It happens every year. My in-laws get offers weeks or months after Easter for “free chickens” that were purchased for children over the Easter holidays. Every year. Usually these chicks are roosters that are cast-offs of the commercial egg farms and therefore come to your local store for pennies. Why do you think they are given away so inexpensively? Or as a “free” bonus for buying some other package-priced item?
So you give in and buy a cute fluffy chick. Or six. And they are adorable, your kids are thrilled and you win Easter.
After five or six weeks when their feathers begin coming in and they look like scruffy punk-rockers they are no longer cute. They are outgrowing their box so now they smell. It’s a hassle to change their bedding every day and you don’t have room for a large box.
These were Easter bunnies sent to the ranch last year by irresponsible purchasers, just before their butchering.
What now?
Now we start getting phone calls. And we gladly accept free roosters because that is one less bird we have to buy for our freezer. Ditto for the bunnies too.
an ex-Easter basket chick rescue
Last year we were given 10 roosters and this guy is the only one left. He had lived his entire life in a cat crate which doesn’t have enough space or ventilation for proper care of a full-grown chicken.
A friendly game of tag. As soon as Adam turns and walks away the rooster chases him.
This rooster is hilarious. Gorgeous but diminutive in size. I don’t know if his smaller-than-average-but-not-full-bantum size is a result of his breeding or a result of his early care (or lack thereof).
While all the other roosters have slowly ended up in the stew pot or barbecue, this guy has secured himself a free pass through his antics and beauty. He follows the kids around, staying just outside of arm’s reach, but never letting them out of his sight.
My Father-in-law won’t put him in the coop with the other chickens because he “figures he’s had enough wires in his life already” so he stays inside the backyard fence, eats whatever scraps get tossed his way, and roosts in the well house at night. He’s happier than he’s ever been in his life and it shows. Click to Tweet
He follows the kids through the backyard all the way to the fence line. Not a bad life for this rescue rooster!
I get a little bit preachy about not buying baby animals to look cute in an Easter basket. That’s because I’ve seen it from the other side. The side that has to put a half-wild feral dog down from disease or when it chases and kills the calves. The side that gets free roosters every year because people can’t be bothered to take care of the animals they buy.
So until we have a year where we don’t get offered Easter basket bunnies or chickens, I will continue to spread the word. I am hopeful the year will come when we won’t have this problem anymore.
I have to agree with Angela on this subject. As a veterinarian, I’ve seen it from the other side too. Impulsive pet purchases are almost never a good idea and even less so when the purchase is an animal which you don’t know how to care for. I’m going to get “preachy” too…always do your research BEFORE you bring a new pet home and make sure you are prepared, physically and financially, to be able to care for your new charge.
I’m so happy these animals have a place to go. We are raising rabbits, but it blows my mind that people would give chicks as an Easter present! You have to be set up to raise chickens (we did when I was a kid) or rabbits!
Most of them go in the stew pot – including all the rabbits as we just have no desire to raise rabbits right now. But that little black rooster sure is something else…He has earned himself a permanent spot in the backyard just be being so stinkin’ cute! 🙂
I can’t imagine buying chicks and bunnies for kids for Easter. We use to have chickens and I’d enjoy having them again. With a lot of predators around now (eagles, hawks, fox, coyotes, mink), I need a more secure home for them and that’s quite an investment. Will have to wait.
In our area it is stray dogs and raccoons that tend to be the most numerous predator. In fact we switched to a portable chicken yard and use that instead of 100% free-range…they are always over grass and such but we just move them around the yard. Do you have any scrap wire or lumber? They can be done pretty inexpensive.
This is an important message, similar to “A puppy is for life, not just for Christmas”. I hope lots of people will see your post and stop themselves. And shame on any merchant using free baby animals as sales boosters.
Same happened to us every year as kids.
Even now people are always trying to get us to take their animals….but I say no because of bio management.
I bought 300 chicks 3 years ago… and came home with an additional 300. I couldn’t bare they’d be killed. After all they could go to the freezer after a good life and feed my family.
~Honey
Great post! You also have the people that buy baby ducks then dump them at the park!