“By popular request… that’s not true. Although actually it is the most requested thing on this site. But also the only requested thing on this site.
In all honesty I’m writing this for the unfortunately named, Coop Poop.”
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Hey Coop Poop – I’m sorry for characterising your name as unfortunate. Although I hope you know I was only joking in a post that I thought would be read by yourself and maybe my mother!
Also, I have a little chicken jealousy, but that’s a different story.
Love your updates.
I thought it was hilarious! That’s why I reblogged it! In any case, I was thrilled to see how popular your bench instructions were. In fact, I just e-mailed your blog to another friend who is interested in the Green Bench. Congrats on your wedding!
“I personally don’t have a problem with animals being killed for meat…”
Agreed in theory. The rubber meets the road when WE are the ones doing the killing. I don’t know about you, but for me, I live in pure hypocrisy because I know I can’t do the deed. For example, I can’t and I won’t even kill the perch within an aquaponics system specifically designed so we (our small community of like-minded people) have the ability to eat clean fish — but I WANT to eat the perch. I have no problem if one of the guys kills the perch – out of sight and I just get to enjoy the wonderful meal – without my facing reality. In my mind, therefore, I’m not living properly on that level. There is no justification…no spin to weave a more comfortable truth…And that’s where the pain originates. It’s not ONLY the inhumanity and stark cruelty of contemporary food production; it’s even more fundamental than that.
And of course – the chickens. A REAL farmer would kill and freeze the chickens – at the proper time – to have meat for the winter. What I’m doing is playing farmer…and barely. I have absolutely no intention of eating my chickens or feeding my chickens to the dogs. It’s not gonna happen. Yet I feed them chicken and I eat chicken. Pure hypocrisy. I know it when I see it – even within myself.
You’re very hard on yourself.
I don’t kill food for meat. I’m positive I could if I had to. Thank God I don’t have to. It would be awful. I will never kill my chickens for food – they are pets. I’m not a farmer, I have productive pets. I won’t let anyone else kill my girls for food either. Unless there is an environmental disaster or war or whatever then I’m sure all bets are off.
We (or at least me) have the luxury of having enough money and food to be able to avoid some of the uglier tasks of food production. But I don’t feel any more hypocritical in that than I do in using a toilet without ever digging a trench or dealing with sewage. I’m sure I could dig a pit toilet if suddenly plumbing didn’t exist, but I don’t have to so I don’t.
I do kill animals – but really only insects and only when I believe it has to be done. When harvesting honey there were bees trapped and drowning. I couldn’t stand there and watch them drown, my stomach was churning at their suffering. So I decapitated the ones I found. Many would deem my empathising with an insect stupid. I kill mosquitoes because they actively hunt me. Flies, spiders, even cockroaches I put outside. Yet I enjoy meat for food on most days. I don’t see this as hypocritical. My attitude is that if something is going to be killed by or for me, there has to be a reason. And, where possible, they shouldn’t have been mistreated. And, where possible, there should be little or no collateral killing (this is one of the big reasons I won’t eat fish – for each fish eaten, there are so many other animals that die and are thrown away that it seems too wasteful).
I think we each have to find a moral point that we are comfortable with then be true to that. Asking for anything more is too much.
Not being hard on myself — just honest! I really like the term, “productive pets! That’s what I have too!!
I purchased my chickens from a husband/wife team who, although they have very little acreage – are real farmers. They will slaughter and eat their pig and of course, any chickens they didn’t sell. No animal has a name (I asked) and the chickens absolutely act differently on their farm — fearful, I suppose — even though the couple raised them all from birth.
It’s sad really, that all they see are eggs and meat when in reality, the birds are truly amazing, intelligent, and loving creatures. Also, such great communicators!!
So, the lucky ones that got picked haphazardly by me won’t be eaten, but any others within the flock will. I could even go back to their farm now and purchase a fresh frozen bird from the same flock as my chickens. It’s disturbing in the bigger scheme of things.
“I think we each have to find a moral point that we are comfortable with then be true to that. Asking for anything more is too much.:
Could not have been said better…the challenge is reconciling the relativity/subjectivity of that statement and therefore respecting the morality of ALL (because who gets to determine what level of action is sufficiently moral?) Under the personal comfort paradigm, morality is a moving target and not a universal truth — or is it both?…ooh, this is starting to sound a bit quantum mechanics-like.
In any case, it’s probably better for folks to have a solid footing in these sorts of realms, as you seem to have successfully managed. I’m still working my way through it!!
“…I’ve decided that people who have chickens that eat any old veggie scraps have chickens whose diet isn’t overly varied.”
