Are Your Chickens Livestock or Pets?

[Morrigan]

They seldon go farther west than the road except lately just on the other side of it.

Did you ask them why they crossed?

(sorry, couldn't help myself. )

 

[chickendreams24]

That's how I feel. Since I've starting raising chickens, I don't buy chicken meat and never order it anymore when I eat out. As hard as it is to kill something I raised to eat, I'd rather do that then eat a supermarket chicken knowing how it was raised. I did consider veganism for awhile, but ended up being comfortable raising my own meat and eating less meat in general.

I've really enjoyed reading the wide variety of responses here. Thank you for everyone who has responded. It's been interesting to me how widely definitions of what is a "pet" and what is "livestock" are. I labeled my chickens as livestock, because I have them primarily for food purposes -- eggs and meat -- and I am OK with culling (selling or eating) those that weren't serving that purpose. But, if you saw my day-to-day interactions, you would probably think they are pets. I talk to them, I care about them, I'm always looking for ways to improve the quality of their life. I guess you could say they are pets until that one day they are livestock, lol.

I love this! It's oh so very very true. If people saw me with my birds they would think they were all pets. In fact DH2B asks me how I can rattle off the breed color and approximate ages of every bird here. 200ish of them. LOL. He knows the important ones and the numbers of each breed give or take. That's good enough.

Did you asked them why they crossed?

(sorry, couldn't help myself. )

LOL well I didn't ask but all I saw them over there for was grass... Because the grass is always greener of course.

I will say this we lost two guineas last week to cars. In all our years of raising poultry we've never lost a single bird to cars on the road. One did get hit earlier this year by DH2B in the driveway. Of course neither time did the person stop.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Mine are livestock, although a few of them have names. I have them for eggs, don't eat any of them, but have no qualms sending extras roosters off to be eaten by someone else (have done so with 5-7 in the last two weeks alone).

As others said, calling them livestock doesn't mean they're not well cared for...they have good housing, plenty of food, clean water, and plenty of room to roam around. I've run across the yard flailing my arms and yelling like a fool to chase a hawk away from the run (the neighbors must love me), but when I have lost a bird to a predator, I'm more "annoyed" than "upset".

I'm actually not a big pet person...have had cats and dogs and mostly find them annoying.

My wife has been on my case to get a cat. I think I've managed to negotiate that down to two goats. I consider that a victory.

 

[Col1948]

Won't she mind the goats sitting on the sofa or one the end of the bed?

Just kidding

 

[RodNTN]

Mine are and will always be pets

 

[cherylwillard1]

Well, I told myself that my birds were going to be food once they stopped laying consistently, but there are definitely a couple of them that I will never be able to dispatch to the pot. These are my Red Star hens, who are some of the most docile, easy going, friendly birds. The Wyandottes will probably be the easiest to put in a pot because they're aloof, squawky, and flighty. The barred rocks may get to live a long and prosperous life because they're also friendly, but not as charming as the reds.

 

[Woodsman Rick]

I have to say, the remaining five (four hens and one rooster) of the original nine we inherited with our farmhouse purchase are 11 year old pets that usually provide us with an egg or two during the spring & summer.

They are a joy to watch and all have fun personalities.

If one does the math, the eggs are crazy expensive so livestock they are not.

 

[Hufflefluff]

This is such a fun question for a thread. When I got my first birds ~4 years ago I absolutely saw them as pets- hand raised inside, call them by name, pick them up and carry them around, let them come inside and eat breakfast... the whole shebang. I stopped eating meat entirely around then, too. A year or so later I first processed birds with a friend of mine- they were all hers, but it was a big step for me in understanding how thin that line is between animal and food. I've processed chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese with her again since. I lost the entirety of my first flock at once to predators last fall, and I'm much more objective about my new hens. These girls are definitely livestock for me- if any stop laying for more than three months, routinely fly into my garden, or go broody more than three times a year then I'll eat them. I still love having them- and care deeply about the health and wellbeing of my flock- but I've learned that personally I have a happier, healthier relationship with my flock if I don't get so attached.

 

[TheConfederate]

I think our original birds we got this year will be pets, but future birds will be more livestock. Hard to ease the livestock mentality on 3 and 4 year old kids.

 

[Mbcox]

This seems to be the most fundamental difference that effects how people view their chicken care and deal with things like illnesses, culling and general flock management.

I got my chickens as livestock, and livestock they remain, although it has at times been a struggle to maintain an objective air, keep my flock strong and productive and make sure I don't go sideways on chicken math. I was raised in the city, and so my only experience with animals was to have them as pets. Having pets is fun and I love it. Raising animals for food is fun too, as well as deeply satisfying. But it's also quite hard at times. All the eggs and chicken I bought living in the city, I honestly never thought about what all went into it.

I'm not sure there is much of a middle ground. If I start viewing my chickens as quasi-pets, it means I'm making decisions that will eventually leave me with non-productive hens, overcrowding, and not enough eggs to meet my family's needs year around. The one compromise I made when I first got started, was that I allowed myself to pick one chicken who I would name and who I could consider a pet. I lucked out that my pet chicken was (and is) extremely healthy and highly productive, so I've not had to make any compromises in keeping her.

How to you view your chickens and has your view changed over time? I should add that I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.

This seems to be the most fundamental difference that effects how people view their chicken care and deal with things like illnesses, culling and general flock management.

I got my chickens as livestock, and livestock they remain, although it has at times been a struggle to maintain an objective air, keep my flock strong and productive and make sure I don't go sideways on chicken math. I was raised in the city, and so my only experience with animals was to have them as pets. Having pets is fun and I love it. Raising animals for food is fun too, as well as deeply satisfying. But it's also quite hard at times. All the eggs and chicken I bought living in the city, I honestly never thought about what all went into it.

I'm not sure there is much of a middle ground. If I start viewing my chickens as quasi-pets, it means I'm making decisions that will eventually leave me with non-productive hens, overcrowding, and not enough eggs to meet my family's needs year around. The one compromise I made when I first got started, was that I allowed myself to pick one chicken who I would name and who I could consider a pet. I lucked out that my pet chicken was (and is) extremely healthy and highly productive, so I've not had to make any compromises in keeping her.

How to you view your chickens and has your view changed over time? I should add that I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.

Our chicks are most definitely pets.