Chickens: Pets Or Food?

[purplechicky]

mine are always pets that lay eggs, no matter what.
In fact, when I was about seven
I decided I wasn't going to eat chicken anymore, only their eggs. I'm fine with the fact if anyone else does, not offended at all.
Personally, I just couldn't imagine eating a chicken I had watched grow up and had named, but if your chickens are not pets, then I guess why not, right?
~Ruthie

 

[Teach97]

I'm older than eleven (like 3 times) but think that kid has it down...make up your mind but don't force it on others way to go kid!

I don't know if I could call mine pets...they are more like interesting livestock. I enjoy being around them and watching them but they are not loved...I don't get all sad about a chicken death (I have gotten ticked...and violent)...I believe crying for a dog is acceptable...I won't spend thousands saving one's life but I am upset when they are gone.

Having said that...I believe an animal can earn retirement...if i get a bird that makes grand champion...it will live a life without fear of the dinner table. I have a couple that are just too pretty to kill as well...until they tick me off.

full grown chickens do not come into the house...ever!

I still buy chicken at the store...especially breasts...the wife doesn't like chicken on the bone...and mine are banties so not much for that

 

[Davaroo]

Now, my wife will pet-i-fy any critter within eye sight. Every living thing she meets gets a name, immediately, and a place at the table (figuratively, of course).
Sometimes, its a little un-nerving and its one reason why chickens have faded from the landscape around here. There is just too much competition - everything loves a chicken dinner, after all.

 

[bmelanco]

Quote:
That sure sounds like trying to start an argument, or tell people that they are wrong or silly...



Pat

That wasn't my intent. I stated my opinion - I am of the camp that dosen't understand the camp that thinks chickens are on the same level as other pets (such as dogs). The intent was to provide points to discuss under the topic.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Very well kept, well treated, livestock. I do like them, but I don't play with them or get them to eat out of my hand or sit on my shoulder. I do keep them tame enough that they might expect me to pick them up at anytime if I need to; such as to get them off a nest or to relocate them or throw them back in the pen, if they should happen to get out, but no real petting time. They are all destined for the soup pot as soon as they serve their purpose and replace themselves.

 

[kmoranjr1]

Food

 

[SurprisingWoman]

When not all five of my girls are on the deck, outside the sliding glass door and I crack open the door (carefully since EVERY SINGLE chicken that is on the deck will try and get in the house) and they come, they are pets.

I have tried doing random calling, I have called different chicken names....

My girls know their names and they come running when their "parents" call them.

I can't eat anything with a name.

I will never eat rabbit again. I had house rabbits for 12 years and they were remarkable.

I do buy chicken but I can see that practice slowing already.

I will be a vegetarian one day. I can't deny how intelligent our fellow creatures are much longer.

Even now, we used to eat vegetarian two days a week, now we eat meat two days a week.

Soon, despite my husband "who does not want to give up beef and red wine" we will be 100%

 

[MagsC]

I am raising mine as pets and for eggs, so I guess both? If it became necessary to butcher a rooster, I would like to think I could do it but that remains to be seen.

I have had no trouble helping family members with butchering chickens but I wasnt emotionally attached either.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I have yet to encounter someone on this site that keeps diapers on thier chickens and keeps them in thier house. I think if such people exist they are few and far between. I reall don't think you can lump the people who keep diapers on thier chickens in the same group as people who have an attitude towards thier chickens as pets. I don't consider them the same as my dog...dogs are predators and have a complex mind unlike that of any other animal...Only horses have a history as connected with people as dogs. Dogs are capable of things that primates like chimpanzees are not, like communication thru eye contact with people. However, I don't buy into the "ranking" of animals as worthy of certain levels of respect or kindness based on my cultural experience with them. People who rank dogs as more worthy of respect and life than chickens are exhibiting a cultural bias. In china they would be looked upon as the same thing. I believe that all animals should be afforded respect as individual lifeforms and as keepers we should strive to ensure that thier days are happy, contented and that they do not die terrorized (as they are in factory slaughterhouses) or in agony (like the ones kicked like soccer balls in factory farms) even though they are already crippled by thier oversized bodies and are helpless.

My chickens are pet-like and I keep them for egg production. I don't eat them, and I don't eat meat. When you keep chickens for eggs as a protien source, you don't need to eat meat. My birds free range and help work the soil and keeps the bugs down. Even the old ladies do thier share of work and lay eggs well into thier twilight years. I have one chicken between 7-9yrs old. Not sure exactly because she was dumped in my yard a few years back and she was old then. Usually my chickens reach between 7-9 years of age before they die of age realted issues. Most of them lay remarkably well until they are 4 or 5 years old. After that it's more sporadic. I practice vaccination, routing wormings, and physical exams on a regular basis. The old one stopped laying last year. Up to that point she layed about 5 eggs a week. (Amazing production bird)

 

[Katy]

Quote:
They not only exist, but they are on BYC. Can't think of any names right off the top of my head, but there are even those who keep ducks in diapers in the house. Not my cup of tea, but I guess it's their house.