I love and adore my laying hens and I could never eat one of them. They are pampered and spoiled, they are tame and some love to cuddle. They all have names and I can tell most hens by her eggs. Are they pets? I sure think so. However, they don't have the privilege as my cats, to be seen by a vet - or to live in my house (well, only when sick and in need of special care... then I put up the dog crate in the bathroom). If too sick or injured to be healed they will be culled and buried - not eaten (DH has to do the deed for me as I can't kill a fly...)
Having chickens in my yard has me lead to re-evaluate my meat eating habits. I mean really, how can one love and coddle ones pet chickens and then sit down to a fried chicken dinner that was raised and killed under cruel conditions? The only logical route for me is either to go fully vegetarian, or to make sure the meat I consume has been raised humanely. I have never been much of a carnivore, but I do enjoy the occasional meat dish. So, in the meantime we have stopped supporting the national meat industry by purchasing locally and humanely raised meat. Sure, it is a whole lot more expensive, but I rather eat less than gorge myself with meat that is unhealthy on so many levels. This year we will take it a step further and raise heritage breed turkeys for the table. My challenge here is NOT to get attached.
Another issue that has arisen for me is this: where to all these hatchery chicks come from? What are the living conditions of the mothers and fathers of the thousands of chicks that go out via mail order every day? We all know what happens to the male chicks that nobody wants... they either see the gas chamber when lucky or go directly into the meat grinder. Now that is inhumane to me! As a consequence, I plan on getting my future chickens straight run from the small time hatchery or a local breeder. Unless I have a chance to re-home the excess roosters, they will go into the freezer. To me, 16 or so weeks of a pampered live beats the trauma of hatching at lets say McMurray's to only end in a can of dog food.
