Countdown to receiving new chicks on oct 9th week

[aoxa]

I have had fresh chicken before, I grew up on my gmas farm, it has been ages though. I plan on raising them in a tractor so they are seperated from my birds and are not as easy to associate with.. I know it will still happen because you raised them and that is apart of you but I have to try because Ia m kind of on my own with this lol. I will slaughter myself which will be hard, but I want to do the whole process it is a religious thing so I gotta put my big girl panties on and do the job lol.
I will be selling poults next spring too and force a couple into the meat pen  yea it has to happen

I can't do the butchering. I'm very sensitive, and I had to put down a hen a month ago and still am having nightmares. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I have a good friend that does it humanely in exchange for chicks/pullets to add to her laying flock.

Your husband won't help you?

 

[aoxa]

I have had fresh chicken before, I grew up on my gmas farm, it has been ages though. I plan on raising them in a tractor so they are seperated from my birds and are not as easy to associate with.. I know it will still happen because you raised them and that is apart of you but I have to try because Ia m kind of on my own with this lol. I will slaughter myself which will be hard, but I want to do the whole process it is a religious thing so I gotta put my big girl panties on and do the job lol.
I will be selling poults next spring too and force a couple into the meat pen  yea it has to happen

Oh and the tractor idea was my first plan. However, I really wanted them to live a full life.We knew the boys would be for meat, but it was still hard.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Oh of course it is still hard and always is for me. I am an animal nut. I am that person that people bring their injured animals to or when they find hurt wildlife or abandoned babies. I am that person. I am attached to every animal I treat or help. I 'm wiccan so it is very important for me to see the animal along if I am going to raise it for meat. It is a give and take relationship that is upset easily if I cant go thru with it. So I have to muster up the courage and tell myself what it is for and go about the ritual thanking the animal for all it is providing me and my family. With tears in my eyes every time lol. My husband helps yes, but it is all me caring and raising them.

 

[aoxa]

Oh of course it is still hard and always is for me. I am an animal nut. I am that person that people bring their injured animals to or when they find hurt wildlife or abandoned babies. I am that person. I am attached to every animal I treat or help.  I 'm wiccan so it is very important for me to see the animal along if I am going to raise it for meat. It is a give and take relationship that is upset easily if I cant go thru with it. So I have to muster up the courage and tell myself what it is for and go about the ritual thanking the animal for all it is providing me and my family. With tears in my eyes every time lol. My husband helps yes, but it is all me caring and raising them.

Wow, you have more courage than I do. My fiance wants to do it herself, but I can not. I think it may have been easier if I wasn't brought up the way I was. My parents were very much opposed to being truthful when animals died. They went to live on a farm, and that cat on the side of the road was just napping. They thought they were doing what was best for me, but it has made me very emotional when an animal dies, and to kill one? Oh it is something that is very hard. Not that I look down on anyone that does. I think your outlook is admirable. I just am realistic of what I am capable of. I know my limits.

Plus we are helping that friend out by bartering. She gets pullets for the task, and it saves her money. So there's that.

 

[ilikehorses2]

My baby's 11 days old!

 

[aoxa]

My baby's 11 days old!

OOo I love the colours!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I thinnk it is a great deal. Pullets for butcher, I would take that deal.
I was lied to my whole childhood like that and swore never to do it to my kids so they are learning everything, I am truthful 100% to them. I want to to have the answers to their questions and know where food really comes from and the work that goes into growing and producing it.

 

[aoxa]

I thinnk it is a great deal. Pullets for butcher, I would take that deal.
I was lied to my whole childhood like that and swore never to do it to my kids so they are learning everything, I am truthful 100% to them. I want to to have the answers to their questions and know where food really comes from  and the work that goes into growing and producing it.

Good for you! Kids are much tougher than we give them credit for.

My nephew wants to be a farmer when he grows up. It made my heart melt. Nothing makes him happier than collecting eggs. He is 4 years old. I am excited to have children of my own and teach them everything about chickens.

 

[Sallysec]

The town says I can't own roosters, turkeys, ducks ....



I heard of a mobile processor that comes to your house and will dress our birds and do everything for you. That is most likely e only way I could do it....my father has offered to butcher chickens...although its illegal to do so in town here.

 

[Sallysec]

Todd and Emma

Maggie

Emma and Maggie

Maggie


as you can see we are a pet family, when we went to adopt Emma (actually went to a foster home to get her brother, but he was gone) Emma and Maggie crawled in my lap and suckered me in. That was the only time as puppies those two dogs slept...I swear they drugged them before we got there
Emma is Basset/Beagle mix and we were told Maggie was a B&T Coonhound mix, the more I look at her the more I feel like she had to have rotty in her blood someplace.
They look so small in these photos ....Todd wanted to be in the pictures too...lol