Do you ever get over the "eating a pet" feeling?

[opalwednesday]

Quote:
i LOVE this idea. I'm in the chicken lifestyle because I want to limit the suffering that I cause. However, making the connection between friend and food is huge. I hope that this post keeps on strong, it's already helped me to begin compartmentalizing all the feelings associated with the freezer camp.

 

[booker81]

I think about the life my chickens had (or the lives of the ones I pick up for free from people), compared to the ones that are the chickens destined for the store.

I'm starting to feel more guilt if we purchase store chicken now. Actually, we haven't purchased store chicken in months. I know the chickens I process and consume, no matter how long I've had them, have had a good life, had good care, and were pretty happy chickens. They were allowed many good months or even years, and will just have one bad moment at my hands, and that's the end. Store chickens, well, I don't think anyone could argue their quality of life was "good", and who knows the stress they've endured from hatching to death. A lot more than I'd like to put an animal through.

As for pets, everything around me has a purpose, even if it's companionship (the dog), or just funny personality (the older Polish hen that I'm not sure is laying anymore). The hens and two roos I have provide entertainment and enjoyment, however, I wouldn't hesitate to immediately kill and eat any of them if they failed their job of being fun. I have 3 roos in the freezer (or long since dinners), that failed that test. (By fun, I mean not attacking my daughter or heaven forbid, having the gall to attack me). How long will I keep the current layers? I dunno. I have the room, they are amusing, and they lay more than we need. If I needed to get rid of them for whatever reason, I'd eat them though.