Do you consider your Chickens Pets or Livestock

[Sarahloveslulu]

We would never butcher our chickens!!!!!
They all have names,nicknames, and middle names.
They all love coming on our porch and pecking the sliding glass door to come in and sit with us.
So,to sum it up.....there pets.

 

[Sarahloveslulu]

Mine are always pets. I started with Thelma and Louise, then started with the First Ladies Martha (like Mrs. Washington), Mary (Lincoln), Dolley (Madison), Elizabeth (Monroe), Eleanor (Roosevelt) and her companion Lorena, then there was Betsy (as in Ross).

Love your names!!!
My elder sister names ours.
She named one ours Betsy too.She is a beautiful black Austerlope.

 

[cgaylemedders]

Mine are pets with names, but I have had an interest in them for swaps and what not because of their temperament. I know they are livestock...but I do not think they know...lol

 

[tophatter]

The answer to this questions probably make a difference in how you approach your chicken management. Do they need to have a profitable return? Do you consider cost in your decisions? Etc.

You probably should always consider cost. However, in general in any business venture you will have start up expenses. The out put will be spread out over time so it doesn't seem so harsh. In the end you should have a goal of making money in a bit of time.

 

[DNHCotton]

I started off thinking of them as livestock, culling roosters, selling hens, hatching eggs and chicks. The longer I've owned them the more they have become pets. I started a cock flock for extra roos, stopped selling hatching eggs, and stopped eating chicken (all animal products really except for eggs we collect here). The more I interact with my animals (we have a goat and two sheep as well as A LOT of chickens) the more I wonder how I could ever eat such gentle, curious, and affectionate creatures. Not judging anyone who does, it has just been my experience with raising livestock originally intended for meat and now as pets and companions.

 

[BleuSaphir]

I would consider my chicken primary pets. I lived in a suburb. I have kept a pair of Sebright Bantam in the past. It was nerve racking to have a rooster in a suburb where chickens are seen more as a livestock animal. It was worse back then when I brought home 2 baby chickens being 2 roosters once grown up. Now it for me worser to have 3 Roosters!

I didn’t want to cull them. So I put flyers up in local feed stores as free give away. But no one inquired back at all. So I had no choice for my dad to cull both of the 2 excess roosters.

 

[Urbanhens]

I started off thinking of them as livestock, culling roosters, selling hens, hatching eggs and chicks. The longer I've owned them the more they have become pets. I started a cock flock for extra roos, stopped selling hatching eggs, and stopped eating chicken (all animal products really except for eggs we collect here). The more I interact with my animals (we have a goat and two sheep as well as A LOT of chickens) the more I wonder how I could ever eat such gentle, curious, and affectionate creatures. Not judging anyone who does, it has just been my experience with raising livestock originally intended for meat and now as pets and companions.

Yes, it becomes harder and harder for me to eat meat and cheese and eggs not from my hens. its a tug-o'-war between my mouth and digestive system having grown up being omnivorous and my heart and mind loving animals. I'm hoping to get to vegetarian and then vegan, but it's a tough road so far.

 

[Lil Chicken mama]

I've butchered 1 roo though.

HA!! Me too, somehow once they turn mean, it's easier to see them as dinner

 

[RevlisRemmah]

I said livestock even though they have names and I enjoy watching them and feeding them treats. But I got them to provide eggs to my family. When they stop providing eggs they will provide by way of making soup or stock. I am more attached than I should be, but their time with us has a reason. I provide food, shelter, water, safety and they provide entertainment and sustenance ( that’s the plan anyway! They are only 15 weeks so NO EGGS YET )

 

[Lil Chicken mama]

Even w 3 dz, they are still my pets; however, culling is still a part of my 'chicken math'. Everyone needs to get along, and stay healthy, otherwise, I have a freezer they can fill. Until then, they are my little buddies.