#one year my parents got these wretched meat birds that get so fat they can’t stand and didn’t understand why I was so upset to see them

[foldingfittedsheets]

I’m in chicken hell. I agreed to watch my moms birds while she gallivants for the month of December. I’m disabled but she said it would just be a matter of filling tubs of food.

It’s. Awful. We had chickens growing up. They had a big run, with a large insulated indoor coop, heat lamps, and table scraps. They got grain and water and had room to forage for bugs and plants.

But her current coop is a fucking nightmare. It’s a wire mesh cage with a roof, plastic along the sides, and a foot deep floor of filthy shit and straw to stand on. Their water was fully clogged with said straw, and one of the chickens was just dragging a lame foot around the first time I came to check on them.

I was distressed about the injured chicken but my mom said she just hasn’t had time to deal with it since it hatched. The chicken is a year old at least. There’s like six or seven chickens being kept in what I generously suppose to be 5x5 space for the month my parents are gone.

Today I was at my breaking point. I wanted to at least give them fresh water since they’re casually confined to a closet. All the hoses are completely disconnected and scattered wildly around with no clear hook up. There’s a gigantic green bucket full of water that I can’t feasibly do anything with.

When I called my mom indicated that I was being ridiculous and hysterical about it as they’re just chickens. But I could lay down straw if I wanted and use the green bucket for water. I had to explain that no, I’m not physically able to do either of those things. She said she’d call a neighbor to do it.

I went rogue and let them out to browse in an area they’re not supposed to be in for as long as I had energy to stand watch then regretfully hustled them back into their wretched coop.

#ramblies #I’m honestly so upset about it #I can’t feasibly call any hotlines either because their yard is so enclosed that it would clearly point to my ratting on her #my betrothed is gonna come with me this weekend and we’ll bring scraps and let them browse as much as we can #one year my parents got these wretched meat birds that get so fat they can’t stand and didn’t understand why I was so upset to see them #like that meat is not going to even be nutritional because good chicken meat comes from bugs and greens and movement #and I had to bring a fucking slideshow of reasons why they should not raise birds like that #it’s a truly evil thing humanity did to breed those birds #like I believe it’s your responsibility to give any creature in your care a good life #and even if you’re going to eat it it should get to run and play and enjoy life #I think chickens are stupid little terror birds but they still deserve nice things! they should get to scratch around and run and be silly