Do you eat your own chickens?!?

[sarahandbray]

I think I got some meat birds in the mix I got from McMurray...I guess I was naive and thought they were just all egg layers...now flipping through the catalog, I'm thinking I was wrong?
We have probably 4-5 GIANT chicks that are way bigger than the others...I'm worried they're meat chickens. If they are Cornish meat birds, I'm trying to steel myself up to them being slaughtered in 7 or 8 weeks. My brother-in-law is a hunter, and he promised me he would spare me the agony of the whole butchering/de-feathering bit.

Ugh. I know that my well-cared for, well-fed birds would probably taste yummy, but the thought of it has me teetering on vegetarianism!!

I'm just curious...

Sarah

 

[sarahandbray]

One of the big ones next to (an admittedly) small Lavender Orpington.

 

[Drivernumber22]

I couldn't eat my current flock...I raised them from baby's and they all have names...Even if someone else did and cooked it, couldn't do it. I could easily raise some to eat, but I would have treat them as food and have no emotional attachment from day 1. Good luck!

 

[cmchickens]

One of the 4 or 5 "big buffs" next to what I *think* is a Barred Rocks or Black Austrolops.

Those maybe Red Rangers. Do you have any big white ones? If not then breath a sigh of relief, because you don't have any Cornish X. If they are Red Rangers,they will grow big and quick but they are less likely to have health problems. If you don't want to eat them, feed them like your other chickens, watch them for leg problems. I kept a Ranger pullet to 20 weeks once. At a certain point she stopped getting bigger. She was close to POL when a goat stepped on her and she had to be processed.

As far as eating my chickens: yes I do. I will only eat meat from animals I raise and process myself. I care too much about how animals are treated to eat meat from a grocery store.

 

[fshinggrl]

We don't. We get them for eggs and then give them away after X many years.

 

[chickenlover09]

I only eat fish and an occasional piece of meat.

I would NEVER eat my chicken. The thought of it is just disgusting for me. I know people say that those chickens are bred for meat, but still. How would you feel if your, let's say dog was overweight, and you just ate him!?

I grow to attached to all of my pets to just eat them.

My chickens are pets, and I use them for eggs.

 

[1muttsfan]

Yep.

 

[donrae]

Absolutely. I hatch as many chicks as I can coax my hens to set on, and am trying to get an incubator going. There's no market here for my sex link or mixed breed cockerels, so we grow them out and eat them. Otherwise I'd be overrun with roosters, or have to quit hatching. This is a win-win, I get to hatch and my family gets chicken enchiladas

What assortment did you order from MMM? They don't send the CX out in the assortments, I don't think. You may have gotten some of the Dixie Rainbows or Pioneers or whatever they call them, but those are different than the CX. They'll get big, and they won't lay as well as a production based hen, but they're not self-terminating like the CX tend to be. They're also not butchered as early, they're more like 12 week birds. They can live long and happy lives. If you want a more production based bird, I'd say to sell them after they're feathered out.

 

[sarahandbray]

I guess I just don't know what I'm going to do in a few weeks if these 4-5 are in fact, meat birds!! Half of me knows that they would probably be very good, healthy eating, and they're not really "meant" to live long, productive farm lives. I'm trying to make myself turn into a more "tough" farm girl in the 'Burbs.
The other half of me just knows I couldn't do it. Period.

So now what do I do? Can you advertise meat birds on Craigslist? Do people buy them (alive, that is?).
Ugh...wish I had realized the mix meant not just birds for eggs!!! My fault. Live and learn.

Sarah

 

[1muttsfan]

Did they have a list of possible breeds? Some chickens are quite large compared to others, such as Jersey Giants or good-quality Orpingtons.