The issue I have with chicks is that they aren't very intelligent and they are quite destructive. You can't really keep one in your house because they are noisy and they would make a mess. Small rodents like hamsters are incapable of loving you and don't really want to be kept as pets, you are essentially jailing them in a cage against their will. Let your hamster out doors for a few hours, it probably won't come back. If you stores grain you wouldn't be too happy if you had a rodent issue, small rodents like rats and mice are pests. Some rats are smart but the rest of them don't want to be pets.

By saying "safe to keep and economical to raise" I was implying there is a reason we don't keep dangerous predictors as pets or for livestock. They could hurt you, they will kill other animals you keep with them and they are expensive to feed because they require meat. If you read up on the domestication of animals you would not be questioning this fact. People do raise the most economical breed possible but tend to diversify a little because the price of meat fluctuates and the cost inputs. Its also not cheap to switch your farm over from a pig farm to a chicken farm. Farming is a serious business, don't think of it as Old MacDonalds farm with smiling animals, farmers are strictly in it for the money (or food.)

My statements aren't contradictory, animals are different, a cat is not a chicken, pig, fish or cow. Just like you wouldn't eat a leaf from most trees, and we don't eat most grass seeds, some we eat, others we don't. Whether it's because of taste, or if the animal makes sense to raise or not. Some animals like dogs and cats are cute, they want to be pets and they are rather intelligent so for the most part we don't eat them. Rabbits although cute, are pretty dumb and they have to be locked up or forcible confined against their will which I am against. Just because it's an animal doesn't mean it's food to me. Some animals are food others aren't. Just like some plants are food and others aren't.