Thank you for this. I’ve been eating a vegan diet for 30 years because, like you, once you see it, there’s no going back without suppressing truth. Blessings to you as you continue to journey and write.
Bless you for taking in a flock of damaged birds. Indeed, industrializing life is cruel. My five hens send you love and gratitude for your kindness. When we look at an animal and see "food" instead of the face of God, we have wandered far from the Divine heart.
Thank you for sharing this experience. Your insights are exactly what our world needs to heal and find our way back to a place of reverence for life. I rescue these chickens. I have a small sanctuary devoted to their care. If you ever want to reach out about how to best care for these terribly genetically manipulated babies, please message me. What ill says is that those of us who rescue these chickens have found that limiting their feed is essential for giving them as long and healthy life as possible. When they’re babies they’ll still need to eat more… But by the time they are about two months, I feed all my hens a quarter cup of low protein feed morning and night supplemented with some fresh low-calorie, watery vegetables, like zucchini and cucumber or also watermelon and blueberries midday. But they never get anything like scratch or corn and they cannot be allowed to free feed like normal chickens do or they will become too lame to walk by the time they’re six months at most. I took in my first group of rescues from an industrial farm over seven years ago, and most of them are still with me, which I do consider a small miracle. They’re so vulnerable and they weren’t bred to have immune systems but if you can get them through their first few months, with the limited diet, and some other considerations just to protect their very weak immune systems,many of them can live a relatively long life. i’ve gotten to know them as individuals and have discovered that they have personalities just as rich and unique as our dogs and cats. Thank you for caring for them. Thank you for your deep insights on our broken relationship with these creatures. 🙏
I came here to say this. 😊 We also rescue these wonderful chickens and adore their sweet, silly personalities. Ditto what Tracey says about the need for a restricted diet. And thank you also for this important article.
Hi both - Thank you for your notes and encouragement! Your advice to restrict their diet, which I can absolutely see the need to do, is making me think that I can never combine these flocks. I have one flock of “normal” chickens who free feed. These won’t be able to do that. Do I need to keep them separate? Any advice?
We have always kept ours separated. I've heard of some people keeping the food higher up for the birds who free feed, but out of reach by the big chickens. I would be concerned about how much is spilled. I highly recommend checking out The Open Sanctuary Project. They have tons of great information, including caring for large breed chickens.
A great post...you give me hope in the mornings. I loved what you said about "what does dominion mean if it is not restraint, protection, and care?" As a little girl I always felt like this when anyone read Genesis to me. Thank you for all your great posts.
Thank you for sharing this real-time experience. As sobering and disheartening as it is, it has me thinking - what can I do? Right now I don’t know the answer. But I will carry this with me.
My heart aches from what I just read. “Create in me, oh Lord, a clean heart” comes to mind. You have written the truth of our country’s governing dominance, that we need to know and learn from. A clean heart must start with each one of us and in our own backyards.
Hi Cameron - I've been homesteading for about 12 years now as a transplanted suburbanite. Do you have any information about those chickens? It sounds to me as if they are meat birds. If it makes you feel any better, a lot of organic and regenerative farmers use this genetic line to raise meat birds. Since they are working to sustain themselves financially as farmers (which is important work), a fast-growing breed makes sustainable sense, especially with the cost of grain. As homesteaders we buy these chicks too, given the cost of grain. But! I am writing to hopefully help you through potential heartbreak, with the same thoughtfulness I received as a new farmer when I lost my first lamb. A wise friend counseled me that farmers practice radical acceptance. And I learned first hand that I was not insulated from death. Those chickens have been genetically engineered, for better or for worse, to live about ten weeks before being slaughtered. They won't live far beyond that because of the strain on their hearts. So you get to watch them feel the sun on their backs. You get to watch them rest on grass or hay. But I am afraid you are also getting a lesson in radical acceptance and I don't want you to have to go through it without a little of the same support I received. All good wishes, Catherine
Just a note that with special care, these birds can actually live a relatively long, healthy life. I’ve been rescuing these birds for the last seven years. With a limited diet and extra TLC, I have several who are over seven now, other others who are over six… They will certainly die young if allowed to free feed. And there’s no denying their genetics have been manipulated for them to be killed as babies. But it is not inevitable that they will die young. Much of that has to do with how we decide to treat them.
