Any of you eat your chickens?

[Buster52]

Quote:
Well said, Al.

I raise chickens for two reasons only: meat and eggs. So, yeah. I eat my chickens. Occasionally I'll get attached to one or two, and that makes it harder, so I can understand where some of you are coming from. Butchered two hen turkeys a week or two ago, both of whom were real sweeties, but their whole reason for being here was to eat them. I refuse to let my emotions get in the way.

 

[HappySlappyFarm]

Quote:
Please tell me what you mean??? When I buy certain chicken i end up in the bathroom as well & sometimes before I'm even done eating dinner!! Its the runs!

 

[CallyB57]

No. Just eat eggs. Love the chickens.

 

[dancingbear]

Well, since the title of this section of the forum IS "Meat Birds ETC", I would expect that most of the people who post over here are either eating the chickens they raise, or planning to, or at least contemplating it. We sure eat ours.

Happyslappyfarm, here's some labels from various brands:

Pilgrim's Pride:
Ingredients:
Chicken
Solution Ingredients: Chicken Broth, Salt, Carrageenan.
GLUTEN FREE

Carrageenan is from seaweed, not a bad thing IMO, but I don't see any reason to add anything to a fresh chicken. I don't normally add anything to mine, unless I brine an older bird, but really, I often just don't bother, and ya know, they taste really good, without being injected or soaked.

Pilgrim's Pride and Foster Farms are the only two I found that just openly tell you what's in the birds. PP show's the list if you click on the button, and FF says there's nothing in the chicken but chicken.

Foster Farms:
"Our Whole Chickens are 100% natural and delicious with no added salt, chemicals or artificial taste enhancers."
One area of the website stated outright: "There's nothing in our chicken but chicken!" But is it all the same chicken? That could mean broth from other chickens is added. (I don't think it is, but you see how easily a person can be misled.)

Tyson: I don't know, I never found anyplace that listed the ingredients, and on the website, they never state outright, like Foster Farms does, that nothing is added.

Perdue: also very evasive about what is actually in the chicken. If you see it in the store, you can read the label there, and see what's in it, but they aren't about to show you on the website.

This site, http://www.healthyaging.net/articlelive/articles/93/1/SALTWATER-INJECTED-ALL-NATURAL-FRESH-CHICKEN-/Page1.html
is interesting, and shows how much salt water can be added. One person commented about a chicken protein isolate that is often used. That person seemed to be in favor of stuff being injected into the birds, which seems weird to me. I know I've often seen other ingredients on fresh whole chicken and turkey packages.

"Natural flavoring" can be any number of things that most of us would not consider natural at all.

So, anyway, I think we'd all be better off if we stopped letting corporations cook for us. They just don't do it the way we would at home, even when the label says comforting things like "Home-style", "Old Fashioned" etc. Read the labels and see what kind of crap they have listed that you don't even know what the heck it is. I've managed to cook since I was a kid without ever adding monosodium glutamate, BHT, glycerel monostearate, sodium phosphate, and many other ingredients that corporation don't seem to be able to cook without. Some of these things may be harmful, some may be totally benign, but we don't need them. I think the idea that food should last forever on the shelf has caused a lot of problems. I know I do better if I limit the weird stuff I consume. Normally, I don't eat any of that stuff, but once in a while, usually when traveling, I'll eat several meals of foods I wouldn't eat at home. It almost always makes me feel icky for a few days, until I get it flushed back out of my system. If I ate that way all the time, I might think that icky feeling was normal.

 

[dichotomymom]

Yes I do. That was always my intention (meat and egg) even though I suppose we treat our chickens more like pets while they are alive than some might. I hold them and pet them but am still able to detach my feelings from the process when the time comes. Growing up, I never watched my parents do it because I was too tenderhearted but I think knowing that they did is what set the course for me being able to live the way we do now.

 

[3KillerBs]

Quote:
Please tell me what you mean??? When I buy certain chicken i end up in the bathroom as well & sometimes before I'm even done eating dinner!! Its the runs!

Exactly DH's issue.

Look for the term "enhanced" or for codewords like "tenderness assured". Read the fine print looking for "up to __% broth/solution". A little "retained water" isn't an issue, but the other stuff is.

I don't know what they put in that "broth" but it sure makes DH sick.

And even if he didn't get sick I wouldn't like it because with the meat so saturated with saltwater it won't absorb the flavors I add and ends up blandly salty instead of delicious.

 

[hildymarie]

I'm not sure what is iin the 'broth' either but some of the stuff they put in tuna includes a 'hydrolyzed protein' or some other such terminology. I am finding I have a problem with casein, a milk protein and from research on it I think I've seen references to using this in 'broth' added to various meats. It's interesting what they sneak into foods and dont tell you what it is. It would be different if they told you but it makes it very difficult when they dont and worse yet, wont.
My guess is that your husband and others have a food allergy to something they are using in this broth. Personally I'm not sure my sensitivity has progressed so far as to include that but I know I cant drink milk and a small slice of that oh so delicious cheese can cause a portion of my intestine to rebel for days if not weeks. And I love milk.And cheese, and yogurt and cottage cheese and ice cream and.....Now I'm just depressing myself.

 

[jaku]

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Not to mention the stuff that's not listed as an ingredient. (I don't think they list antibiotics or bleach as an "ingredient," but that doesn't mean there's none of it in your birds!)

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Excellent point! Here's a copy-and-paste from Perdue's website, from their FAQ's:

Are PERDUE® products antibiotic free?

Perdue does not use antibiotics for growth promotion in our chickens. We use antibiotics as directed by our company's team of veterinarians, all of whom are board-certified by the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. The antibiotics are used in stringent accordance with FDA and USDA guidelines. All PERDUE® products are free of harmful residues as determined by routine onsite USDA sampling.

Notice they never actually answer the question. They don't say "No, they're not free of antibiotics", and they don't say "Our chicken is free of antibiotics."
They only say they use them as directed by the team of vets, and conform to legal requirements.

Do you have any gluten-free products?

Yes. Many PERDUE® products are free of gluten. Perdue chickens, chicken parts, and turkeys are all gluten-free. These are sold fresh as well as frozen and some are flavored with seasonings. Feel free to check the ingredient listing on individual packages, download the list here or order the list by phoning us at 1-800-4PERDUE® (1-800-473-7383).

I downloaded that list, it's a PDF, and it lists the (supposedly)gluten-free products, but does not give you any idea whatsoever what's in them. No ingredients are listed at all.

I can't help but be suspicious of companies that try so hard not to tell you anything.

 

[2manychixs]

#1 reason I now raise my own chicks, turkeys, canning/freezing produce.

Tired of all the crap they put in product. I know what is in my stuff.

I also pay a little more to buy from trusted framers for pig/beef/other produce. We also butcher and process are own deer

Tired of recalls on product and supporting overseas production.

Buy local/nationa and oftenl.
I feel much better than I have before.
No fast food either. If on 1-2 occassion when too busy, eat it and get plugged up or runs. ewww!
Besides I cook much better than they do!!!!!!!
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Flock
14 araucanas(1 roo, 1 single leg), 34 iza brown, 10 speckled sussex(1 roo), 6 partiage rocks, 4 buff orphanington, 4 black australorps, 6 white rocks(2 are roos), 3 RIreds, 6 barred rocks, 5 guineas