start their moult.

It's the same as schools that have "school pets" who are offered up to literally anyone during the holidays. And probably terrified during term time also as it's usually rabbits and they are so nervous and would be distressed with fingers being poked at them but I guess not many teachers would stop.

Are there any local charities you could tell who could step in?
I don’t know of any.
The literature on the ‘living eggs’ website is very clear that they don’t want them going to rescue.

They must be collected by the company to be ‘ethically rehomed’ or rather, as I suspect, gassed/minced if male or shoved into an overcrowded commercial barn and put in chicken soup at a few years old if female...
Or privately rehomed but not into sanctuaries/rescue.

The looking after/hatching is a good learning experience for children, and while I don’t agree with “unless any parent want them”, chickens are fairly low maintenance as pets go, and farm conditions are likely to be worse than a family home where kids are involved (so likely to be upset is said chicken is sick).

Also the teaching experience of what truly happens to chickens to provide eggs/meat could be a superb teaching opportunity. And I say this as a meat eater (ethically raised as far as I can manage). I also believe anyone, including children, who eat meat should be raised to the ugliness of the meat industry, and be able to kill their own meat once they are old enough.

A care home near us did this, and then advertised that 7 cockerels would be killed if the community didn’t step up and take them 😤😤😤

It’s wrong. There are too many unwanted animals in this world! Poor animals like rabbits/chickens etc usually end up the worst off! Should be banned

It just sums up that industry doesn't it I find it really disingenuous that school is 'teaching' kids by hatching 'cute' little chicks, without the sinister, 'oh by the way, the girls here, they'll have a life of pumping out eggs living in dark crowded conditions until they're killed when they don't produce enough anymore, and the boys? Well, here's a video of them all on a conveyor belt sliding down before being put through a mincer' The reality is so not cutesy the-miracle-of-life and something about that really doesn't sit well with me.

A care home near us did this, and then advertised that 7 cockerels would be killed if the community didn’t step up and take them

This is one of my biggest issues with this.
Literally no one wants males.
Farms don’t want them as they don’t lay.
The general public don’t want them as they don’t lay and are unbelievably noisy.
So where do the poor little boys go??
It’s unspeakably cruel and really irresponsible.

It's a disgusting practice. Please complain, and not necessarily politely!

They’re chickens op. The majority are going to be killed anyway. Anyone can go out and buy them. Why would the school vet homes when like you said, they’ll most likely be killed. It’s a nice experience for the children, and the chickens will likely have a higher rate of survival and in a nicer home than if they were directly hatched for meat or eggs

It just sums up that industry doesn't it
It really does.
Completely disposable.

I find it really disingenuous that school is 'teaching' kids by hatching 'cute' little chicks, without the sinister, 'oh by the way, the girls here, they'll have a life of pumping out eggs living in dark crowded conditions until they're killed when they don't produce enough anymore, and the boys? Well, here's a video of them all on a conveyor belt sliding down before being put through a mincer'
I agree

The reality is so not cutesy the-miracle-of-life and something about that really doesn't sit well with me
Me neither.
I know some will feel it’s a massive overreaction but it’s made me feel physically ill thinking about their future plight.

Yanbu, I'd complain if DD's school did that.
I'd prefer a trip to a petting zoo but with plenty of parents there to keep the kids calm around the animals.

Our class pets are looked after by a lady who brings them in a couple of times per week. I was so relieved when I saw that.

They’re chickens op. The majority are going to be killed anyway
Oh well that’s alright then!

Why would the school vet homes when like you said, they’ll most likely be killed
Because it is what any decent person should do?

It’s a nice experience for the children, and the chickens will likely have a higher rate of survival and in a nicer home than if they were directly hatched for meat or eggs
These are young chicks.
Rehomed to an average parent there’s a good chance they’ll die.

I agree completely, OP.

To those saying it's a good learning experience for children, all it teaches them is that animals are easily discard-able and that people don't need to take any responsibility for the ones they bring into their lives.

How are chicks killer and minced?

How are chicks killer and minced?
Commercial farms mince them or gas them to death if male because males don’t lay eggs and commercial farms no longer use ‘dual purpose’ breeds so male chicks of an egg laying breed aren’t used for meat.
They are considered useless

PPs are saying that at least a home with a school family is better than where they might end up are missing the point that if schools didn't do this there would be no demand for such companies to exist and these chicks wouldn't be in a no-win situation as they wouldn't be bred.

@annamie the males are separated and all dumped on a huge conveyor belt, which drops them down through a number of levels all thrown together and struggling, and at the end there's a big metal mincer which they're fed through and the twitching bodies are dumped the other side. It's really awful to watch (thanks to an undercover video I saw on SM).

I'm not vegan, although heading that way, but it's the reason I don't buy eggs anymore. Even 'free range' has loopholes so that they can fit the guidelines but the chickens still have horrible lives. My DM has a woman that lives near her who sells eggs from her IL's actual free range farm. The chickens roam free and it's lovely. The only time I will buy eggs is from her. The rest of the industry is all about keeping costs down and profits high, fuck animal welfare

Sorry to derail OP.