Thank you for this thoughtful article and especially these words: "I have to believe that God grieves that violence because Love does not look away from harm." After I learned about the violence of animal agriculture, I gave up eating meat in 2001 for this very reason. As a person of faith, I immediately felt the same that God was grieving the way we treat animals as commodities and with extreme cruelty and violence. (I later became vegan in 2017, also as an extension of my faith.) I started a sanctuary for chickens and potbelly pigs in 2018. We have adopted many "meat" birds, some from factory farms, from trucks overturned on the highway, and even some that were rejected by the slaughterhouse for being too small. Several of ours are around 7-years-old. They have brought me so much love and joy. They are truly wonderful little people. Thank you for opening your heart to them and for caring. Thank you for wrestling with and sharing these difficult questions. Thank you for your beautiful prayer for living as community.
Your environmentalist points are. well taken, very appropriate, in my opinion. i can only add that based upon my personal experience and formal education regarding care of chicken and turkeys the industrially developed birds are enduring the classic symptoms of trace mineral malnutrition, specifically they need zinc and magnesium. Thanks for your post. This comment is from my spouse Pete who grew up on a family farm in Mich. (He also added it may be too late for these birds.)
Thank you for this writing. I grew up on a farm, and all our animals had room to roam and food to eat. So, reading this saddens me beyond words. How frightening for us. We act as though chickens and other animals do not suffer and/or have feelings. My experience they do have some understanding what is happening to them. Bless you for writing about this. Keep us informed.
It is scary what we have and continue to do to our planet.
With regards to the chicks, a good read by Barbara Kingslover, Animals, Vegetable, Miracle. It is eye opening.
Thank you for this. I’ve been eating a vegan diet for 30 years because, like you, once you see it, there’s no going back without suppressing truth. Blessings to you as you continue to journey and write.
Ditto this.
Bless you for taking in a flock of damaged birds. Indeed, industrializing life is cruel. My five hens send you love and gratitude for your kindness. When we look at an animal and see "food" instead of the face of God, we have wandered far from the Divine heart.
Thank you for sharing this experience. Your insights are exactly what our world needs to heal and find our way back to a place of reverence for life. I rescue these chickens. I have a small sanctuary devoted to their care. If you ever want to reach out about how to best care for these terribly genetically manipulated babies, please message me. What ill says is that those of us who rescue these chickens have found that limiting their feed is essential for giving them as long and healthy life as possible. When they’re babies they’ll still need to eat more… But by the time they are about two months, I feed all my hens a quarter cup of low protein feed morning and night supplemented with some fresh low-calorie, watery vegetables, like zucchini and cucumber or also watermelon and blueberries midday. But they never get anything like scratch or corn and they cannot be allowed to free feed like normal chickens do or they will become too lame to walk by the time they’re six months at most. I took in my first group of rescues from an industrial farm over seven years ago, and most of them are still with me, which I do consider a small miracle. They’re so vulnerable and they weren’t bred to have immune systems but if you can get them through their first few months, with the limited diet, and some other considerations just to protect their very weak immune systems,many of them can live a relatively long life. i’ve gotten to know them as individuals and have discovered that they have personalities just as rich and unique as our dogs and cats. Thank you for caring for them. Thank you for your deep insights on our broken relationship with these creatures. 🙏
I came here to say this. 😊 We also rescue these wonderful chickens and adore their sweet, silly personalities. Ditto what Tracey says about the need for a restricted diet. And thank you also for this important article.
Hi both - Thank you for your notes and encouragement! Your advice to restrict their diet, which I can absolutely see the need to do, is making me think that I can never combine these flocks. I have one flock of “normal” chickens who free feed. These won’t be able to do that. Do I need to keep them separate? Any advice?
