The more I read this thread and others like it, the more I want to get meat birds. I think I would go with freedom rangers or dual purpose other than the cornish crosses, but we'll see. My 5 year old will hear part of the discussion, and says, "I don't want to eat my best chicken Max" (yeah-she's a hen named max). I explain that we raise Max and the other hens for eggs, not for meat, but that we will raise chickens for meat some day when he's older.
My husband always hunted deer because he felt that he couldn't justify his own meat eating without it. He just can't stomach someone else doing his "dirty work". I see my hens parading around the yard and in the run, and it gets harder every day to eat meat from the store. I know I want to do this, just not sure when.
I am very fortunate to have farms and smaller animal raising operations near me, I need to drive only 2 miles and I can have fresh beef. My uncle raises buffalo. We have venison that I helped to dress in the freezer. 2 women I work with raise beef, pork, chickens, turkeys, geese, and ducks for meat. I only to drive by their farm stands and pick up a package of meat or a whole bird from the chest freezer. I think I will ask to watch/help the next time they are "doing the chickens". I am getting closer all the time.
I think that if people had to raise, kill and clean the animals that they eat that we as a society would be much more responsible about our food. Even just raise and kill one animal for food. Then people would have a tangible reference to how much meat they consume, what takes place before they consume it (feeding, housing...), what gets wasted, etc. There is so much disconnect bewteen ourselves and the food chain. I find it sad, really. So sad, that it shamed me into getting chickens for eggs- just for now.
