Hatching chicks and ducks at nurseries/schools.

[Yellowrosesmakemehappy]

AIBU to really hate this activity and I wish it was banned? Toddlers nursery is doing it currently and my heart sank when I saw it.

I just feel it’s so wrong for them to be created for no reason and not even have a mum to keep them safe and cosy and comforted.

The reasoning behind it is to teach the kids about wildlife but we can do that for our child without this, I think it’s old fashioned and mean and not very forward thinking. 😭

I’m probs a massive hypocrite as I’m not vegan but this just seems so pointless.

PETA are a joke....I agree with the ethics of not hatching chick's (felt bad for the caterpillars they did in my daughters class for gods sake).... but PETA are absolutely biased to their cause! Don't ram their misinformation down people's throats.

Ours always used to disappear and the dinner ladies would tell us they ended up in a pie.

As long as they are well treated and have a good home to go to I see no problem with this. It teaches us where food comes from.

My sons nursery has 2 chicks at the minute, I did feel a little sad

What bias and what misinformation are you talking about ?

Where there's livestock there's dead stock

I hate it.

Some really interesting comments on here thank you - even the ones agreeing I am a hypocrite, I see your points.

I was vegetarian 3 years and fell off the wagon, in an ideal world I would be vegan maybe I need to work harder to dedicate myself to that, we don’t eat much meat but we still do eat it and drink milk etc

I do also agree with those who say you can still eat meat and care about animal welfare. We adopted all our pets from rescues, donate and have volunteered at rescues. We’ve also recused animals from danger etc in the past. ( Appreciate the view that this is biased towards pets and all animals are important so we shouldn’t eat them).

I just feel like the chicks are used for cutesy reasons and entertainment, at least eating meat has a purpose. ( I know some people think it’s still unnecessary).

I can take my child to a park or river and teach them about ducks, they don’t need to be in a bright classroom getting manhandled with no mum.

My child also loves the idea that animals have mummy’s and also points this out so it seems a bit wrong that on this occasion the animals won’t have a mother…

Yes that's true @LammasEve. Next time I will just throw chickens to the dogs and let them get ripped to pieces.

Our nursery had caterpillars that they look after until they turn into butterflies and they're released. They also have tadpoles that are kept until they turn into frogs, then they are released on one of the nursery workers farm. She also brings in chickens for the children to meet. One year they did hatch chicks but again they went to her farm. And yes, an actual genuine farm. I would be pretty uncomfortable if she didn't have the facilities to take on the animals.

If the children eat meat, particularly low ethics meat, then imo they absolutely should understand where it comes from, how its produced, what happens to male poultry, etc.

Drakes cant be kept with one duck each - theyre too, ahem, amorous. Its cruel to do so.
Cockerels will often fight each other (as will male turkeys if left long enough to be mature), particularly if there are a similar number of males and females. So its not usually possible to keep all the males for their natural lifespan.
Obviously male chickens dont lay eggs, and meat breeds are bred to grow big quickly whereas egg laying breeds are produced to... well, lay lots of eggs. Males of egg laying breeds aren't usually kept as they still eat but produce no profit.

I was telling DD about this. Despite having a great memory does not remember doing this in nursery at all. She seemed fairly appalled.
Pity they didn’t just do tadpoles as the school had a pond anyway.

I absolutely hate it and the companies that make a profit from it. I hate the way I’m seen as the bad guy as I’m the only one who objects to it too.

So the poor wee things hatch and there’s usually always one deformed one which dies (I know it’s the circle of life and all that). Next they are all passed around little hands who are not the most gentle however hard they try, they do get dropped. Must be very stressful to be picked up numerous times a day. After a week the company either picks them up or there is usually done kind “friend of a friend” who adopts them. Where do you think the male chicks are going? I’ve tried to tell them that you can only have one adult cockerel, the rest will be slaughtered.

Children could watch live feeds on videos or have chicks brought in they don’t need a profit making company selling eggs to school and nurseries.

There is always, in discussions of ethics, at least one person making the fallacious claim that unless you're perfect you can't contribute.

It is entirely possible to abhor the industrial farming process and still (due to, say, income) be reliant on it.

It is the same with sustainability: we are never going to achieve 100% of people being 100% sustainable. 80q doing their very best is an achievable and valid goal.

A local farmer who has the capacity is very different to the national companies that now do it nationally on a mass scale.

I've known multiple sets in one school, them in nurseries and old people's homes. Theres simply too many of them to be doing it ethically

I also believe that they can't be then taken for meat chickens by the company when collected due to the lack of bio security. There are fairly strict laws on what chickens can be fed , thus they can't use them for meat as there is a portion of their upbringing where they are kept in unknown circumstances with unclear safety rules so can't be sold.

Quite simply it's creating and destroying animals for use in entertainment Unless it's the unicorn version where it's a lovely teacher willing to take on whole broods every year for the rest of the project.

The school I'm associated with hatches them for a local free range farm, he uses an incubator himself so no difference except these get a great 4 weeks or so before the farmer collects them. It's a meat farm and the children know this (but several have farming roots so no shock to them anyway). Valuable learning tool. Chickens are raised for food

You do realise that commercial farm hens don't raise their young? Mummy hens don't look after their chicks! I think some adults need a reality check too. I eat meat and I'm quite aware how it's produced

Well yes, that's why I don't partake in animal cruelty.

Yeah I get that, I suppose what I mean is, is that in this scenario, they are specifically using the excuse that it’s to teach children about wildlife/ animals but for me I would rather my child saw the ducklings in their natural habitat with their mother.

This just seems so clinical and almost like lab conditions.

I suppose at least in the farm scenario they are being used for a purpose of meat/food ( feel awful writing that.)