We have always kept ours separated. I've heard of some people keeping the food higher up for the birds who free feed, but out of reach by the big chickens. I would be concerned about how much is spilled. I highly recommend checking out The Open Sanctuary Project. They have tons of great information, including caring for large breed chickens.
https://opensanctuary.org/large-breed-chicken-special-care-considerations/
A great post...you give me hope in the mornings. I loved what you said about "what does dominion mean if it is not restraint, protection, and care?" As a little girl I always felt like this when anyone read Genesis to me. Thank you for all your great posts.
Thank you for sharing this real-time experience. As sobering and disheartening as it is, it has me thinking - what can I do? Right now I don’t know the answer. But I will carry this with me.
My heart aches from what I just read. “Create in me, oh Lord, a clean heart” comes to mind. You have written the truth of our country’s governing dominance, that we need to know and learn from. A clean heart must start with each one of us and in our own backyards.
Hi Cameron - I've been homesteading for about 12 years now as a transplanted suburbanite. Do you have any information about those chickens? It sounds to me as if they are meat birds. If it makes you feel any better, a lot of organic and regenerative farmers use this genetic line to raise meat birds. Since they are working to sustain themselves financially as farmers (which is important work), a fast-growing breed makes sustainable sense, especially with the cost of grain. As homesteaders we buy these chicks too, given the cost of grain. But! I am writing to hopefully help you through potential heartbreak, with the same thoughtfulness I received as a new farmer when I lost my first lamb. A wise friend counseled me that farmers practice radical acceptance. And I learned first hand that I was not insulated from death. Those chickens have been genetically engineered, for better or for worse, to live about ten weeks before being slaughtered. They won't live far beyond that because of the strain on their hearts. So you get to watch them feel the sun on their backs. You get to watch them rest on grass or hay. But I am afraid you are also getting a lesson in radical acceptance and I don't want you to have to go through it without a little of the same support I received. All good wishes, Catherine
Just a note that with special care, these birds can actually live a relatively long, healthy life. I’ve been rescuing these birds for the last seven years. With a limited diet and extra TLC, I have several who are over seven now, other others who are over six… They will certainly die young if allowed to free feed. And there’s no denying their genetics have been manipulated for them to be killed as babies. But it is not inevitable that they will die young. Much of that has to do with how we decide to treat them.
Thank you for this thoughtful article and especially these words: "I have to believe that God grieves that violence because Love does not look away from harm." After I learned about the violence of animal agriculture, I gave up eating meat in 2001 for this very reason. As a person of faith, I immediately felt the same that God was grieving the way we treat animals as commodities and with extreme cruelty and violence. (I later became vegan in 2017, also as an extension of my faith.) I started a sanctuary for chickens and potbelly pigs in 2018. We have adopted many "meat" birds, some from factory farms, from trucks overturned on the highway, and even some that were rejected by the slaughterhouse for being too small. Several of ours are around 7-years-old. They have brought me so much love and joy. They are truly wonderful little people. Thank you for opening your heart to them and for caring. Thank you for wrestling with and sharing these difficult questions. Thank you for your beautiful prayer for living as community.
“Abundance without reverence becomes violence.” Thank you for this.
Reverend Cameron's post brings tears and heartache--we have so much more to learn from
these precious ones and to seriously consider the choices we make.
Your environmentalist points are. well taken, very appropriate, in my opinion. i can only add that based upon my personal experience and formal education regarding care of chicken and turkeys the industrially developed birds are enduring the classic symptoms of trace mineral malnutrition, specifically they need zinc and magnesium. Thanks for your post. This comment is from my spouse Pete who grew up on a family farm in Mich. (He also added it may be too late for these birds.)
These words penetrated deeply, thank you for them❤️
Cameron,
Love how you share your journey words with us. Can I come visit your homestead?
Thank you for this writing. I grew up on a farm, and all our animals had room to roam and food to eat. So, reading this saddens me beyond words. How frightening for us. We act as though chickens and other animals do not suffer and/or have feelings. My experience they do have some understanding what is happening to them. Bless you for writing about this. Keep us informed.
Evidently Chicken Town:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNxm0VZO7l0