• volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    I think one of the problems is that you basically can’t keep many roosters together (I’m not even sure you can keep two roosters together). That means that for a sanctuary you need huge space so that the roosters don’t kill each other. So while I also buy eggs that guarantee that the male chicks will be raised, I wonder how this is supposed to work if I pay only like 50 cents per egg and half of the hatched eggs are male.

    (Note that my knowledge on rooster farming comes from a German or possibly German-French documentary on that, so I might be talking out of my ass here.)

    (I think I just remember that 2€/egg was the price calculated in the documentary for ethical farming without losses for the farmers. This was some years ago. To be fair - I’d totally pay that for an egg. Egg as an ingredient can be easily substituted and as a standalone dish it can be something special that I’m willing to pay for. )

            • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              Tell everyone that you can do very well without eggs, which then stops the breeding, mistreatment and inevitable killing of chicken, without the land use to grow their food, so nature can be restored there, capturing CO2, which then slows down and gradually turns back climate warming, so we can still keep growing plants in a moderate climate for our own consumption. It’s a bit simplified of course, but you get the gist.

    • Anivia@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      You need about 5 hens per rooster, unless you only have a single one, then you can get away with less. More than 5 of course doesn’t hurt, but usually 5 hens per rooster is enough to prevent them from killing each other.

      Source: I keep chickens

      • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        So they can theoretically be held together? Like, 3 roosters 15 chicken in one group?

        Also, and I am sorry if this sounds dumb, but is there any kind of birth control for chicken? Or do you just eat fresh eggs with 1 day old embryos inside all the time? Can you castrate a rooster?

        (Wait isn’t there even a dish with a castrated rooster? I think it was in a play by Bertold Brecht)

        • Anivia@feddit.org
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          2 days ago

          So they can theoretically be held together? Like, 3 roosters 15 chicken in one group?

          Yes

          Also, and I am sorry if this sounds dumb, but is there any kind of birth control for chicken?

          No, hens don’t immediately start hatching their eggs when they lay them, they try to collect about 8 before they do so. There are no embryos inside the fertilized eggs when you eat them

          Can you castrate a rooster?

          No, because their scrotum is not outside of their body