➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Morrigan]

The life cycle of a Meatie

Adorable

Awkward

Majestic

Delicious

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

The life cycle of a Meatie

Adorable
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Awkward
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Majestic
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Delicious
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I personally couldn’t do that unless it was my only option. But the end product does look AMAZING

 

[Morrigan]

I don’t know why no one wants these handsome boys.
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They are gorgeous. It so hard to truly re-home. I figure there is at best, a need for only 1 rooster for every 100 hens that are born.

 

[Morrigan]

I personally couldn’t do that unless it was my only option. But the end product does look AMAZING

It was, and still is, really tough come butchering day. First round of meaties I very nearly became a vegan.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

It was, and still is, really tough come butchering day. First round of meaties I very nearly became a vegan.

Out of curiosity, what made you get into meaties in the first place?
As much as I hate the idea of butchering them after watching them grow up from popcorn to tiny dinosaurs, I appreciate knowing that the bird had a good life beforehand. I just know that unless I absolutely had to I couldn’t do it.

They are gorgeous. It so hard to truly re-home. I figure there is at best, a need for only 1 rooster for every 100 hens that are born.

It is so hard, and these boys would be awesome flock leaders, much better than our current but he has to stay. Even our blues aren’t selling, we had people asking for them left and right when we weren’t sure they were cocks but now they won’t even look at them. I don’t want them to go to a home where they will immediately be eaten without even the chance at their own flocks, and especially since we fed them and grew them all the way up to now. That would be such a waste of money.

 

[Morrigan]

Out of curiosity, what made you get into meaties in the first place?
As much as I hate the idea of butchering them after watching them grow up from popcorn to tiny dinosaurs, I appreciate knowing that the bird had a good life beforehand. I just know that unless I absolutely had to I couldn’t do it.


It is so hard, and these boys would be awesome flock leaders, much better than our current but he has to stay. Even our blues aren’t selling, we had people asking for them left and right when we weren’t sure they were cocks but now they won’t even look at them. I don’t want them to go to a home where they will immediately be eaten without even the chance at their own flocks, and especially since we fed them and grew them all the way up to now. That would be such a waste of money.

Your cockerels are so beautiful and I'm sorry you are having a tough time finding them forever homes. I hope you succeed.

To answer your question, we got into raising meat chickens because we wanted to live closer to nature, be more self-sufficient and, most importantly, not support factory farming. I've kind of decided that my emotions at butchering time are the price I'm willing to pay to avoid supporting factory farming. I've also learned to embrace the fun and joy or raising them until it's their time.

 

[RUNuts]

It was, and still is, really tough come butchering day. First round of meaties I very nearly became a vegan.

It is tough.

Out of curiosity, what made you get into meaties in the first place?

I like wild duck and haven't hunted. Started with heritage to see. Very tasty, very puny. Found BYC and did a bit of reading and asked the question, if chicken tastes like chicken and a CX is a chicken, why would it taste different? So I tried some local grown CX and broilers. Organic, pasture raised and all the fancy buzz words.

The broilers were similar to the heritage ones I raised last year. Delicious, puny and expensive (!!!!)

The CX were more economic (more meat per bird) and just as tasty as the broilers. More so than grocery store birds in so many ways. So we aren't really saving money by raising our own, but we are enjoying them.

Side benefit. Started watching all those "factory farms are evil" shows on Netflix. Learned quite a lot. We make more food, in a cheaper way, than the rest of the world and that is why we are fat and all that. Biologist daughter and I had a good conversation. She is the one that decided she needed to be more responsible with her food. My crusader. She is the only one who helps come butcher day.

In short, taste is awesome.

 

[RosieR]

Your cockerels are so beautiful and I'm sorry you are having a tough time finding them forever homes. I hope you succeed.

To answer your question, we got into raising meat chickens because we wanted to live closer to nature, be more self-sufficient and, most importantly, not support factory farming. I've kind of decided that my emotions at butchering time are the price I'm willing to pay to avoid supporting factory farming. I've also learned to embrace the fun and joy or raising them until it's their time.

It really makes you pay attention to what you eat when you butcher your own food. If it means eating a little less meat that might be a good thing, especially if the meat that is eaten was ethically raised. I don’t raise a lot of my own food by any means but the few birds I have had to cull and eat have really made me think about things.

 

[Sara L]

The life cycle of a Meatie

Adorable
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Awkward
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Majestic
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Delicious
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I think mine might be reaching the awkward stage, their feathers aren't growing as fast as they are. They are definitely bigger than a full grown quail.

 

[Tesumph]

If I see someone wave or honk at me, I wave back. Most of them are strangers to me because far more people know who I am than I know them.

A year after I moved to my current location my brother bought the place next to me. Shortly after that I came home to a note on my door inviting me to a picnic by someone that I had no idea who it was. I asked my brother if he had gotten a similar invitation and he said no but then he pointed out that he didn't have a backhoe sitting in his backyard.

Hah! That’s the fastest way to gain friends around here too, just own expensive equipment.

I suppose I’m in the non-waving minority here. Maybe I’m just unfriendly.. oh well, no shocker there.