Do you get the same reaction when you tell *why* you have chickens?

[Kotiya]

I'm guessing that most of the people I talk to don't really think about where their food comes from. When my son and I talk about our new chickens (21 days old today!), we get that puckered-up face..."OOH. I could never eat them like that." I want to ask "really? Don't you have some in your freezer? Tell me what's different?"
Sorry, I know lot's of you have handled this far longer than we have. Each time it comes up, I cringe and wonder what I should say. Is it any different than the tomato plants I'm growing in the back yard?
Just wondering how y'all handle it. I need a laugh this morning!

 

[FrenchHen]

There are two tactics I have taken:
#1 I simply say that I like to know where my food came from and how it was grown.
#2 I launch into the diatribe about how pastured poultry is healthier and more nutritious, has less bacteria, is treated humanely, etc. I usually save #2 for family or friends who are poking fun at my chicken "habit." I talk about factory produced chicken, etc. I also say it's a more honest way of eating meat.

 

[chickenbottom]

i get im crazy for having chickens all the time and i am getting some broilers next january and people say but why would you want to eat that i say well i know what they are eating cause i give it to them i know their living conditions i supplied that too then i would say something like do you know where the chicken in the store lived? do you know what it was eating? its a whole list of things i could ask and not get ans answe back but i can answer every single question about my chickens

 

[highcountrychickens]

Just pack around a photo of the inside of a barn where Tyson chickens are being raised for meat... or eggs for that matter. It should explain everything.

Ask them whether they care to be directly involved in this:

Or this:

and this

Then tell them you can consult their new chicken business... for a fee

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

i just give them a crazy-eyed look and say 'where do you THINK your food comes from?"

 

[Rillion]

Quote:
The grocery store, duh!

 

[Mydnight]

yeah, we have kids 'in town' (all two miles of town) that ask us what we do with our chickens. Then they look halfway interested in helping us and their parents are asking if we know how dangerous live poultry can be, and that we are going to get sick from raising then eating them!
These are people who go to safeway, albertson's and super 1, (yes, we have all three, plus a huge fred meyers), and pick up chicken that they have no clue where it came from, if it was processed properly, or anything about the chicken. I know there are USDA laws about how to butcher and clean a chicken, but mistakes are made anywhere, but especially on that large of a level.
So I just say that I feel safer knowing what they have eaten, how they were killed, cleaned and frozen, rather than getting chicken from who knows where, with who knows how many people touching it before I even see it on the shelves. Here, I know only 4 people have touched the chicken its entire life, the hatcher/boxer, the raisers-Me and DD, and the executioners-Me and my fiance. Since my family all washes after taking care of them, we've never gotten sick from the chickens.

Another thing you can do is just smile and nod, knowing you're doing something for your family that you think is good. (I find that answer leaves them slightly perplexed and off balance and they usually stop asking!

)

 

[bettisworth]

Ditto's on all the above. I also tell some to "youtube" commercial chicken farm and egg hatcheries. You'll love seeing emaciated chickens, and mites all over your beautiful store eggs" Then I tell them about the oil treatment. When they find out their eggs could be months old without refrigeration.........the dumb looks they give usually shift inward!!!


Then I say "I know, your box raised bird is much tastier!"

I had a guy inform me I could buy a rotisserie chicken at the store, already packaged for $4. I said crap........go all the way to the store? I have piggly-wiggly in my back yard!
And besides, your chicken was probably dead before they killed it!

 

[Buster52]

All of the above, plus quote my William Cobbett signature line below.

Try seeing the expressions when you say you are going to raise meat rabbits!

 

[highcountrychickens]

Quote: