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

[Serenderpity]

I'm a vegetarian that butchers every single edible animal in the house for everybody else. Figure that one out.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm a vegetarian that butchers every single edible animal in the house for everybody else. Figure that one out.

Sounds like my folks....vegan for over 15 yrs but Dad was a bowhunter, so still killing deer for his grown kids and Mom still gutted, skinned and processed all the deer for all the guys in the family.

 

[TXchickenchick]

Starvation can cause people (or animals) to do things they never thought they would consider.

I am pretty sure the Donner Pass pioneers did not think their journey would end like it did......

Actually, all physical evidence indicates that the Donner pass pioneers were telling the truth when they said they never ate human flesh. They did find evidence of a pet dog being eaten, but no humans.

I, personally, don't think it should matter. If I were starving and a human companion died, i would not hesitate to cook and eat every usable part. And that said, I can tell you 100% I would NEVER eat my own child. I would give my life to save my child in any situation, why does anyone think starvation is any different.


As for the main reason for this thread, it's pretty simple really. Some people can't handle killing. So really, they shouldn't have to. It gets so tiring seeing people talk about how if you can't kill it you don't deserve to eat. That's absurd. Back some time ago I started a thread because i really want to butcher my own. Really want to! So I was directed to this thread. I was so incredibly offended! I am looking for help so I CAN butcher and I am directed to a thread calling me a hypocrit.


I am well aware of the origins of my food, plant and animal. I want the animals I eat to have a good life and a quick death (something I worry I may not properly provide). If I can raise them, I can clean the carcas without flinching, I can cook it, please explain to me how I am a hypocrit and disconnected from the source of my food just because I struggle with delivering the death blow?

 

[cottontail farm]

My goodness, what was the original question? Txchichenchick, I think most people have hesitations when they start processing their own birds. I can tell you I did, my first hen I culled because she had a respiratory infection I didn't want to spread and I had no idea what I was doing and had to figure it out from a book. I used the broomstick method, freaked out when the body was flapping and then went inside and cried. What makes this easier is just getting past the first few birds. At that point you know what to expect, get it done quickly and are confident enough in your technique to know that you aren't causing the bird pain.

 

[gpop1]

30 years ago I worked for a feed company that sent me out to labs, layer sites, fatting sheds, processing plants as part of a training excise. They want to teach you how important your job was and how a minor mistake can affect thousands of chickens. Ive seen a lot of things that were interesting and shocking. I learn a lot about how much control the feed has on the eggs and meat and we were shown the results of feed problems like blown out hearts and broken bones.
My wife asks how do you eat processed chickens knowing how they are grown. My answer is always the same. "I like chicken" and to be honest I like the way they are processed. Now the question comes to weather I should eat my own birds. As far as im concerned none of my chickens have been lab tested and I don't see the usda swabbing the surfaces and checking for bacteria so im a little apprehensive about eating them in the first place. Another hang up I have is when I helped my brother-in-law skin a deer there was a tick on the skin so before slaughtering a chicken im going to have to inspect him fully for bugs, ticks, etc.
I don't enjoy killing but its not something im really bothered about, So I look at it this way. I can buy a fully dressed ready to cook meat chicken for a few bucks more than eating one of my fancy fluffy feet skinny guys. I just figure its easier to sell one of my guys and buy a store bought. As for what happens to the ones I sell or give to relatives im not really that bothered.
Now that im living in florida most people ask why you are not eating your own chickens and quail.

 

[Beekissed]

You've seen how commercial chickens are raised and processed and you still want to put that in your mouth? All the meat recalls for antibiotic resistant bacteria and you still feel good about eating those birds, raised in crowded conditions and dying from it all and you are apprehensive about your own chickens in comparison?

I'm sorry, but I'm having problems understanding all of that. My chickens are healthier, cleaner and processed in a more clean manner than any USDA inspected processing plant out there, of that I'm confident.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/10/lab-testing-testing-for-pathogens-on-poultry/#.VX4zzkYxIxI

Quote:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-04-chicken-bacteria_x.htm

Quote:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/02/the-high-cost-of-cheap-chicken/index.htm

Quote: It’s unrealistic to expect that the uncooked chicken you buy won’t contain any potentially harmful bacteria. That’s one reason we advise you to prevent raw chicken or its juices from touching any other food and to cook it to at least 165˚ F. (Check our reviews of meat thermometers.) Yet some bacteria are more worrisome than others—and our latest tests produced troubling findings. More than half of the samples contained fecal contaminants. And about half of them harbored at least one bacterium that was resistant to three or more commonly prescribed antibiotics.


One could go on and on and on finding and posting links and quotes from the many studies done on the horrible level of bacteria present in commercially sold chicken. I'd venture to say that anyone that "likes" how these birds are grown and processed after having an intimate, working knowledge of all that is in extreme denial.

In the documentary, Food, Inc. , Joel Salatin had certified lab testing done at his farm on chickens grown and processed in outside processing stations and had it compared with USDA approved chicken in the store and the difference was so huge as to be laughable~his tested so low in present bacteria on the meat and the USDA inspected meats so high there was very little comparison. With that evidence he won the right to process chickens in the open air and sell the meat on his farm.

 

[gpop1]

maybe its different in the states. I know in the uk any test that comes back for salmonella means the whole shed is getting a destruction order. If you enter a chicken site the vehicle is sprayed with disinfectant then to enter the shed you have to don coveralls and be sprayed down. Most places insist that you shower first. Ive had days were ive had to take 8 showers just to move around the same site. Also all tools have to be sprayed or foamed before entering and before leaving each zone.

why do you think that the chickens are unhealthy or unhappy in large industrial sheds. They like to be in a flock, warm and well feed. Now I must admit it does stink but to be honest it smells way worse outside than inside the sheds as all the bad smells are being sucked out by huge fans and vented to the outside. The constant noise from the stereo system can also be annoying especially in layer sheds but the chickens don't seem to mind it.

As for salmonella you do realize that theres lots of different types of which 4 or 5 are the real bad ones that lead to food poisoning. Just put you hand on a petrel dish incubate and see how many diffrent types you have on you skin. touching the food your chickens eats with out scrubbing your hands first can transfer it which is why all chicken/eggs needs to be fully cooked no matter where they come from.

Ive no problem with you killing and processing your own flock and I can see no reason that you should have a problem with me eating processed chickens. The only real difference is yours are meant to taste better and mine just taste of plain old chicken

 

[Beekissed]

maybe its different in the states. I know in the uk any test that comes back for salmonella means the whole shed is getting a destruction order. If you enter a chicken site the vehicle is sprayed with disinfectant then to enter the shed you have to don coveralls and be sprayed down. Most places insist that you shower first. Ive had days were ive had to take 8 showers just to move around the same site. Also all tools have to be sprayed or foamed before entering and before leaving each zone.

why do you think that the chickens are unhealthy or unhappy in large industrial sheds. They like to be in a flock, warm and well feed. Now I must admit it does stink but to be honest it smells way worse outside than inside the sheds as all the bad smells are being sucked out by huge fans and vented to the outside. The constant noise from the stereo system can also be annoying especially in layer sheds but the chickens don't seem to mind it.

As for salmonella you do realize that theres lots of different types of which 4 or 5 are the real bad ones that lead to food poisoning. Just put you hand on a petrel dish incubate and see how many diffrent types you have on you skin. touching the food your chickens eats with out scrubbing your hands first can transfer it which is why all chicken/eggs needs to be fully cooked no matter where they come from.

Ive no problem with you killing and processing your own flock and I can see no reason that you should have a problem with me eating processed chickens. The only real difference is yours are meant to taste better and mine just taste of plain old chicken

I've lived where commercial poultry houses are numerous and actually spoken to the people who work there, as well as listened to the stories of the filth and horror at the local processing plant for Perdue. I've driven by and smelled the stink of death of the many chickens dying in those houses, seen their carcasses scattered on the fields with their litter. Unhappy? Unhealthy? You bet they are! Chickens don't "like to be in a flock, warm and well fed" under those circumstances, anyone can see they aren't "happy". Chickens like to be in a flock, they like to be warm in the winter and they like to be well fed, but they get sick when overcrowded, when they have poor air quality and when they never see the light of day or have clean, fresh soil under their feet.

Quote:
The difference between the germs in my flock and the germs in a commercial flock are vast...mine are not infected with germs that are drug resistant because my flocks have never seen medications...not in the feed, not in their bodies, no vaccines, and certainly not in any disinfecting agents sprayed in the coop. They've not been exposed to any buildings or hatcheries that breed these super bugs. Their germs are the simple, every day germs found in the bowels of all animals and even humans, not the strains that are broad spectrum antibiotic resistant.

I have no problem at all with you eating processed chicken or anyone else doing so either, but to imply they are better kept and cleaner raised in CAFO situations is pretty much a huge untruth and therein lies the problem. You can choose to not see the truth and that's your prerogative, but I don't have to believe or agree with your assertions that backyard flocks are more unsafe for eating.

 

[can you hear me now?]

I just wanted to add my two cents into this conversation. I'm glad we are not in apocalyptic times. The majority of our technological society hasn't a clue the things that would need to be done to survive. Butcheri.g and processing an animal isnt basic knowledge. There were many things that have been lost to many in urbanized areas. People would die in the masses if we had major breakdown in government. Just sayin'

 

[cppeace]

You are very right. I am very proud that I was raised to be self sufficient. I was raised knowing where my food comes from, how to grow crops, how to clean an animal. I've helped make sausage from pigs and had to cull sick animals. I know how to make soap. I know how to make jelly and jam and preserve most foods. The average American is completely useless when it comes to survival without a grocery store.