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

[Mikedero]

I understand but this post was asking why meat eaters have a issue with processing chickens, it was not about someones backyard pet but a livestock question, you just brought it to another level.

I stated what I stated about your screen name because it seems you love stirring the pot, if you do not like processing your own chickens then why are you posting on a thread about that topic? either way I am done debating with you move on already.
thanks


back to the topic on hand, I watched a few good videos today on youtube and I am so looking forward to trying some of it. But the issue I am having is trying to build a plucker. I picked up a used washer for free on craigslist. give me a few weeks I will put up a post on how to creat a plucker for under 100.00 as i hope it costs less then that as it is my budget i locking in on.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I think it is a bit of a sliding scale, or ramp. I think there is a limit to how "prepared" some people are able to be at this moment in time (at any given moment). Given more time, they might be able to be more "prepared." Exposure and experience will move them along the path. And looking backwards at the people behind you on this path it can seem very puzzling as to why they don't just catch up. But some people even decide to step off this path entirely and go the vegetarian/vegan route.

People are variously squeamish about different things. There are people who will not eat Farm Fresh Eggs because they are perceived to be "dirty" compared to factory eggs. Lots of my Farm Fresh (chicken) Egg customers can't face the idea of eating a duck egg. Some people are really freaked out by the brown/green/blue eggs and ask me not to include them. Some people won't eat fertilized eggs. Some people can't eat eggs from certain breeds of chicken for religious reasons. And so on. Some of that seems silly to me, but maybe if I'd never seriously contemplated eating farm eggs I might need some time to warm up to the idea. And that's just eating eggs, which virtually everyone does, so is far easier to face than deliberately killing something.

I have an egg customer who raises lambs. She can't eat her own lambs (the rest of her family can), so we're going to trade turkey for lamb this year.

We get Agricultural Kill permits for hunting deer on our property, but after shooting one deer decades ago, my father never shot another. He and the neighbors work together ... he gets the permits and hauls the carcasses to the proper facility, they do the hunting (which they enjoy for the sport of it). If he didn't have the neighbors, he'd no doubt do the hunting himself.

I had a friend once who went so far as to say nobody should be allowed to eat meat unless they'd actually slaughtered an animal. I can kinda see where he was coming from -- at least from an education standpoint -- but I think he took it too far with the "ethics." I told him that I, as a farmer, had participated in the raising of many animals for food, but had never in my life knowingly killed one directly, not even by running over it in my car or catching a fish. I asked him if I was excluded from eating meat while he, a small animal veterinarian who put people's pets to sleep practically every day of his career, was more deserving of meat than I? Personally, I feel deserving enough.

It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't force myself to watch a poultry processing video, now I am quite able to participate in dressing a bird or the butchering process ... but so far I haven't faced the challenge of slaughter. Nelson can not stomach cutting a dressed bird into pieces, but he has been able to slaughter and eviscerate some. For me it is a Division of Labor issue ... I'm better suited for other things than the killing, and other people are available to do it.

I saw one of those inspiring Facebook messages today that read: "Trying to understand the behavior some people is like trying to smell the color 9," so I hope you don't stress over this issue. And I really don't think much good will come of anything perceived as "encouraging" people to move along their own path/ramp faster than they are comfortable moving. Discussion of how useful the slaughtering MeetUp workshops are for other people will be a great example and very motivating.

 

[cuppycake]

I have a friend that does processing workshops and her classes are always full. She does them on chickens, ducks, rabbits and goats. I don't know that I would want to hold workshops myself, I don't really like having strangers out to the house. However, if my friends, family or coworkers wanted to learn I'd show them any time they wanted.

As far as getting away from the purpose of BACKYARD CHICKENS... I don't understand that. I have chickens, they live in my backyard, I eat some of them. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

 

[Baymule]

I just read all 17 pages of this thread. I too have backyard chickens and last Saturday, I butchered 8 roosters. It gave me a sense of satisfaction to do it myself and provide meat for us. I understand people that can't do this, but don't understand why they slam the people that do. At the same time those who do slaughter their own meat shouldn't slam others for eating McNuggets. It's all about choices. If anyone is intrested in raising a garden, chickens, eggs or meat, I am more than happy to help and mentor them. But I do not sneer at the long lines at the fast un-food places, I just keep driving past them. A few on here got a little nasty to each other. There is no point in that, ya'll settle down. You don't win any converts by being ugly to one another. Smile, hug, kiss and make up to each ohter.

I slaughtered the first roo with my 5 year old grand daughter and she wanted "rooster nuggets". She ate them and proclaimed Mamaw's to be better than store bought. That's my girl!

 

[Child of Noah]

It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't force myself to watch a poultry processing video, now I am quite able to participate in dressing a bird or the butchering process ... but so far I haven't faced the challenge of slaughter. Nelson can not stomach cutting a dressed bird into pieces, but he has been able to slaughter and eviscerate some. For me it is a Division of Labor issue ... I'm better suited for other things than the killing, and other people are available to do it.

