We worked with carnivorous reptiles
in the psychology department and fed them baby chicks.
Baby chicks were easy to come by if
they were males as the market was less than for females. Don’t know what the
hatchery did with most of those baby roosters but they were free for the
asking. We kept them in a chick raising cage, until their time came, on the top
floor of the old psychology (ca 1966) building.
Wandering psychology coeds came upon
them, learned of their use, and held forth with nasty notes about ‘you
heartless, evil, psychologists’. I noted back with “…..at the hatchery theirs
is a vacuous fate, here they contribute to other life….”
It was a set up for when I bumped into these
psychology ladies and delivered a more pointed message, “How many do you want
to save or do you just want to just shoot your mouth off?” (I save the good
stuff for personal encounters) This approach worked extremely well, initially,
for all concerned.
Well a few of the sisters took me up
on the offer and I tossed in some chicken food just to show my heart was in the
right place.
The problem was going to be that baby
chicks don’t stay babies for long. At about 4 weeks old they are well on their
way to rooster-hood…….and flying. Chickens being chickens eat a lot,
poop a lot, and did I mention flying.
Predictably back the rescued came and
the most recent owners had experienced an emotional epiphany. The flying
pooping chickens had done their business on their stereo, records, sofa, etc.
Not only did they want to return the chickens they wanted them to die. Some
wanted to watch.
Higher education if there ever was.
ML
19 Jun, 2018
