butchering my first chicken and i could hardly eat it....

[lolis1984]

well, first things first, me and the hubby are complete novices. city folks. i considered skinning without removing the feathers but it seemed like it would get messy. I did freeze him for a week but it didn't make the deed any easier. probably because he was my first roo. i have five red broilers that i ordered from ideal in the house right now and hopefully i will be able to eat them. thanks for responses...i thought it was just me being weird. its so different for me to have a to butcher and process our meat instead of my neatly wrapped packages at ralphs or whatever. it made eating more real if that makes any sense. thanks everyone

 

[estpr13]

Quote:
When their combs start to turn red and there appears little pips on the insides of their legs, their personalities start to change and they become easier for me to process because of it.

thanks for responses...i thought it was just me being weird. its so different for me to have a to butcher and process our meat instead of my neatly wrapped packages at ralphs or whatever. it made eating more real if that makes any sense. thanks everyone

You are not being weird... just waking up to a portion of reality. lol

Reality can suck. That's why we have adventures, fantasies, entertainment, denial and mental illnesses, to help us deal with it.​

 

[Its Just Us Chickens]

I'm stalking this thread

I want meat birds soon, but I've been wondering if I'll be able to actually kill and clean a chicken. And I've also wondered if I'll still be able to eat chicken, especially after I've so enjoyed watching the ones I have now foraging in my yard. They're starting to seem more like pets than meat and eggs.

 

[pirtykitty]

When I was about 10 or so ( I'm 52 now) I helped the man down the street with the killing and dressing out etc of about 12 chickens.. He problably kept about 100 chickens and sold the eggs at his son's store... anyway I spent the whole day helping him.. I walked home about a block to Sunday dinner Yep you guessed it... Mom put down a platter of fried chicken in front of me.. LOL of course I turned a little peaked and dad asked what was the matter.. I told him what I had been doing all day and he just laughed... ( he was raised on a farm).. The people who owned the house and property have long since passed away but I still drive by the house and remember that day and going to gather eggs for them evey day...

I still eat chicken though but didn't that night...

 

[fizzy]

When my husband and I moved to a farm & started raising our own meat, I didn't think I could kill an animal. I had a long talk with myself and said "OK, you can either be a hypocrite & buy your meat in the nicely wrapped packages at the supermarket or be a vegetarian--because if you can't stand the thought of killing the animal, you shouldn't be eating meat in the first place". From that moment on, I was OK with killing beef, pigs, & assorted poultry.
It did give me a very strong appreciation of, and respect for, the animals, and we were very careful to be sure they were killed quickly and humanely. We appreciated the meat and didn't waste one bit of it. Now, having said THAT, I could never eat any meat the same day we killed/dressed it. Handling the raw meat killed my appetite for it cooked, because I could still smell the raw meat in the cooked (even though it may have been my imagination). Once it was frozen, cured, or stored for a day or 2, I was fine eating it.

Hang in there!!!
Wendy

 

[Skip]

I had a rooster named Skip. He started attacking my hens. Then he got loose. Then he started attacking my other roosters. Then he was dinner.

I found that rooster meat is a bit difficult. Eating it was a bit odd, because I could still smell the smell I smelt while cleaning it. After it was cooked, it wasn't so bad. After it was in the fridge, it tasted much better.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I'm confused... difficulty because of taste / texture, or because of the loss of disconnect between living / dead animal?

I had a hard time eating our own hen's eggs for a while and still don't like to think about the biology of it while eating an over-easy egg. I've never really liked boned chicken (ligaments, tendons, etc.) but now I like drumsticks even less... especially with the skin on.

 

[jvls1942]

my turn, a week or so ago my wife and I were cleaning nine ducks and five geese.. as I was cleaning up on one of the geese a funny thought struck me.. I said to annie, you know, a lot of people think this is gross.. but i am getting hungry for a goose dinner right now..

I never killed a bird I didn't like.....

....jiminwisc.........

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Rob you and my Hubby are identical in this. He likes it to be the same taste and texture as store bought so he can imagine it grew on those styrofoam plates that he always used to buy it on. He as be eluding himself on that for 30 years before meeting me and had no intention of changing. However gradually it has happened, he no longer thinks of our hen's eggs as potential chicks if they are in the fridge, and he even went hunting this year and got a moose. That is in the freezer and has been for over a month, he is not ready to cook any yet. When I put the steer in the freezer he would not eat if for a couple months, but did after that so I guess he just needs time.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I think it is overall a good experience for me and the family. We were watching "Modern Marvels" about horsed (my 5 year old LOVES horses) and they had a 10 minute piece on horse for meat... she handled it better than we expected and we think it is because of the chickens.