This is how far Ethics Alarms has to go to avoid Trump-related ethics-issues…
The website for the Chicken Orb boasts,
Chicken Orbs are a supervised chicken foraging enclosure. With a diameter of 55cm, they are perfect for medium-sized pampered pet chickens to allow them to roam the backyard, or to take them on foraging adventures beyond the backyard boundaries. A modern tool for urban farmers to take control over the when, where, and how the hens forage.
No, I’m not making this up.
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day:
Is this any (ethical) way to treat a chicken?
In the olden days, I would have polled on this, but that was before WordPress started charging for using polls. One of the options would have been “Come on, it’s just a chicken!” Other possible considerations…
- Does the Golden Rule apply to chickens?
- If so, how could you eat one?
- Is this Ick rather than ethics?
- If the chicken adapts to it, what’s the harm?
- Won’t this device make it easier to cross a road?
- What would PITA say?
- What would Foghorn Leghorn say?
Oh, I could go on like this forever.
Ethics Alarms 
“I say, I say, I say….” (Foghorn Leghorn was the first thing that came to my mind.)
Does it protect the chicken against predators, such as coyotes, maybe? If so, that would be ethical. Does it hinder the chicken’s ability to move its wings or other body parts comfortably? I can’t really tell.
According to an ad that appeared on my FB page (how am I the target audience for this thing?), the idea was to allow the chickens to forage while being safe from predators. Maybe so, but their friends are going to tease them incessantly.
That is what I thought. It looks like something designed to keep them safe from harm.
However, it also like the designed could make it easier for them to break their legs.
With that in mind, the orb may be designed to slow the chicken down by hampering the speed of leg movement.
If that is the case, I don’t think I like it as its design would be to cause discomfort. I analogize what I mean: imagine you have a child and you bind their knees together and let them run around the yard. Sure, they can run, but it would not be pleasant or natural. However, if it is part of a game (think of a three legged race), then, sure, doing that to a child would not be an issue.
But, chicken don’t play games; they’re not reindeer.
Bottom line: I question the propriety of the chicken orb.
-Jut
After checking out the website, the orb does not protect the chickens from predators. It protects gardens from the chicken. It’s intended to be used for short periods of time and there is a video that explains its use, as well as how to use it without stressing out the animal.
I guess it would be similar to putting a dog on a tie-out. If it’s for a short period of time and gives them space to roam around while keeping them out of where you don’t want them, is that unethical?
I thought this was to protect them from hawks. When I free-range chickens, I have to be there, watching and listening for hawks. Some people like the Americana chickens because they look more like hawks and don’t attract the attention of the predators. That thing wouldn’t do anything to stop coyotes, but it would be good for hawks. Hamster balls for chickens.
With chickens, the top priority is always protection from predators. Daytime has threats of hawks and eagles, dogs and cats. Evening brings coyotes, fox, raccoons, skunks, weasels, even large rats. Night will add owls to the mix. Lots of things find chickens pretty tasty and easy to kill. Most fixes require limiting the chicken’s range to a secure area, but dedicating a large area to chickens limits both what you can do with the space, and promises that the chickens will strip the land barren in a matter of weeks. So, mobile chicken tractors became popular. A solution like this is clearly just for a backyarder with one or two chickens – you wouldn’t want to buy 40 of these, much less 200.
Chickens would not be hampered by the wire – they are by nature jungle birds, so traveling trough sticks and brush is natural for them. I just think this is an impractical solution. The gauge looks easy to bend, the holes are plenty big enough for a determined predator to get through easily. Meanwhile, the chicken would be prevented from getting away, getting under cover, or even from roosting when they see a pleasant perch. A product for people with more money than sense, but the concept is relatively unharmful to the chicken.
Actually, the essential question here is: when that chicken has its head cut off, its feathers plucked, its body cut up, those chicken parts subjected to intense heat, and then placed on a plate, can it or can it not be served as free-range chicken?
At $69.00 ea. plus shipping and tax I come to the conclusion that this product is in fact an idiot test designed to identify potential marks for flimflam artists.
This is the correct answer.
My family raised chickens for years. If you have the space and zoning laws, I thoroughly recommend it. It builds character. Chickens are stupid animals. They shit in their water, they spill their feed, they run headfirst into danger, and they pick all kinds of fights they can’t win. Often with themselves.
But they aren’t exactly hard to corral, and they’re not particularly destructive. This hits me as the kind of device designed to separate a fool and their money.
But is it ethical to put the bird in it?
Probably. I don’t think they’d care. depends on how hard it is to get around in, because I have it in the back of my head that the wire might be wide enough and spaced far enough apart to break a leg. If it can actually injure the bird… That seems shitty.
Okay, I’ll take this on:
Does the Golden Rule apply to chickens?
If you are using them as a pet, yes indeed. On the other hand, if you are using them as future food, no. If they are both, you should probably get your head examined.
If so, how could you eat one?
See above
Is this Ick rather than ethics?
I can’t even…
If the chicken adapts to it, what’s the harm?
I’d say none. The chicken has such a tiny brain that if it doesn’t inhibit feeding, it probably doesn’t care.
Won’t this device make it easier to cross a road?
Indeed, but it would make it much harder for the chicken to get to the road.
What would PITA say?
Qui curat?
What would Foghorn Leghorn say?
That one’s easy: “This, i say, this is gonna cause more confusion than a mouse in a burlesque show!”
Just because you’re going to eat it doesn’t mean you can make its short life as horrible and cruel as possible. I have banned veal from my dinner table for years: how to enjoy something created by purposefully making a calf so anemic its meat is white???