Very VERY well said! My mother-in-law couldn't grow a tomato to save her life. I moved into the house, and I find I am growing them almost accidentally. I have small hands that can reach things, and my husband has brawny man-muscles to lift things. We each have our own God-given gifts, talents, skills, abilities, attributes. We are supposed to be a community and come together and help one another.
It really does come down to Division of Labor. I can sew for you, or cook... and though I am strong for my size, I would be a poor choice for any heavy-lifting work.
I sincerely apologize for anything I might have said that may have offended, or any contribution I might have made to the "fight" this became.
Blessings to you all, and when the end of the world comes, I want you ALL on my team.

 

[mstricer]

My phone quoted the wrong thing

 

[LiveVintage]

I have hunted deer since I was 11. I'm not quick enough for rabbit hunting but can process them no proble, this year will be the first we butcher chickens. I'm not looking forward to it. The actual dispatching as never been my thing but I always feel pride when "I" put food in the freezer. We also mushroom hunt, garden, preserve, and will be expanding our wild foraging this year.

I talk to friends all the time who are shocked and offended for me when I say we got chickens for eating this year, then they happily order a big Mack. I think society is its own worst enemy. While IMO not everyone should have to butcher their own everyone should know the details of where their dinner comes from. We went from being urged to grow our own crops and raise our own chickens in the 30s-50s to being so sterile it's disgusting.

 

[TheCrazyChick]

If you read the entire thread you will see that I have no issues with people processing their own chickens. None whatsoever. My problem was with those that were belittling and talking mean about those that do not want to do the deed themselves. Also with those who thought those that do the deed were murderers. I simply asked everyone to be tolerant of each other and a few crazy people took it in another direction and were offended by my tolerance I guess. I am a tolerant person in general, but drew the line at bullies and name-calling. It got weird, that's for sure.

I grew up hunting, fishing, and being a big tom boy. My grandparents were cattle farmers and I trapped with my dad who sold furs to the fur exchange in New York every winter for extra mula. We caught our own Thanksgiving duck or goose every year as a child. I would like to hatch meat birds for the freezer, but my husband (who grew up on a cattle farm and is well versed in animal slaughter) says ABSOLUTELY NOT. He does not have fond memories of his childhood farm experience.

I really would encourage everyone to read the entire thread. I think this is a great topic and if everyone keeps an open mind they may learn a few things of value. Just don't post nasty derogatory statements in response to others' personal views. "Nuff said.

 

[Mikedero]

I have hunted deer since I was 11. I'm not quick enough for rabbit hunting but can process them no proble, this year will be the first we butcher chickens. I'm not looking forward to it. The actual dispatching as never been my thing but I always feel pride when "I" put food in the freezer. We also mushroom hunt, garden, preserve, and will be expanding our wild foraging this year.

I love getting the mushrooms, Morels is just plain awesome and chicken of the woods

 

[hungry]

I don't usually buy "everyone should _____" about anything.

But....

If you eat meat, you cause animals to be killed. It does not matter whether you do the killing and butchering yourself, you pay someone to do it for you, or you receive the finished product. The moral responsibilities (plural, because it isn't a simple issue) are yours, just as the moral responsibilities for the results of wheat production are yours when you eat bread.


The problem (someone earlier in the thread said "hypocricy" and it kinda fits here) comes when people deny their responsibilities or claim someone else owns them. The problem isn't shifting the act (paying someone else to process your birds, or buying boneless skinless lumps of meat), but the idea that you can buy and sell responsibility. It's the idea that, by paying someone to kill and dress animals for you, you are paying them to take responsibility for the killing involved.

To put it in extreme terms, it would be like saying, "She paid Fred to murder her husband... so Fred is the murderer and she's an innocent widow."

Paying someone to do something, whether you supply the birds and pay a fixed processing fee or you buy the meat, is morally identical to doing that thing yourself. It is hypocritical to say that you are "better" than the person who kills the animals because you didn't hold the knife in your own hands. If you claim to be better, or think you are better, you will rub people the wrong way.

There's an additional wrinkle that paying someone to do a bad thing is worse than doing it yourself...that doing bad corrupts the doer, and inducing corruption is a distinct harm separate from the bad thing. If you consider killing an animal for food to be innately bad (someone revealed a bias by using the word "murder" to describe killing chickens for food...that sort of view) then paying someone to kill animals for you means you are doing more harm than simply killing them yourself, because you are corrupting others as well. Of course if you don't consider killing food to be bad you will never see eye to eye with such a view as it relates to back yard chickens...but I think that theory (that paying is worse) is mostly a response, a push-back, against the idea that you can pay someone to be responsible for things you induced. It wouldn't come up if there weren't people who thought buying a pre-processed grocery store chicken somehow meant they weren't responsible for the chicken's death.