Do you eat your own chickens?!?

[sarahandbray]

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

 

[sarahandbray]

Rainier, I don't think they're bantams. I ordered 16 specific chicks from another hatchery--Lavender Orpingtons, Black Copper Marans, Olive Eggers, Welsummers, and Ameracuana. All the others are not noticeably bigger or smaller than each other...
I guess I'm most worried that the McMurray catalog says that the meat birds need different feed and different feeding regime--I feel like something that needs to be treated differently shouldn't have been thrown into the mix? How would first time chicken raiser (aka ME!) know right away I was supposed to be getting broiler food for a few and restricting access to food?

 

[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!

 

[Ridgerunner]

That ad says they are purebreds. The broilers are not purebred, they are hybrids. Still, I suggest you call McMurray and ask them if it is possible for them to be broilers. That looks like it could be a Red Ranger so ask specifically about them when you call.

You don’t need to feed them the special feed if you are not growing them out for meat. They can eat what all the others ae eating. They will still grow quite fast and eat a lot.

The main reason I raise chickens is for the meat, but for many people they are pets so won’t be eaten. It’s an individual thing. If you are uncomfortable with those chicks, Craigslist is probably the best way to go, but once you give them up you lose control of their fate.

Good luck figuring it out.

 

[Blooie]

Yep, we do eat the chickens we aren't planning on keeping. We recently processed three roosters and so far have eaten one of the packages from the freezer. It was delicious and because I knew how it was raised from the time it hatched I actually felt better about serving it than I feel about eating one that was processed with thousands of other birds at the same time, on the same equipment, by people with no "skin in the game", so to speak.

 

[4pabitts]

The chick on the left surely looks like the 16 Rhode Island Reds I just received last week.

 

[roseyred]

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

My bf is not okay with eating the chickens....the way I see it, do you eat chicken? Okay from the grocery store? Now look up how those chickens live....even the "organic fee range" sometimes aren't in the best conditions. If say eat them chickens lol would you rather support chicken brutality or raise a chicken with the best care and most love and lots of bugs and treats they can eat and then when the time comes make them into dinner? I just see it as if your gonna eat chicken why not eat your own? A chicken will be put down either way. I also always say a prayer at dinner and thank the animal for the food it has provided to nourish us. That is why people say grace ya know....to thank for the food

 

[roseyred]

Another reason I support raising chickens for meat is because unless your a vegitarian and don't eat chicken then your gonna eat chicken lol and did you know they just stopped putting ARSENIC in chckens feed!!!!! That is a poison! People slowly kill there husbands with that **** back in the day lol! http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/10/02/no-more-arsenic-animal-feed-fda-says

So yeah I don't trust food I haven't grown or raised myself.

 

[roseyred]

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.

You said you occasionally eat meat. Do you occasionally eat chicken meat?

 

[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.