Anyone else done this?

[OccamsTazer]

I am big into the self sufficiency thing. I try to conserve everywhere I can, and that's what got me into the whole chickens thing in the first place.
I have slaughtered quite a few so far, and they've been delicious, but I am finding it impossible to keep from getting attached to my keeper roos and and my laying hens. DBF commented today that he doesn't think he could do the deed for Godzilla, Cap'n Nasty, or Tufts (our roos), nor could he for Goldie (the lil hen who for no apparent reason loves him and follows him around making sweet noises). Now he is not a wimpy man, nor am I a shrinking violet. We both pride ourselves on being solid practical people!
Anyone else have this problem?
Fortunately we have an out, we are friends with a dear old couple who run the closest thing to a poultry retirement farm. So if in a year when the lease is up and the birds can't come with, we have somewhere safe to send them. This whole situation is totally unexpected! I really thought I'd be able to maintain my detachment while still being caring, but the naming of birds just *happened*
Any others?

 

[Emzyyy]

I would of never planned on eating them in the first place you kinda fall in love with them they're just like dogs. I can't eat my dog can you?

 

[OccamsTazer]

Well I'm not opposed to eating meat but for the most part I don't unless it's game or so forth because I have big problems with factory farming.
And no, I wouldn't not eat my dogs, but I'm also entirely aware that is my own emotional prejudice and not logic...
Alas...chicken issues

 

[PotterWatch]

I haven't had any issues so far with processing our laying birds. I have sold rather than processed some of them, but that was mainly because they were still young and good layers so I could make enough money to pay for a couple months worth of feed for the others. I did kill a layer that belonged to a friend of mine and she was unable to watch. She was able to help with the processing, just not able to handle the moment of death.

 

[bigkford]

We name all our animals and we raise all our own meat. My kids were started off with homemade babyfood. If their are certain chickens we get attached to we keep them. I have one who uses a litter box in the house and either follows behind me or rides on my shoulder. He is a roo that has three hens out there for him but he wants no part of them. He wants to be with us. My kids call him our non chicken. His name is Buster.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm still fairly new to keeping chickens, still have some of my original laying hens and flock-husbanding roosters. Although I too have learned to process chickens, I still cannot bear to "do the Mrs Tweedy" and cull the less-productive hens. Neither could I do these older known & named roosters. And I can't yet process a duck, they're just too personable to me. Forget about doing the geese, I'd have to be starving with nothing else at all to eat before I could process them.

But I can see how a person could do all that, process birds they've owned & known for years and serve them at their table. Folks have been doing that for centuries. And I imagine that even they had a few very special chickens or other poultry that endeared themselves to them so that they spared those birds if they possibly could.

I read an article in BackYard Poultry magazine describing how older hens made the best, most flavorful and most healthful soup. It described what a real labor of love it was to make it, since it must be cooked very slowly for a long time in order to get the most goodness from it. And how beneficial it was for those who ate it, especially those who were ill. After reading this I could see how it could be considered an honorable end for an older laying hen, that after giving her family all her eggs she could nourish them in a healthful soup, maybe even cure someone's cold or flu.

Everyone's free to do as they see fit with their own flock, keep them or cull them as they age, enjoy them in the yard or at the table, or both. And I don't think it's hypocritical to process some but want to keep others for purely sentimental reasons.

 

[Judy]

I have a great copout setup. I take care of the chickens, help choose who goes to the freezer, help with the processing. But my son and his family eat the chickens.

Truth is, I can barely eat the eggs. And I have loved eggs overeasy all my life.

Stupid, I know. Maybe I am just too old to deal with it.

Funny thing is, I ate homegrown chicken and eggs all the time as a child.

I really feel the problem is the demise of the family farm. There are just way too few of us who grew up eating the animals we raised, or eating/drinking their products. There is really no conflict between raising and caring for an animal humanely, and then eating it. On the contrary: that is exactly what we should be doing.

I do feel that backyard chickens are a route back to this -- but only if we deal sensibly with the realities of it, such as extra roos, since only one of the ten or so roos from a hatch needs to be kept with the flock. Sorry, that is what most roos are for, chicken dinner....

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Good point.

I have 32 chickens, I think. There is definitely one I would never eat, even if I had no problem with eating the extra roos, or even the extra hens. I don't see any problem with having a pet.

 

[dancingbear]

We have some intended to be food from the beginning, or at least from the time we can tell they're roos.

Then there's the layers. It's very hard for me to accept killing a layer, after all the eggs she's provided, and often, all the chicks she's hatched and raised. So far, I've managed to avoid butchering any laying hens. I've sold a few, while they were still productive enough, to folks who just wanted a few eggs, but didn't care if they weren't the best layers around, as long as they got 3 or 4 eggs a week they were happy. I have 2 now, that need to go elsewhere. They brood well, but somethings haywire in the "mothering" part of the instinct, and they don't know what to do after the eggs hatch. There's a guy down the road who might want them, otherwise, they may be the very first executed hens, here.

We've also had some very likeable roos that we couldn't have killed, and that worked out ok, we just didn't kill them. We ate other, younger ones, (generally obnoxious ones) as they got big enough, and kept the roos we liked the best, either until they got old and died, or something got them. We free-range, and so now and then, we do lose one. Not often, but it does happen.

We have a few special hens that we're attached to, and they aren't becoming dinner, no matter what.

And that's ok. They're your chickens, there's no reason to feel you have to force yourself to be be strictly practical at all times. So what, if you might spend a little more than you absolutely have to, to feed a handful of less productive birds? If you feel better about it, that's ok.

I like the idea of the neighbors with the chicken retirement center. It evidently makes them happy, so why not?

 

[honeydoll]

I am new to chickens as well, and I too have thought killing the first batch I ever owned will be tough. They're kind of special, you know. I would keep many more than I should if I used my emotions to decide. As hard as it is, I have had to set my emotions on the back burner. I totally agree with ddawn, the problem is that we are out of touch with the process of making animal a meal. The family farm demise I'm sure has had to do with that as well. When my hubby and I killed our first chicken I felt awful, it really bothered me and then I realized how out of touch I was with the realities of farming. I have a favorite saying I use in many situations, --"down the quantity, up the quality"-- I live by this rule. When it comes to pets, clothes, eating out or whatever. I am very choosey about what I keep and how I spend my money, it has helped to control clutter in my house, spending too much money or having too many "pets". If I can sell my original laying hens I will but if I have to I will eventually cull them.