The Naked Truth of the Poultry Show World
Professor’s comment: This student’s wonderfully vivid, often funny, first-person report brings readers into a little-known world of poultry exhibitors. Who could have imagined what it’s like to bathe fifteen chickens and groom them for judging? From this essay I learned a great deal about chickens, and the student’s talents as a writer made the experience thoroughly engrossing.
Most people seem to think it’s pretty weird that I show chickens. They’re right, I suppose. It’s an odd hobby. I started showing when I was eight years old, and thirteen years later I’m still at it. I went to a county fair way back then, and decided that one day I would own some of those cute little bantam chickens. On July 29, 1987, that dream came true, and from then on I’ve been a dedicated member of the poultry show world. Why do I show chickens? Well, you could say I’m just weird. But I love everything about it: my birds, my poultry friends, the competition, and the camaraderie.
The number of chickens that I have varies from season to season. The breeding season usually starts out with about seventy-five birds, and I hatch anywhere from 200 to 400 chicks between March and July. Throughout the summer and fall, I gradually sell almost all of those chicks until I am down to just the cream of the crop again. I raise Rosecomb Bantams, one of many breeds of miniature chickens. The adults are only a little over twenty ounces. I work with color genetics to develop new and improved color patterns on these birds (that’s what happens when you’re an art major who raises chickens), and to bring back old colors that have long since disappeared in the Rosecomb breed. I used to name every one of my chickens, back in the old days when I only had a few. But as the population grew, I started running out of names, and out of time to spoil each chicken enough so that it was worthy of a name. Now I only name my favorites — those that win a show or those that simply win my heart.
Poultry shows are a huge part of my life. My show season runs from September through February. I go to about six shows a year, and show about fifteen birds each time.
escape from a chicken farm. The film is a spoof of the film 'The Great
Broiler chickens, luckily for them, only live up to 7 weeks old until they are big enough to be slaughtered. Their life starts out in incubator trays with hundreds and thousands of other chicks without enough head room to stand up, and not enough room to take 2 tiny steps. So for the first week of their lives it goes from cramp trays, to cramp boxes, to getting dumped onto the filthy floors of t...
Forensic entomology is the learning of all types of insects and how they connect with criminal investigation. Forensic entomology can tell us how long since the offspring’s death which is known as postmortem interval (PMI) and whether the body has been relocated since putting one foot in the grave, and what injuries it may have suffered. At the start of decomposition, insects launch a new community by hatching eggs on the remains; the eggs will emerge into cankers (larvae) that will graze upon the human organs and tissues. A Forensic entomologists can figure out what specific bugs are presently in the body and gauge how long the body has been left unprotected by investigating how far along the cankers have come; although, what is found isn’t
Pollan, Michael. "An Animal's Place." The Norton Mix: A Custom Publication: Food Writing: A Readymix. Ed. Jeffrey Andelora, Melissa Goldthwaite, Charles Hood, Katharine N. Ings, Angela L. Jones, and Christopher Keller. 13th ed. Vol. 13. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 361-77. Print.
Countless lives locked away in cages and forgotten about have overwhelmed our society, it has left blood stains on our history as a species and if history has taught us anything, it’s that we have a choice to change our ways of adjusting to situations. A war which was fought in pursuit of ending such criminal means, yet we as human beings do little to nothing to end the horrific crimes of animal deaths in shelters. It is no secret that this world has become infused with problems that have extended from one side of the globe to the other. Amongst these problems lies a terrible truth: nearly every year, sums of almost eight million cats and dogs have been placed in shelters around the world. Out of these vast numbers, half will be euthanized; that equals to one animal being put down every 8 seconds. Animals that are not adopted are kept in shelters until they find a home. Most of these shelters do not have enough space or resources to care for the animal. Only 15% of dogs and 2% of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners. The majority of pets are obtained from acquaintances and family members. Twenty-six percent of dogs are purchased from breeders, 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues, and 2 to 10 percent are purchased from pet shops. In addition, only 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. The 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered, while 78 percent of dogs and 88 percent of cats are not spayed or neutered, in 2009 Statistics from animal shelters in 55 counties in WV (West Virginia) shows that nearly 54% of all animals entering shelters are euthanized, The euthanasia rates ranged from the lowest at 5% to the highe...
Updike, John. "A & P." Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories. (New York : Knopf, 1962).
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 7.6 million companion pets enter animal shelters across the United States each year, nearly evenly disrupted between dogs and cats . These animals are abandoned for reasons including families no longer being able to care for them (sickness/death of an owner), to families not wanting them (the novelty wearing of the animal wearing off), to the animals being born into puppy mills to finally animals that are loved being lost from their owners. These animals do not understand what is happening to them and rely on the kindness of humans to provide for them in shelters until their forever home can be found.
