17 May 2017

Rent-a-Chicken Business in Chicago &
Backyard Chickens in Stuart, Florida


 

Rent-a-Chicken Business in Chicago

An email from Free from Harm today urges animal activists: Please comment on and share this article about renting chickens in Chicago: All Cooped Up: Renting Chickens in Chicago. You can also send a letter to WGN at Chicago Tonight feedback.

 

Hens in a cage

Robert Grillo of Free from Harm commented:

Chickens are not objects to be rented like furniture. What an offensive and demeaning way to commodify their identity. They are not egg machines that exist to lay eggs, even though we have engineered their bodies to lay an obscene amount of eggs that causes them great suffering and premature death, even though they are marketed to us as birds that want to lay eggs for us. It's time to realize this is nothing but a hipster fetish and a marketing sham. To those of us who know chickens, we know them as highly sensitive, highly conscious birds that deserve our respect. If you want to help chickens, do not "rent" or buy chicks from hatcheries. Look for adoption opportunities by contacting local shelters and sanctuaries. And check out my article on the hidden harms of backyard chicken-keeping at Backyard Chickens: Expanding Our Understanding of ‘Harm’

 

Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns commented:

There is nothing kind or good about treating chickens as inanimate objects to be "rented" for their eggs, then returned to the supplier when their bodies are trying to rest from the heavy egg-laying imposed on them during the spring and summer. Since the only purpose of this dirty little enterprise is the eggs, it should be understood that when the chickens are returned to the supplier, they will be killed, because the egg industry in all of its phases is merciless. People who think renting two hens is "cool" either don't know the backstory or don't care. I urge people with a conscience, please do not rent chickens. Chickens need a stable environment with caring and responsible people with whom they form bonds of affection and trust. Treating these young birds as "rentals" is flippant and mean. I've been caring for rescued chickens for more than 30 years and knowing them as I do, and cherishing them, I am sickened by the way they are treated. "Renting" them is a kind of final gut punch to these intelligent, high-spirited, sociable birds. If you would like to give a good home to a chicken, and the zoning laws allow you to have one, please adopt a chicken from a shelter.
Karen Davis, President, United Poultry Concerns.

For more information visit: Backyard Chicken-Keeping

 


 

Backyard Chicken-Keeping Proposal in Stuart, Florida

Last week, United Poultry Concerns learned about a contested ordinance amendment currently being considered by the City Commission of Stuart, Florida. Stuart is the seat of Martin County on Florida’s Treasure Coast. Responding to concerns expressed by some of Stuart’s residents about the welfare of the chickens and related problems that those of us who track the urban backyard chicken-keeping trend know all too well, UPC president Karen Davis submitted a letter to the City Commissioners on May 11, 2017. You can read it here:

UPC Letter to Stuart, Florida Officials Re a Proposal to Allow Chicken-Keeping.

You are also invited to tune in to a local radio show about the controversy over the proposed ordinance amendment. The show will feature local resident Laura Leighton who opposes the chicken-keeping proposal versus a local farmer who apparently supports it. You can listen online and, from the website, it looks like people can phone in.

Tuesday, May 23rd from 5:05-5:30pm EDT

The KC Ingram Show

WSTU AM 1450

Henrietta comic