Spring is coming, and one aspect of the change of season is the appearance in certain hardware chain stores of chirping little chicks and ducklings. Even now, when a virulent bird flu is destroying bird populations both captive and wild, shipments of boxes filled with little yellow chicks are going out all across our area.

So this raises some questions that some will find uncomfortable. The price of eggs has risen, partly due to shortages induced by the bird flu and devastating death tolls in captive flocks. So, before you buy small chicks, have you ever raised chickens before? Or, even more difficult, ducks?

If you have then you know the challenges. Like the weasel that found its way in through a gap between two boards that you can barely force a finger into. Once inside it killed half the chickens in no time. Or the hawk that came to watch the birds outside every day until it had taken three of them.

If you have raised ducks, well, you know how difficult that is and how limited ducks are in terms of being able to evade, escape or survive predators.

So, it is not a surprise to hear that the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary is campaigning to stop Tractor Supply and its competitors from selling baby birds. The sanctuary is hoping to convince Tractor Supply to change this practice by sending the company’s corporate leadership a petition; the current goal is to gather 8,000 signatures by March 31.

Rachel McCrystal, executive director of Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, said, “The chickens and ducks who we rescue from backyard flocks, or after they've been abandoned unwanted on the side of roads or on ponds or lakes, are usually suffering from medical and other neglect and improper diets. That means when they arrive here, it often takes months and a lot of veterinary care for them to recover from untreated issues like parasites, bacteria, reproductive disease, and very commonly foot infections. Some never fully recover. There's nothing cheap or easy about properly caring for birds but, sadly, that's what people assume, and it leads to a lot of suffering. We and other bird rescue groups do our best to educate but every year we get the same calls from people who want to surrender the chicks or ducklings they bought and now realize they don't want or can't take care of properly. This isn't fair to the birds and it puts a huge burden on the sanctuaries, rescues, and shelters here in the Hudson Valley.”

There is some pretty sad backstory to go with this. When COVID struck in 2019 and drove a lot of people to move out to the country, it set off a wave of naive purchases of chickens and ducks. How difficult can it be to raise captive birds?

As Woodstock Farm Sanctuary grimly noted, “At the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020, people impulse bought chickens and ducks that were predictably abandoned at the first sign of inconvenience.”

Among the issues that people never realized would affect them were, “Roosters; while almost all baby male chicks are immediately ground up for fertilizer, now and then one gets through and arrives in a group of hen chicks. Then you have a rooster,” said a spokesperson for Woodstock Farm Sanctuary.

And check the zoning rules in your town. Many specifically forbid roosters, because of the noise. Yes, this is the country, but it is not our grandparents’ “country.” Today’s “country” is air conditioned with high-speed internet, has asphalt driveways, and rules about noisy animals.

With that issue is the one of responsibility. When people dump animals, they either die, or they are rescued by someone else. Woodstock Farm Sanctuary explains how that works. “Sanctuaries and rescues bore the brunt of this irresponsible purchasing, despite all our pleas to the public to think about what it really means to purchase baby birds.”

The sanctuary spokesperson also added, “We are stretched to provide help for these birds. People need to seriously consider what’s involved before they do this.”

The sanctuary explained that chickens are actually not simply stupid machines. “Chickens are quirky, intelligent, funny birds who form friendships, communicate with a variety of complex sounds, share parental instincts, and recognize human faces. That means that you can make friends with a chicken and they’ll absolutely know you and remember you — no different than a horse, goat, or dog would. And they can live long lives with their communities of family and friends — the same birds who are killed by two years old in farming can live upwards of six or seven years if properly cared for at a sanctuary or as a companion pet.”

This all leads to the current campaign to stop stores selling these little birds. “Baby birds are being shipped to Tractor Supplies and AgWays and garden centers right now despite the risk of [bird] flu, and people will take these babies home with no training, resources, or ability to provide proper care. Many will suffer and die and others will end up abandoned.”

All good to remember when you or your children are confronted with a bin filled with very cute little birds, and that impulse to raise chickens or ducks surfaces.