Quote Originally Posted by buttercup132
I honestly don't see what the big deal is. Isn't it just the same as dying a dog or cat? And like the owner said it just food colouring...as long as it dosent get in their eyes or on their beak.
It would be a bigger deal/more likely to be illegal than coloring a dog or cat's fur because it actually is closer to dyed fish... while the embryo is still in the egg (usually towards the end of the second week after a live embryo can be seen by holding the egg up to a strong light source) it is INJECTED with dye. Break the shell, inject the embryo, slap on some iodine and back into the incubator. If you do it later than the second week after a viable embryo is detected, then multiple injections are required.


When I used to do flocks of chicks and ducklings that I showed in fairs and such, I would put little dabs of food dye on them to differentiate them. I see nothing wrong with coloring a chick at all.

But dyeing a chick requires compromising its' shell, injecting it with a foreign substance for cosmetic purposes, and pretty much assuring that it is going to be an impulse buy, probably for a small child's easter present, by someone who has not thought through the logistics of keeping chickens.