Q: Where do your rescue animals come from?
A: While there are no factory farms in Alaska, there are still an abundance of bad situations farmed animals are put in - including illegal cockfighting, animal hoarding and neglect, improper predator protection leading to injury and death, abandonment, or facing slaughter. Our rescues' backgrounds range from a number of situations including owner surrender, local farms, hoarding, and illegal dumping.
Q: Can kids volunteer?
A: You must be 14 years or older to volunteer with us. We have applied this age restriction given the unpredictability of working with animals and the difficulty of the manual labor required. To get the kids involved, keep an eye out for events and sanctuary tours!
Q: Do you take roosters?
A: We have a policy that prohibits us from taking owner surrender roosters from the public. This is to keep our limited space available for emergency situations. We get dozens of identical emails every year from people whose chicks have ended up being roosters. Finding good homes for roosters is an epic task; most will not live to see their first birthday, and that is to say nothing of the hundreds of millions who are ground up alive at hatcheries within a day of their birth.
We implore you to find a way to keep your rooster, as you are his best and truly, his only advocate.
If you are concerned about noise, we would suggest keeping the rooster(s) in a garage, insulated coop, or other enclosed (but well ventilated) space until later in the morning to avoid complaints. If you are concerned about too many roosters overwhelming the hens we suggest setting up a rooster flock. Find out more about rooster flocks here.
Please understand that this exact situation will recur every time you purchase or breed chicks. Anyone who is unable or unwilling to provide a safe, long-term home for roosters, should not be purchasing or breeding chicks. There are always more chickens who need homes than there are good homes. We hope you’re able to find a solution that works for you and keeps your little Roos safe!
(Please remember that YOU are the one responsible for this animal and for this situation - and avoid the urge to guilt, shame, or threaten the safety of the animal in an attempt to push the blame onto our staff and volunteers. Believe it or not, this happens A LOT).
We implore you to find a way to keep your rooster, as you are his best and truly, his only advocate.
If you are concerned about noise, we would suggest keeping the rooster(s) in a garage, insulated coop, or other enclosed (but well ventilated) space until later in the morning to avoid complaints. If you are concerned about too many roosters overwhelming the hens we suggest setting up a rooster flock. Find out more about rooster flocks here.
Please understand that this exact situation will recur every time you purchase or breed chicks. Anyone who is unable or unwilling to provide a safe, long-term home for roosters, should not be purchasing or breeding chicks. There are always more chickens who need homes than there are good homes. We hope you’re able to find a solution that works for you and keeps your little Roos safe!
(Please remember that YOU are the one responsible for this animal and for this situation - and avoid the urge to guilt, shame, or threaten the safety of the animal in an attempt to push the blame onto our staff and volunteers. Believe it or not, this happens A LOT).
Q: Do your hens lay eggs & what do you do with the eggs?
A: Chickens were domesticated from the wild jungle fowl. These jungle fowl lay 5-12 eggs per year. Domesticated chickens can lay up to 350 eggs per year. As chickens get older they stop producing as many eggs and that is the situation most of our rescues come from. This usually happens around 2-4 years of the hens life (keep in mind, they can live 15+ years, if given the chance), although most are still producing an egg every other day. That is a HUGE strain on their bodies, in fact, most hens die from reproductive illnesses. Their bodies are simply not meant to go through that amount of strain day after day, year after year. At Forget Me Not Farm Sanctuary, we reject viewing animals for what their bodies can do for us. Instead of taking the eggs that their bodies break down in order to produce, we feed the eggs back to them so that they might replenish the nutrients they've lost in laying. Hens that suffer the early signs of reproductive health problems are put on life-saving hen "birth control." It is a harmless procedure that stops their bodies from developing eggs.
We understand that feeding eggs to chickens sometimes sounds 'gross' or 'weird' to the uninitiated, but just as canines will eat their own placenta, it is perfectly natural. In fact, many hens in backyard setups are killed or sold for engaging in this natural behavior. There are all sorts of strategies developed by the farming community to stop the behavior. Allowing hens access to eating their own eggs is standard practice for the majority of farm animal sanctuaries due to the health benefits and has been approved by our vet.
We understand that feeding eggs to chickens sometimes sounds 'gross' or 'weird' to the uninitiated, but just as canines will eat their own placenta, it is perfectly natural. In fact, many hens in backyard setups are killed or sold for engaging in this natural behavior. There are all sorts of strategies developed by the farming community to stop the behavior. Allowing hens access to eating their own eggs is standard practice for the majority of farm animal sanctuaries due to the health benefits and has been approved by our vet.