Multi-colored Easter Chicks

Does anyone realize what happens to most male leghorn chicks (most egg laying breeds for that matter) after hatching? They're euthanized... Very, very few are needed for breeding... They're practically useless for meat production. So they are taken out back and axed. So perhaps dying them a festive color gives them a chance at a longer life? Those who say that it's cruel need to take a cold, hard look at reality.

listen up people doing this to the chicks is not harmful. it like dyeing your hair. they will grow out of it. get your facts stright befor you complaine bout something.

My boss bought my kids 7 colored chicks for Easter. She did forewarn me she was thinking of doing it. We've had one casualty - the poor chick couldn't poop, but other than that the remaining six are thriving and doing well. We don't live in the country, but we do have a nice yard & the backyard chicken coop will be completed tonight. My kids are excited to watch them grow and take care of them.

Last year charges were laid against someone in Ontario for dying a few hundred chicks for Easter.

Also, a quick Google search reveals this to be illegal in numerous US states. I think because it leads to impulse buys by people who haven't considered what they are going to do with a live chicken afterwards. Then some rescue organization is going to have to run around collecting half-starved chicks in the weeks following Easter.

Kind of like how rabbit rescue organizations are run off their feet about three months after Easter as people come to terms with the fact that rabbits don't actually like children, and are neither docile nor cuddly. Trust me, I have a house rabbit, I wouldn't recommend it to a household with children, for the rabbit's sake.

Way to go. Buy a stuffed rabbit and a stuffed pastel-coloured chick, and leave the livestock to the farmers!

I had these little colored chicks as a kid. Mine were a pink one and a blue one and they grew up to be two white chickens.

Zhoen- They're not disposable. They're a much longer lasting present than candy or eggs or such. The chickens grow up and you get to raise them and harvest their eggs or meat. It's a great experience for kids. Kids should have more contact with animals, especially food producing animals. Too many kids today are too disconnected from where their food comes from. You should see first hand as a youngster that a chicken nugget wasn't always a chicken nugget, but rather was once a little fluffy chick and a big warm feathery chicken. You build responsibility that way, not just in the learning to care for the chickens, but in learning the value of responsible farming and eating,too. The chickens are Easter fun and a real learning experience.