And I'm asking y'all and all y'alls friends to NOT give chicks as Easter presents to children. Those cute little yellow fluffballs soon turn into gangly half-grown chickens, and outgrow their cardboard box and the child's interest. About a month after Easter, we are offered half-grown chicks "because you have chickens". We can't take them because we don't know if they are healthy or if they have had a proper diet. Also, our ladies don't like to share and could kill an intruder. If you must give a chick, give some of those neon-bright marshmallow peeps and do a real chick a big favor!
Jane, Up here there is a minimum a seller can sell. You have to buy 6 of them at one time and some stores even have their own minimum....25 chicks. I had a customer stop last week who was thinking about a chick for her grandchild and she was surprised she would have to buy 6 to do that. I told her "birds are a flock animal and need to huddle and have a heat lamp on them. they really aren't a suitable gift for a child. they require a lot of attention until they are about 6 weeks old..not the kind of thing a childs attention span can do, nor do they have the time if they are in school". " OH! I didn't realize that" was her response. I haven't had anybody "dump" their chicks on me, thankfully, but maybe we don't have the issue up here like you do there. It is also ILLEGAL to dye them for sale. poor chicky's!
We had lots of chickens when I was a kid and a couple of times we got those dyed ones at Easter. Poor things, they'd lose their feathers and were never really healthy like the regular chickens. Candy is a much better gift for a kid at Easter!
One of the national news programs the other night had a warning story about not giving live chicks or bunnies to kids for Easter, so I think it's pretty much a nation wide issue, not just a local one.
I saw something on Facebook about not giving bunnies as Easter gifts. Thankfully no one that saw that post had ever known of anyone doing that! Thankfully I've never heard of anyone giving chicks either. But I have heard about people giving kittens or puppies as gifts and I don't think that should happen at ANY time of year.
People actually DO that? Good Lord. I'm familiar with folks giving puppies for Xmas or birthday presents......and don't EVEN get me started on THAT ridiculous, and often cruel practice! I occasionally help with dog rescue and have several friends who are very active in, or own, rescue organizations. They are absolutely swamped a couple of months after Christmas every year with gangly, untrained, exuberant adolescent dogs whose owners had NO clue how much work a puppy could be, just didn't bother to find out or forward think the purchase beyond wanting to see that joyful light in their kids eyes. So of course, after the novelty wore off and they got the idea that yes, puppies WILL pee and poop in the house if they're not trained, and yes, training takes time, patience, and consistency, and yes, dogs need decent food and vet care and both cost money.....well, so they just don't want the dog any more and dump it at the pound. The idea that little chicks befall the same fate, and rabbits too......well, the punishment I think needs to be meted out to these irresponsible people just simply isn't printable here. :-x
