My daughter is a PETA member!

[Balog]

CatsDieNow: oh, believe me it does. When I lived in Tonopah we had to drive past a Hickman's egg ranch. The little research I've done combined with that places stench is horrifying. No debate on that.

But putting that aside for a second, you gotta admit the hose thing is funny. Mr Chicken, minding his own business, "Hey, what's this? Will it be my frieeeee" WHOOSH! The surprised look on his little chicken face..... priceless.

[RevDisk]

I've heard the phrase "People do not want to know the details of how saugage or heros are made".  I believe it's very true.  I turned into a veggie head for a while because I believed it was morally wrong to eat meat when I wasn't willing to do the killing or slaughtering myself.  I killed my first animal, and have been a meat eater since.  Yea, the first time wasn't fun, but it was definitely an educational experience.

It's a bit snobbish, I know, but I still look down at folks whom eat meat that have never killed any animal themselves, nor seen how meat is processed.

[Gewehr98]

What, doesn't anybody drink the blood of the first deer they kill?  It's been a rite of passage in my family since way back when...

Of course, I got over any and all food aversions I had during USAF combat survival school in the Colville National Forest.

[roo_ster]

Chicken-Vac

The guy who invented this is earning a poultry sum in royalties.

[Art Eatman]

I don't like chicken factories.  Howsomever, for 300 million urbanized people, it's hard to envision an ample supply of "yard eggs" to supply all those bacon-and-egg breakfasts.  Or Egg McMuffins.  Not enough farmhouses with 20 chickens each to keep Col. Sanders going, either.

Seriously, though, how can a person speak favorably of PETA without acknowledging the fundamental thought of its founder and still present leader, Ingrid Newkirk:  "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."  (Or girl.)  To Ms. Newkirk, "owning" a pet is equally evil to eating meat.  Having pets should be outlawed, she has said in public.

But, folks pick and choose from among the first ten amendments to our Constitution...

Consistency in thought.  That's my problem, I guess; I'm all hobgoblined.

Art

[mfree]

I raised chickens as a 4H project once. Chickens, even a few of them, stink. Therefore a stench from a commercial farm doesn't surprise me.

Chickens are also literally as dumb as rocks. I almost believe the "turkeys drowning in rain" wive's tales because of them.

Henceforth I foster absolutely no guilt in eating one of these automated protein producing machines.

[Tallpine]

"I don't like chicken factories.  Howsomever, for 300 million urbanized people, it's hard to envision an ample supply of "yard eggs" to supply all those bacon-and-egg breakfasts.  Or Egg McMuffins.  Not enough farmhouses with 20 chickens each to keep Col. Sanders going, either."

Actually, they probably could ... except for all the govt regulations and distribution problems that keep the smaller farm enterprises out of the business

We have some friends with a cattle ranch (2 doors down, which is about 5 miles) who also have chickens.  They give us eggs whenever they have surplus but refuse to take any money for them because of all the hassles that they would have accounting for an egg operation.

[Art Eatman]

Accounting?  For yard eggs?  Oh, well...

Starting when I was twelve, for some three years I had about 200 laying hens.  School money.  I could get ten cents a dozen more for the eggs by cleaning them with vinegar and selling them to the UT sorority houses.  Y'know, it was not until after I got out of the Army that I got to where I could eat an egg.

But there aren't enough small-operation farms in the U.S. to do yard eggs for even one major metro area, much less the country...

Art

[Balog]

Blackburn, that's just..... wow. Damn Army guys are looking at me funny because I'm laughing so hard. Good job, it's tacticaltastic!

[Tallpine]

Art, I think you're supposed to have some sort of commercial egg license if you take any money for them.  I really don't know for sure, as I've not had much interest in being a chicken rancher (seems like they would be awful hard to rope and brand )

Though it would be something one could do without a huge acreage.  We thought about getting into meat rabbits for a while ... there used to be a truck that came through this area picking up live rabbits and taking them to a processor in CA, but for some reason that's not happening anymore.  IIRC, there was a disease outbreak and a whole truckload(s) were seized and destroyed "just in case."

Anyway, it seems pretty hard to be a small producer of any ag products anymore.  Maybe back east you could still do a small truck farm or orchard, but I just don't want to live back there.  I do have a neighbor that raises vegetables in a greenhouse and sells them, but you have to be pretty dedicated (obsessed) to make that work in this dry and windy country.

[Ben]

I've not had much interest in being a chicken rancher (seems like they would be awful hard to rope and brand )

Probably depends on just which kind of chicken ranch you're talking about....

[CatsDieNow]

Yes!!  I have totally hijacked this thread.

[Art Eatman]

What gets to me about PETA's stated goals of no pets, no livestock, no hunting, is the aftereffect:  Dead animals all over the place.

Who's gonna take care of the domestic animals?  It'll get a bit stinky, out...

With no hunting, what's gonna happen when the deer overpopulate the habitat?  When there is no money for game wardens to protect against poaching?  We already have a problem with guys killing deer and elk when the horns are in velvet, selling to Asia--and the same for gall bladders from bears.

It all sounds so good, or looks good on paper.  Trouble is, it's dumber'n hammered dirt.

But that's the Pitiful PETA People...

Art