I do not raise my birds for meat. I raise them for eggs and for yard art/eye candy. If I was raising a bird specifically to eat it, it would be different. I spend time with them and the breeders have names and history because of their parents and grandparents. Even the young birds develop their own quirks and personalities. If I was raising them for meat I wouldn't spend any time with them. I'd dump food in there and wait until it was time to butcher them and have someone else do it, because I quite frankly have no desire to spend time slaughtering, scalding, plucking, etc.
I am
very aware of where meat comes from. That doesn't mean I'm outside doing this to the trees in my yard....
That being said my grandmother and I agree on one thing. So long as I can go to the store and buy a bird, I'm not cleaning one. I've never seen her more furious than when she came home to three partially cleaned cockerels in her kitchen because my grandfather decided he wanted to try his hand at butchering. She told him to enjoy cleaning up his mess and cooking them. Because she'd have a sandwich.