Please help me understand meat eaters not wanting to process a chicken!

[ctfeathers]

Very well said. It doesnt make much sense to me. I think some very real common sense about animals have been lost. Now I love dogs and cats However I watch these animal cop shows now and then and they will have a VERY injured or very sick animal and will spend thousands of dollars, months of recovery, pain and suffering for the animal to get it ready for adoption. When there are THOUSANDS of healthy animals that need homes and are put to sleep because there are too many and not enough homes for them.   Where has that started making sense in our culture?

Yes, thank you.
Not to mention the mental scarring from an ordeal, which makes the animal "special needs" all on its own.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I recently bought a whole chicken at a store just last week. It was a standard, non-organic, store brand chicken. IT COST ME $14. Kid you not.

We didn't raise meaties for several years because it cost us $12/bird to buy the chicks, brood them (electricity), have them shipped, feed them to butchering weight, and package them for freezing. But with a store-brand chicken costing $14 (and higher, some of those birds weighed more), even paying $3.50 to have them slaughtered and cleaned and shrink-wrapped looks just fine to me. Especially since now I can hatch my own and eat the boys, and because we're driving to the hatchery anyway to pick up started pullets and egg cartons, so no shipping costs on Cornish X. I ordered my meat birds the same day I bought that $14 chicken home.

 

[gg706]

WOW Chicken Canoe...that is really sad..... I hope she realizes it is holding her life back. I had a wake up call several years ago. A man was going to send a horse to slaughter because it was very lame. My sister decided it would be a good idea to bring the horse to my parents farm and try and help the horse. The horse arrived and could not even put his hoof on the ground. We called the vet out and he found that horse had founder so bad the bone was coming thru the bottom of his hoof. It was horrible! My sister decided to attempt treating the horse so I would take the horse up to the vets office every couple of weeks to have his foot exrayed and reset again. Hoping it would heal in a better position and the horse could at least live out a decent life. It was a very experimental treatment. After several thousand dollars and months of trips to the vet the horse was doing much better. However he still has some pain....he can run and trot but it is not quite "normal". After the horse was feeling better he turned into a holy terror! He will kick you, he will, bite you, he will run over you coming out of the barn if you dont watch yourself. That horse is very lucky but at that point my mindset about it changed. There was no point to saving this lame suffering horse when many horses that are perfect companions are going to slaughter everyday because their owners cant take care of them anymore. It also was not worth all the money my parents spent to now have a horse out in the pasture and have to watch your back when doing chores. the only good that came from it was the education the vet got out of the treatment. He did not charge much over the supplies needed and it still cost and arm and a leg.

I agree ctfeathers most do not come out well on the other end of it. BTW I also dig your avatar!

Walking on sunshine 14 bucks for a chicken! That is insane! I WISH so much there was a processor around here. I have called around and can not find anyone. I do have a neighbor that said he would butcher but he uses the sling them around and break their neck thing, I am not sure if that is humane so I have not taken him up on it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

When I raised the first batch of meat birds a few years ago I looked for a USDA certified processor and none of them around here do poultry.
The closes was 50 miles across the river in Illinois. That's when I went with plan B. My dad taught me how to process when we had meaties when I was a kid and he just cut the head off. I decided to go the killing cone route. They're expensive and I had some aluminum so I made my own with a few pop rivets and screwed it to a post over the first stage compost pile. Lots of good nitrogen feeding the compost on those days.
When I did my first batch I taught a friend in our chicken meetup group how to process when she was culling her first rooster. She and her husband have since bought a plucker that they loaned us for the processing classes. They are now raising 3 batches a year of 300 on an urban farm setting.

 

[zengrrl]

Because if these people had to deal with what "processing" food truly was they would all become vegans and the food industry would be turned on its side. I mean if you thanked me as you slit my throat who are you kidding. That wouldn't make me feel any better. A mass amount of the people prefer to keep their head in the sand.

 

[DeepFriedBacon]

The "thank you" is for me, not the chickens. Makes it a lil more palpable, makes me feel a tad better for killing an animal. Sure, a little selfish but hey, whatever helps you through the process...

I've worked as a pipefitter for a few years, working in mostly food processing plants. it took me about 6 years to eat a candy bar again. I won't even talk about wonder bread or the pork rind factory...i'd rather work in a sewage treatment plant any day of the week. At least there I know the end result doesn't end up on grocery shelves...well at least not directly.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I can't find the post but on this same forum a few years ago someone said something very profound. They said that in order to eat meat someone should need a permit. In order to get that permit that person would have to raise, butcher and process the animal from start to finish. If you want to eat fish, you had to catch, kill, gut and clean the fish - you then got a permit to eat fish.
If you wanted a permit to eat chicken, you had to kill, pluck and eviscerate - then you get the permit. To eat beef, lamb, goat, turkey etc. the same goes.
He opined that there would probably be a lot more vegetarians.
Not realistic but an interesting idea.

 

[ctfeathers]

I can't find the post but on this same forum a few years ago someone said something very profound.  They said that in order to eat meat someone should need a permit. In order to get that permit that person would have to butcher and process the animal from start to finish. If you want to eat fish, you had to catch, kill, gut and clean the fish - you then got a permit to eat fish.
If you wanted a permit to eat chicken, you had to kill, pluck and eviscerate - then you get the permit. To eat beef, lamb, goat, turkey etc. the same goes.
He opined that there would probably be a lot more vegetarians.
Not realistic but an interesting idea.

Funny thing, that. This past summer, my 8 year old caught her first fish, proceeded to name it ( gigantic palomino trout) then helped me clean and cook it. During dinner, she looks at me and says, "Fred really tastes good!" My wife left the table, I fell over laughing.
I have no problem dressing something I've caught or shot. The problem is when I "know" the animal. I fed the wild turkeys all summer long last year, then couldn't take the shot because I had gotten to know them, and couldn't bring myself to do it.

 

[Hollow Point]

It is a lot better to kill a perfectly healthy animal for human consumption than to let it die of old age and then let it be consumed by some varmit or rot which in my eyes is a waste. Whether you cut the head off, wring it's neck or put a bullet between it's eyes, the animal is not going to know nothing one second after it happens. Animals eat other animals, its the way its always been and the way it will always be. Humans happen to be one of the animals at the top of the food chain, thank God for that.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Walking on sunshine 14 bucks for a chicken! That is insane! I WISH so much there was a processor around here. I have called around and can not find anyone. I do have a neighbor that said he would butcher but he uses the sling them around and break their neck thing, I am not sure if that is humane so I have not taken him up on it.

See if you can get him to put them in a killing cone and slit their throats. MUCH more humane way to do it, and no flopping around.