From the suburbs and struggling internally with making the plunge into keeping (and slaughtering) meat birds. Need advice!

[igorsMistress]

Seems like great advice. Yeah, Walmart has those ~$4 roast chickens, but you have to wonder what kind of life that chicken had if the company can still profit after keeping, feeding, and transporting it. And even if it's not a moral thing, I doubt those chickens have as many nutrients as a home-raised chicken.

Also, on the topic of vegans not understanding, here is an article my vegetarian sister coincidentally sent me on the day I was preordering my meat birds (but did not and will not be telling her abiut the meat birds): https://www.elwooddogmeat.com/?fbcl...POwKMTGwrxorjPBCMEj-blM_v4RiMg7tlZk&fs=e&s=cl

I get what it's trying to say, but this kind of argument doesn't take into account that humans may not have survived throughout history without meat, and that other species of animals kill other animals for food. Should we now also be getting upset at our house cats for trapping, playing with, and eating mice? Not trying to start a convo about this topic because I think we are mostly in agreement here, but I just thought the timing was funny for her to send me that.

So yeah, I'll skip discussing those things with her and just come to BYC.

I just tell folks we all have our own values and beliefs. I won’t push mine on you, don’t push yours on me and we’ll get along just fine.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

A friend's mother walks with a cane and would have trouble getting to her feet without help if she was on the ground.

She keeps chickens, but says that she's afraid to fall in the chicken coop because she couldn't trust them if they were hungry.

Haha as she should be! Glad she has a little humor about it. It's funny you say that because my answer when people have asked me if I feel bad eating chicken now that I have pet chickens, my response is, "Hell no! If I dropped dead in their run you better believe they'd eat me right up!"

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I like to tell people like that this. Those cute "smart" pigs, or chickens? They will EAT YOU given the chance, and feel nothing about doing so.

Yeah no disrespect to any of these animals. They are all smart and beautiful creatures in their own ways. But all living creatures will kill a weaker species if they need to eat. At the end of the day, that's that and there's nothing wrong with it. As long as people aren't torturing animals for fun before eating them, there's no problem in my eyes.

 

[RiverOtter]

This is where I'm internally conflicted about ever raising Cornish X. It's like, yea, those are the most feed-efficient birds out there by a long shot, but at the cost of them being a genetic mess. When I start ordering chicks specifically for meat, I'll probably go the route of the Freedom Rangers or the Breese. For now, it's just the random assortment that my mutt chickens are giving me.

They are NOT a genetic mess. They are bred to give meat. They give meat more efficiently than any other chicken - what part of that screams a need for longevity at you?

Nothing is all that pretty at the end of it's natural lifespan. Not you, not me, old humans have achy bones and heart attacks, it doesn't mean they spent their entire lives a genetic mess, it just means they've gotten old. That a CX's natural lifespan is measured in weeks is a good thing - a LOT of people not raised in this lifestyle can only take this plunge because they know they're not taking years from an animal, just sparing them the discomforts of the end of their natural lifespan, and the birds are fulfilling their only purpose.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yeah no disrespect to any of these animals. They are all smart and beautiful creatures in their own ways. But all living creatures will kill a weaker species if they need to eat. At the end of the day, that's that and there's nothing wrong with it.

And that's why I didn't kill the black rat snake that ate 5 of my new chicks.

It's my job to make my brooder snake-proof if I can. The snake normally performs the valuable service of eating vermin but it took an opportunity (I'm still not 100% sure how it got in).

 

[Coops Dad]

Harvesting your own chickens gives you a connection to your sustenance that most people will never experience. Their food comes under cellophane on a styrofoam tray; you earned yours by raising it, feeding it, nurturing it and humanely ushering it from the yard to the freezer.

It's a spiritual experience to me when I kill an animal for food. Its death means I'm providing nourishment for my family and myself, and I have to take that with appropriate solemnity. First and foremost, I have to thank God for the animal, then pray for a peaceful death for it, and to not waste anything useful.

