Just finished reading the whole thread. (Started on Sunday while we were on a road trip) All I can say is... Wow! I understand some of the comments made by people who - let's face it - are so removed from their food sources they don't have a clue. A few years ago on FB, a young relative of mine went off on deer hunters. My husband, sons and I all hunt. So, I informed her that I would much rather eat meat from a deer who has spent its whole life outside, eating grass and being in the fresh air and sunshine and had a happy life until that one bad day than an animal that was raised on a feedlot, muddy and dirty and had never seen a blade of grass in its life. Let's just say we agreed to disagree and are no longer "friends" on FB. @chickendreams24 - we just processed 8 cockerels this morning. They were about 18 weeks. One was a meat-type ranger bird. He dressed out at 6#. The rest were between 3-4#. They' don't look like your plump, juicy grocery store frankenchicken, but you can't beat the flavor! Every time we raise chickens to butcher, it's the same old thing. I feed them, I appreciate them (gotta love a pretty, colorful rooster), and then it's time. At some point, I'll tell DH, "We need to butcher soon. I'm almost out of chicken." He says, "OK, let's do it tomorrow (or the next day or soon after that). And then I say, "No, not tomorrow (or whatever the appointed day is to be). I'm not ready. I have to... (fill in the blank with whatever lame excuse you can come up with - I have plenty!)" and he says, "Fine, but we HAVE to do it the next day." (I don't know how he puts up with me!) So, I will do whatever important thing I had to do, and then we process our birds. The hardest part for me is turning a live rooster into a dead one. We have come up with a system. I catch one, DH sends me in for the next one and by the time I come back out of the coop, the deed is done. (I used to hold their feet for him, but always looked away.) So today while we were cleaning our birds, I told DH, "If I ever had to do this by myself..." and he interrupted with, "You'd never get it done!" (He has a point) I said, "Well, probably not, but if I did do it, I'd have to use a killing cone because I don't think I can do the hatchet and stump method like you." And he said, "No you couldn't, because you'd swing the hatchet, look the other way and cut your hand off!"

OK, we might have a dark sense of humor, but I thinking the exact same thing right before he said it. Anyway, to make a short story longer, I just wanted to say that there's nothing wrong with having a soft spot. As Bee said, women were created to be nurturers. I admire those who can kill their own birds, and would do it if I had to. I am blessed to have a mate with whom I can work alongside to do these things.