When a suspicious body appears in the morgue, the forensics team goes to work. The body, if still covered in tissue goes to the forensic pathologist who will study the tissue extensively. If a conclusion is unable to be reached through this process, the pathologist will remove the tissue from the bone and send the skeleton to the forensic anthropologist. In other cases, the victim is found with no to little tissue on the bone, making it nearly impossible for a layman to discover any identifying characteristics about the person. The forensic anthropologist’s first job is to determine the sex, age and race of the victim (Sauer, 1998).
Forensic Entomology or the study of insects as they relate to medicolegal investigations is a relatively young yet fast growing science. Insects can be used in a variety of ways to prove or disprove facts of a case. It is up to the crime scene investigator to properly collect and preserve this evidence until an expert in the field of entomology can inspect the evidence and give their expert opinion. It is then up to the prosecution not to get the evidence thrown out due to showing excessive amounts of the same evidence or showing the jury inflammatory evidence that is hard for most people to stomach. Chances are as a common citizen, most people would find a majority of entomological evidence inflammatory due to the graphic nature it tends to
Tom Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights,” in In Defense of Animals, ed. Peter Singer (Oxford: Blackwell, 1985), 21. U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistical Services, Livestock Slaughter. 2005 Summary, March 2006: USDA, NASS, Poultry Slaughter: 2005
Overpopulation of unwanted pets has become a major issue in the United States. According to Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society, there are 70 million stray cats and dogs in the United Stated. 6 to 8 million of those enter shelters each year. An estimated 3 to 4 million are euthanized in shelters
Falconry was the ancient sport of hunting of small wild game or birds with trained birds of prey. Birds were taken from their nest when they were really young to start there training. There was plenty of hours of training put into these birds but if the bird wasn't used to the human than all the hours put into it was useless. This sport was very expensive because the birds required special cages also known as mews. The key to this sport was to get the birds used to the human. They used birds to hunt other different types of animals. Hawking or falconry was considered a sport of royalty. Bells were attached to the birds legs so the hunter could keep track of their birds. The trained birds were not restricted to be falcons they also used hawks and sometimes eagles. Birds were trained by sealing their eyes shut with a needle and thread the end of the thread was tied over the head of the birds the trainer could open and close the birds eyes.This was extremely cruel because the birds were temporarily blinded. It takes years and years to be able to train a bird to go get another animal. Falconry was a respected sport because not everyone has the chance to train a bird to go get the other animal they are hunting and to get the bird used to the human would be another reason why it was a very respected sport. When the bird you took from the nest was really little it's very tricky to get a bird to be used to being around you. Once
In every community in the U.S., there are animals sitting in shelters waiting for homes. Millions of domestic pets, every year, millions are put down at animal shelters across the country. Although a problem with aggressive pet behavior is the main reason animals are put into shelters, stray pets are the result of breeding by roaming, unaltered pets. The more pets that are spayed or neutered, the fewer pets that will be put down. Delaware Humane Association does not put down animals; however, hundreds of pets are turned away each year because there is simply not enough room at the shelter to fix all the unwanted animals ("Myths and Facts About Spaying and Neutering: The Humane Society of the United States, lines
Chicken farms need more government regulation for causing damage to both human and animal health and for being detrimental to the environment. Chicken farms produce large amounts of fecal matter that heavily contaminate waterways that are used for drinking. In the Delmarva Peninsula alone 3.2 billion pounds of raw waste, 13.8 million pounds of phosphorous, and 48.2 million pounds of nitrogen are released into the environment (Intensive Poultry Production).. These nutrients enter bodies of water causing eutrophication, which causes an explosion of algal blooms that die and require large amounts of oxygen to decompose. This increase in oxygen consumption creates ‘dead zones’ in many areas, most notably in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is not enough oxygen to sustain aquatic life.(Facts about Pollution from Livestock Farms). U.S. chicken producers use a total of 2.2 million pounds of the antibiotic arsenic compound, roxarsone (appositive), each year. Most of this compound passes through the chickens and into their excrement. The arsenic that is left in the excrement can leach into surface and groundwater supplies and become inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen. This waste can also enter waterways, killing hundreds of fish. Inside the chicken farms, large amounts ammonia and dust particulates are released into the air, which can cause moderate to severe respiratory problems in humans.When waste pools are filled, the companies spray liquid waste into the air that mists and carries over to human populations that inhale these toxic gases and become ill. (Meat Production Wastes Natural Resources), Chicken farms also waste resources due to the fact that many crops, such as soybeans, are grown to be feed for livestock. Only 20% of the ...
The vision of Kenny Rogers Roasters is “to be the preferred choice for delicious and healthy chicken meals” (Kenny roger’s roasters international, 2011).