That's the way I think of it. The meat birds are raised for that purpose. We know our layers will go to freezer camp too, even with their names, and it was all understood when we went with dual purpose birds for our laying flock. But we've given them all good lives and let them do what they do naturally all their lives.
As for smothering them with sauces or trying to pretend there's something on the plate other than a bird that was running around the yard a week ago, I'd rather see that bird in all it's glory and taste the full flavor of the meat. I've quit using marinades and doing anything that smothers the flavor - if I wanted chicken that you have to add flavor to, I'd be down at the grocery getting one of those cardboard chickens.
They're chickens, not pets.
-DB
all of our layers will end up in freezer camp too.. plus several of the emus we hatched out, raised, named and DNA tested to see for certain who was the boys and who was the girls (we just don't need THAT many boys).. lol
I know some people think of their birds as pets (which is fine for them).. but my mother broke us of that when we were kids. We were allowed to have birds as "pets".. but we also knew that sooner or later they would end up on the dinner table unless they ended up being a target of a predator..
One of my sisters had a fit when I explained to her son where hamburger came from.. she was teaching him that meat comes from the store all pretty in a package. It surprised me since she knew how we were raised and were taught from the very beginning where food comes from (I was 3 when I started helping with the slaughtering and butchering)