The little yellow chicks are so cute as they “cheep” in the warm light of the metal tank at the store. However, Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary wants everyone to know that despite what you think, almost half of those little yellow chicks could grow up to be roosters, not hens.

“We get a lot of requests, every day, to take in chickens and roosters,” says Rikki Higgins of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in High Falls. “And in this season, we get multiple calls daily.”

Higgins calls out Tractor Supply as one of the problems.

“They are a big perpetrator. We would really like them to stop selling chicks and ducklings. In fact, we had 4,000 people sign a petition that we sent to Tractor Supply corporate last year asking them to reconsider selling chicks. It was ignored.”

One issue bound up in this is the fact that so many chicks are males and therefore become roosters. Higgins notes that “people really find that they don’t want to deal with rooster behaviors, and they also find that roosters are forbidden in their zoning districts. Because of the noise, of course.”

Behaviors? Roosters are highly combative animals. Higgins says, “Roosters are prepared to protect themselves, they have a high level of self-advocacy. People don’t know how to deal with an animal that will kick them and peck them if they feel bothered in their space. We’ve had a lot of experience with people being kicked and pecked.”

Higgins adds that roosters can coexist with other roosters but it has to be in an environment where they have enough space to be themselves. “They have to have shelter, food and water, and feel secure,” she says.

Another source of unwanted chickens are schools that still conduct “hatching projects” to show students the cycle of life. “But when they’ve hatched these chicks, or bought them, they have no plan for growing them up and having them live as chickens. We got six ducklings from a school hatching project last year. Fortunately, that school decided to stop those projects.”

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary is mounting a postcard campaign this year to ultimately reduce the number of birds abandoned each year. “Contact us, through our website and we will send you postcards that you can send to Tractor Supply to register your protest. More information is available at woodstocksanctuary.org/tractorsupply.