Feral Chickens are taking over Florida

[jmbar2]

A light story before bed.

Some of these birds are gorgeous!

[FoxNewsSucks]

1. From the thread title,

I was expecting it to be about relatives of DeSantis and Rick Scott.

Those chickens are much better looking. And smarter.

[mopinko]

8. they def taste different.

since they eat a lot of bugs and plants, instead corn-based feed, the eggs and meat are very, very different. tastier and also healthier.

like the tough cuts of beef- more flavor, but needs slower cooking. anything older than 6 mos gets tough.
like 2 different animals compared to industrial chickens.
they're also pretty much all legs and no breast.
a real treat for any foodie, tho.

[Quakerfriend]

3. Breakfast at Blue Heaven in Key West

Wouldn’t be the same without the chickens!

[Grokenstein]

4. Oof, that's gonna destroy a poultry-based economy... (nostalgia wank)

[jmbar2]

5. Hah! I'd forgotten about that

I guess Key West has everyone covered.

[bearsfootball516]

6. They're becoming too strong!

[mopinko]

9. it's never good when humans stick their noses in.

it's the people feeding them that are the problem.
that's true of anyone who does too much for wild animals.

[mopinko]

7. i adore my boys. i didnt mean to get roosters, but

it happens. 2 of my original dozen chicken were boys.
i've had a lot of pet birds in my life, but never saw anything as gorgeous as those boys.

i've been raising my own ever since. most chicks for sale here come from a few big hatcheries. industrial ag like most other things.
i've gotten shit. it was a battle royal.

but there are so many more fans than haters of this project, i just refuse to give a fuck.

[jmbar2]

10. I'd never thought of chickens as pets until a few years ago.

One of my niece's friends told me all about her pet chicken, named Omelette. Her stories were hilarious.

[mopinko]

11. they rly are great pets.

i have a little house chicken.
a bantam cochin. a ball of white fluff, w feathered toes. she lives on my enclosed back porch, but does wander the flat some days.

out of my few dozen hens there were always a couple who had a real personality.
the beautiful black and gold cleo. muffy the queen of the pirates, who went awol to get away from the booms on the block.
and frannie, who picks fights w the boys, and got her name by being the frenemie of my house bear. when she was young, and in a pen, any time he came close, she bounced up to the fence, and tried to peck his nosy nose. i was trying to get him to ignore the chickens at the time, and she was actually helpful.

[jmbar2]

12. Fun FB page

I'm not on FB so cannot connect, but it's nice to see your enterprise. I always wanted to have a little farmstead, doing what you are doing. Never happened, so I enjoy others doing it vicariously.

Here's one of my favorite smile sites

Link to tweet

[mopinko]

13. sooner or later

i know i will end up w a couple of goats.
there's another property on the block that might come up for sale before i am too old to do this shit any more that would HAVE to have some goats.
if i went out of my way, i'd get cashmere goats. but critters have a way of finding me.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

14. I had a huge pet White Leghorn rooster when I was a child.

His name was Petey bird, and he followed me everywhere, like a dog. He patrolled our property like a dog also, and would come when I called him.

He was a way cool friend.

[mopinko]

15. roosters rly are a lot like dogs.

i had one last summer who seemed to know exactly what was my property.
a millifiori mutt called sr flores. he had a lovely black beard.

and also like big dogs, the occasional bad actor gives them all a bad name.