Don’t buy Easter peeps, laying hens without thinking ahead
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Those fuzzy little creatures peeping away under a warming light at the local farm supply store are seemingly begging for a new home, and tenderhearted parents of young children might be tempted to liberate a chick or duckling to take home for a special Easter gift.
But the cacophony in the barn at Sonia’s Sanctuary animal rescue, plus the seven feathered residents in the house, prove no matter how well-intentioned, buying an Easter peep without a plan is a big mistake.
Sonia Sacco, proprietor of the nonprofit sanctuary, has a hard time communicating about the perils of purchasing a peep over the earsplitting crowing of the 25 roosters perched on every surface in her barn.
“Most of the chickens here are roosters that are surrendered or that people found and brought here,” Sacco shouted. “People are getting peeps from stores that market them as all female.”
Between stopping fights among the strutting roosters or throwing a fake kick at a bird who is menacingly advancing on her, Sacco explained it is almost impossible to determine the gender of a chick at the age when they appear at farm supply stores each spring.
She said as the male chicks grow, they eventually begin to cock-a-doodle-doo and their behavior can become aggressive.
“Roosters are not nice to kids,” Sacco said. “They flog them with the talons on their legs, and they bite hard. They can draw blood pretty easily.”
Other times, the parent finds out — largely through disgruntled neighbors — their township or borough has a poultry ordinance that doesn’t allow for roosters.
The parent then has trouble finding a rescue organization that will take roosters due to their temperament. Butchers will not take one or two birds.
“So they dump them,” Sacco said.
She said many parents find a farm and dump their crotchety former peep, but roosters will not spontaneously join a strange flock.
“Then, they get eaten by predators,” Sacco said.
Sympathetic animal lovers often will retrieve a lone rooster and deliver it to Sacco’s rescue, where it is kept in isolation in a small space with another rooster.
Sacco explained roosters will not fight if they are confined to a small space. She then releases them with the flock, which does not notice the new bird.
“I have a few hens, but they are mean to roosters,” she said.
Those hens are surrendered birds bought by a family who wanted chickens to provide them with eggs.
But most who decide to give chickens a try are unaware of the expense and work required of the backyard birds.
She said proper bedding, housing, quality feed dependent on the needs of different breeds, predator-proof fencing, and a heat source for winter are basic requirements.
“Frostbite is really common for chickens in Pennsylvania,” Sacco said, “and prepare to spend lots of time cleaning up when it’s really hot or cold.”
She said chickens also attract rodents, who flock to the warmth of the heater and will even eat the chickens’ feathers.
Chickens also can attract flies, produce an offensive odor, host lice and parasites, carry E. coli and salmonella, and must be wormed regularly.
Some laying hens live to be 9 or 10 years old, but only produce eggs for two of those years.
If a hen is on certain medications, her eggs cannot be used.
“If you think there’s going to be free eggs for life, there is nothing free about chickens,” Sacco said. “A lot of people think ‘I’m saving money by buying chickens.’ You’re not.”
She said chickens roaming the backyard — which is prohibited in many municipalities — are in danger of being taken by one of the many predators in Western Pennsylvania who consider the substantial bird a delicious meal.
Racoons, foxes, fishers, coyotes, stoats, birds of prey, and even mice and rats can kill and feast on a chicken in Western Pennsylvania, Sacco said.
Free-roaming chickens also decimate lawns with their constant scratching and eating grass and insects.
She normally begins receiving roosters and chickens after Easter, and the trend continues into the fall.
“When they get too big for the cute little cardboard boxes they put them in and they start to stink,” Sacco said of the final straw for parents who bring chickens, roosters, ducks and geese to her rescue.
Sacco keeps seven birds in her house that cannot tolerate cold or have other issues that preclude them from living in the barn.
Four pigs, five dogs, nine cats, 10 rabbits, five horses and an uppity goose named Terrance round out the rescued animals on her farm.
“Terrance is the guard goose,” Sacco said of the tall white bird patrolling the property. “He runs around with a couple of the big roosters and breaks up their fights.”
Sacco doted on one sparsely feathered juvenile chicken, Cheep, who came from the backyard of a well-to-do woman in an upscale neighborhood.
Unbeknownst to the woman, one of her chickens had laid eggs in the winter. Several chicks hatched.
“They all froze but him,” Sacco said of Cheep, who loves to be petted now that he has been brought back to health by his new owner.
She hopes only those who are prepared to care for their birds correctly will pluck peeps from the big tubs at farm supply stores this year.
“It’s a lifetime commitment and a lot of money,” Sacco said. “It’s not just free eggs.”
More information on Sonia’s Sanctuary is available at soniassanctuary.org. Donations of items on the sanctuary’s Amazon and Chewy wish lists can be purchased on the website.