I totally agree with your theory that the idea of the “good stuff” is altogether relative. Beef, chicken, pork, and lamb are the mainstays of my dog’s diet. Given the chance, however, they choose bologna and cheese sandwich (white bread) over steak! My dogs never gulp down food. They sniff it first to see if they like it (even grilled meat!) I have to hide organic kibble in their food bowl, because if they figure it out, the meat,veggies, and rice are eaten and what’s left is soggy kibble.
When I first got my chickens, they went nuts over mealworm — now, it’s just…expected. And they can definitely differentiate food from scraps. Amazing really!! As for holding lettuce – I found that a bungee cord hanging to between eye and beak level is pretty fun for the chickens!
I have to try bits of radish – the broccoli didn’t excite them much… Where do the chickens get their varied palate, I wonder? It’s very similar to humans, if you think about it. Not to be a killjoy, but it just goes to show how inhumane we treat domestic animals that are bred, grown, and killed for food. The whole system (and I’m certainly still a part of it) is really painful to acknowledge.
I couldn’t agree more with your last couple of sentences. Just because an animal doesn’t die, or whine we humans turn a blind eye to anything like sadness versus joy.
I heard about a local experiment at a rural college – the students were each given a cow to care for and each cow had a name. When the time came to slaughter the cows, the students were horrified. The lesson the college took away from that was to never name farm animals and to never repeat the experiment. The lesson I took away from it was that all farmers should be forced to go through that experiment so they remember that their “product” is actually a living thing. Millions of animals around the world would have a better life as a result. I personally don’t have a problem with animals being killed for meat – I have a huge problem with animals having a horrible life whether long or short.
I think the bench is awesome!! I’m having friends – who are much more handy than I (and have the tools!) – make a little bench for my chicken area…so I can sit on it instead of the straw bales. I never once considered the title of my blog [cooppoop] to be “unfortunate”…until blueandyellowmakes.wordpress.com characterized it as such….Thank God, I blog for my own pleasure and that of my little circle of family/friends!
The title of your blog is far from unfortunate. It’s a memorable classic. And let’s face it, if you have a coop, you deal with a lot of poop. And, of course you give us all the poop on your coop. Fantastic title.
I forced hubby to come in and read the bench post and saved the link. He liked the bench as well and he is handy. Some day I may just get one of these benches for myself.
Speaking of poop, you know that, given half a chance, your girls will roost on this bench and cover it with plenty!
Off topic completely, but since you are multi-talented and obviously well read,…do your chickens eat raw pumpkin with the seeds? I just read several chicken keepers say that they go crazy for it. And since I am always looking for ways to delight my chooks (is this behavior even normal?), I hurriedly scooped out the guts of a pumpkin I happened to have laying around (halloween and such.) Much to my surprise, they lifted their little beaks at it, snobbishly…as if I was supposed to maybe do something else to the pumpkin guts before they would dare peck at it…They stuck to pecking at the cut up grapes and finely grated colby-jack cheese, and slurping up cooked spaghetti with teeny pieces of hot chargrilled steak (I’ve started something that doesn’t even look like chicken food, but it’s what the chickens like to eat.) They won’t eat even organic scraps — too beneath them, I suppose. I was going to create a post on this, but I can’t continue to embarrass myself…mice who refuse to leave my house, chickens who eat better than me…I’ve lost complete control!!
I’ve never tried scooping out a pumpkin for my girls. I haven’t had them during pumpkin season but may try it in a few months if my vines come good. But I’m sure they too will turn up their beaks. I did try feeding them pumpkin seeds and they grabbed them, rattled them around in their beaks then dropped them. I got the “where’s the yogurt” look which I’ve come to dread.
After a few months of chicken care I’ve decided that people who have chickens that eat any old veggie scraps have chickens whose diet isn’t overly varied. It’s hard for me to top what my girls can scrounge for themselves in my backyard. They still love radish and broccoli leaves (any brassica will do) if I hold the leaf to make ripping it easier (I’m tragic) and will do backflips for berries, but generic vegetables are a big snore. I get them to eat veggies by cutting them up (often in a food processor) and mixing in a good dollop of yogurt. They just don’t do scraps.
Pasta, rice, meat, cheese… good stuff that doesn’t taste anything like weeds is another matter. They love it. But I rarely have such leftovers – I eat them myself.
Yes, you have lost control which shows what a great animal caregiver you are. You’re building up no end of brownie points for spoiling Chippy and your girls.
Thanks for sharing this – I went and had a look at that blog and it is pretty amazing.
I love the bench too! I’m having it made by friends with more skills and tools than I!!
Finally worked! I had to reboot!