Advice for starting up, eggs or meat or pets?

[eyeluvmikyds]

I'm only in the beginning processes of buying some land and my first goal is building up a coop to start, I plan on starting small and building up to enough to keep my family mostly sustained. I've been reading some culling and processing threads, and beginning to wonder I this is something I can do :'( for someone who has a serious attachment to animals, would you recommend I only start with eggs, or meat birds first? If you can't handle culling is sending meat birds out worth the cost? I used to be a vegetarian, but meat slowly seeped back into my diet. I admire the people strong enough to handle the hard parts, I admit I am weak. Also if you have younger children, how involved with the chickens do you allow them to be? My daughter I know for sure would have to be pretty separated from the whole process, she's 8, wants to recur animals when she gets older, raises funds and supplies for animal shelters and cries for days when an animal dies in a movie. I'm thinking she will be stationed in gardening work lol. My boys are 10 and 6, and also pretty sensitive but my oldest is an amazing worker. I also have a 15 yr old nephew that lives with me, I think he can handle as much as he wants. Sorry for the long post, I still have a billion more questions, I am trying to be 100% sure what I am getting into before I buy any animals

 

[Big Dan]

I would start with a batch of egg layers and make sure poultry is right for you. I personally love my meat birds. I have Cornish rocks and a few different kinds of turkeys that we breed. We raise a lot of our meat for the local school district. Processing a bird can be tough. I Have done it for years and it is always tough to take a life by hand. It gets easier, because you are practicing what is part of the natural food chain. As far as my kids they are very involved. My son is 4 and he helps me feed everyday and I always ask him which animals we are going to eat. We taught him that we raise animals for different reasons and some animals are food. The key to kids is don't name them. You want the animal to appear as a group not an individual. As soon as you name it, it has a personality. This has worked very well for us. I try to make them very connected to their land and animals . my son is so desensitized to it all he loves being there when we butcher. I don't let him see the deed happen but he is there from when it is bled out till we rap up the event with a prayer. It is very good to have kids I understand the facts of life. It will only help them down the road.

 

[eyeluvmikyds]

We raised rabbits when I was younger, food for a pet snake (15 ft Burnese Python) and that never bothered me, I think it's easier to see the food chain, the part you aren't involved in anyway.