I pray when I hunt and, just before I squeeze the trigger, I ask "please". God knows that prayer, all that I'm asking in it. It's also the last thing I ask when I kill a chicken as well.

I hope you find your peace in your journey. For myself, I'd rather eat a chicken that grew on my land, happy and fat all of its life, instead of a commercially raised chicken that spent a short 6 weeks in the hellscape of a production house and trucked to a processor.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Harvesting your own chickens gives you a connection to your sustenance that most people will never experience. Their food comes under cellophane on a styrofoam tray; you earned yours by raising it, feeding it, nurturing it and humanely ushering it from the yard to the freezer.

It's a spiritual experience to me when I kill an animal for food. Its death means I'm providing nourishment for my family and myself, and I have to take that with appropriate solemnity. First and foremost, I have to thank God for the animal, then pray for a peaceful death for it, and to not waste anything useful.

I pray when I hunt and, just before I squeeze the trigger, I ask "please". God knows that prayer, all that I'm asking in it. It's also the last thing I ask when I kill a chicken as well.

I hope you find your peace in your journey. For myself, I'd rather eat a chicken that grew on my land, happy and fat all of its life, instead of a commercially raised chicken that spent a short 6 weeks in the hellscape of a production house and trucked to a processor.

Wow this is such an interesting perspective! But it sounds like a really good way of looking at it. I've heard of Native Americans treating their food as sacred and thanking the animal before killing it. I've always thought that was a very respectful way to do it and it seems like you do the same. I think this is a mindset that can help me get through this. I know there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat, but the factories you speak of do border on being just plain wrong. Raising my own chickens is more humane and will ultimately be more healthy. I think all my life I've just been ignorant as to where my meat comes from, but having to dispatch a chicken is just part of eating and surviving.

I appreciate you sharing this perspective. It will help me do this in the most respectful way possible.

 

[Coops Dad]

Wow this is such an interesting perspective! But it sounds like a really good way of looking at it. I've heard of Native Americans treating their food as sacred and thanking the animal before killing it. I've always thought that was a very respectful way to do it and it seems like you do the same. I think this is a mindset that can help me get through this. I know there is nothing inherently wrong with eating meat, but the factories you speak of do border on being just plain wrong. Raising my own chickens is more humane and will ultimately be more healthy. I think all my life I've just been ignorant as to where my meat comes from, but having to dispatch a chicken is just part of eating and surviving.

I appreciate you sharing this perspective. It will help me do this in the most respectful way possible.

It's intended to be an intimate moment where you acknowledge that this animal is a gift from our Creator and approaching the act with all respect is the largest part of it. My process centers around the bird's calmness couples with a quick dispatch.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

It's intended to be an intimate moment where you acknowledge that this animal is a gift from our Creator and approaching the act with all respect is the largest part of it. My process centers around the bird's calmness couples with a quick dispatch.

Would you mind sharing how you get the bird calm before dispatch? And what method of dispatch you find to be most humane?

Also, and this is a question for anyone, are you standoffish with your meat chickens as you raise them, or is it beneficial to interact with them so they are comfortable with you when you handle them during processing?

 

[IttyBittyBirdy]

Wow this is such an interesting perspective! But it sounds like a really good way of looking at it. I've heard of Native Americans treating their food as sacred and thanking the animal before killing it. I've always thought that was a very respectful way to do it and it seems like you do the same.

I do this whenever I butcher a chicken. I don't waste anything on them.

It's not easy, it sucks, I still get that pit in my stomach when I have to do it, but at the same time I'm just thankful I had the chance to give that bird a good life.

I learned about halal butchering, and this is what I do:

• The bird/animal shouldn't see the blade (I wrap a little bandana around their head/eyes)
• Try not to butcher animals where other animals can see, try to do it behind the barn or put up a little barrier.
• Make sure the knife or axe is sharp first.

This way, they won't know what's coming. They won't see it happening. It's over and done with for them in a second.