Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat - Part 2 : Chicken Boogaloo.

[Big Cluck]

So I may have posted this in the wrong section, having trouble navigation the site with my phone

 

[Sherloki]

I intentionally try to miss hitting roadkill...
The occasional bird flying into the car happens. But going out of your way to intentionally do harm to another living creature, and enjoying it? Disgusting. Sick. Not right in the head.
I enjoy the results of a day of processing animals for food (good, healthy food), but I never enjoy the act of taking life.

The guy does hunt elk and deer for food, not trophy. I have no idea why he is so repulsed by the idea of eating rabbit.

Maybe he has it in his head that rabbits are pets, so to him it's like eating a dog or cat? He could've had a pet rabbit or had a friend with one that he liked? I Dunno.
I used to raise and show Holland Lop rabbits. They were pretty entertaining always getting up to different antics. Once when I was in 4-H, I did showmanship. Pretty much everyone else had a meat rabbit for that. My little Holland was full of energy and did NOT want to sit still for long- he was sniffing around like a puppy then nudging me to pet him, then trying to explore. The meat rabbits on the other hand? They just laid on the table not moving. One Holland breeder I knew also raised Californians for meat and said there was definitely a difference in personality between the two breeds (even the Californian babies that had been given to a Holland to raise) and it was obvious that the one was intended only as a meat source.

 

[junebuggena]

Maybe he has it in his head that rabbits are pets, so to him it's like eating a dog or cat? He could've had a pet rabbit or had a friend with one that he liked? I Dunno.
I used to raise and show Holland Lop rabbits. They were pretty entertaining always getting up to different antics. Once when I was in 4-H, I did showmanship. Pretty much everyone else had a meat rabbit for that. My little Holland was full of energy and did NOT want to sit still for long- he was sniffing around like a puppy then nudging me to pet him, then trying to explore. The meat rabbits on the other hand? They just laid on the table not moving. One Holland breeder I knew also raised Californians for meat and said there was definitely a difference in personality between the two breeds (even the Californian babies that had been given to a Holland to raise) and it was obvious that the one was intended only as a meat source.

If he thought they were pets, like dogs and cats, why would he use them for target practice? That is even more disturbing.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote: I'd respectively disagree with that. Our meat rabbits had plenty of personality...just because they weren't cute and little didn't mean they didn't have personality. Especially the standard Rex rabbits....I gave one of those to a coworker who wanted a house rabbit and she lived with them several years, watching TV or video games while sitting on the kid's backs, cuddling with the family, etc. Fully potty trained and lovable. Most of the miniature "pet" quality rabbits we had were meaner than sin and would scratch and bite when you put your hand in the cage, but that never happened with our New Zealand whites, nor the standard Rex.....easy to handle, good mothers, sweet to keep and even sweeter to eat.

The quality of having a personality or not shouldn't preclude if an animal should be eaten or not, especially if they are commonly used for food. A cute rabbit tastes much like a less engaging rabbit, just as in all chickens taste pretty much like chicken, no matter if they are big or small, a meat breed or not or if they have names or not.

 

[microchick]

I love rabbit meat. That said, there is another side to this story as I am seeing it.

Rabbits are not good to have around if you are a farmer. The higher your rabbit population the higher the Coyote population. Coyotes as we all know, can decimate a chicken flock, and many around us who raise sheep tell me nightmare stories about 'yotes dragging off and brutally killing lambs with the poor mothers trying to do everything she can to save her baby.

I raise fruit and have a small garden every year and count on our dogs to keep the rabbit population down. They hunt them regularly and yes, they eat their prey. The sound is not pretty but if they didn't keep the population under control for me, yes I would be forced to shoot and not always eat the rabbit that is doing the damage to my orchard or fruit crop if they were not on the job.

Even in the winter rabbits will chew the bark off of fruit trees, successfully ringing it and killing the tree. The solution? Shoot the rabbit.

So you see, get rid of the rabbits, you get rid of the problem. Rabbits are not discriminatory as to what they eat. They can destroy a garden overnight along with an orchard full of new fruit trees that has cost you almost a thousand dollars to plant.

That being said, there are 'varmints' around that we dispatch regularly for coming close to the house and or chicken coop and no, we do not eat raccoon, (although some do), skunk, possum or coyotes that become nuisance animals.

Last week I was forced to shoot a squirrel that had I caught raiding my Blue Birds nesting boxes. It did that after coming up on our porch and chewing on our solid oak stairs, I can get a picture of the damage it did to our stairs. No, I do not know why it chewed on the steps. It has a whole forest full of hardwood to choose from, yet it chose our steps to sharpen it's teeth on.

I do not like squirrel meat. Nor did I have the time to butcher the animal for our dogs. It was given a respectful funeral but the damage was done to my Blue Birds. I don't think they re-nested after the attack.

Nobody should should shoot any animal for fun. We do not. But there is a flip side to every story. Maybe the man who shot the rabbits for target practice had been overran with rabbits and was taking care of the problem.

Trust me, we were over ran with rabbits this spring to the point that our dogs couldn't keep up with them. I'm expecting the coyotes to be bad this winter and my chicken's safety come first over the life of any 'yote.

I'll probably get flamed for admitting that yes, we kill nuisance animals and do not eat them, but I want folks to see things from all angles.

 

[Beekissed]

Not from me you won't! I agree 100%. And many don't realize that a summer rabbit, killed as a nuisance, may not be edible for human consumption.....many times they will carry high parasite loads of one type or another during the summer months, even warbles/bot fly larvae.

If I could get my yard rabbits in my sights, they'd be dead also and would be promptly fed to the dogs....in another season, we might eat them ourselves. Not for target practice, but because they are causing crop damage. Same with the squirrels....I lose whole crops of apples to the squirrels here before they are even ripened and there's really no way to prevent it except poison or shoot them and the poisoning isn't a great option here.

Urban and city folk may not understand population control of certain animals, but I certainly do.

 

[lazy gardener]

I agree!


I can't wait till I turn 60 and end up in the ER from working in my yard!

You go girl!

Better to be 60 and go to bed every night with well worked muscles, and avoid the ER. No matter what your age, those ER visits are expensive and often painful.

The guy intentionally hit animals trying to cross the road? Yeah, I think I'd want to do what you did too.

I'll be standing right in line behind you.

I love rabbit meat. That said, there is another side to this story as I am seeing it.

Rabbits are not good to have around if you are a farmer. The higher your rabbit population the higher the Coyote population. Coyotes as we all know, can decimate a chicken flock, and many around us who raise sheep tell me nightmare stories about 'yotes dragging off and brutally killing lambs with the poor mothers trying to do everything she can to save her baby.

I raise fruit and have a small garden every year and count on our dogs to keep the rabbit population down. They hunt them regularly and yes, they eat their prey. The sound is not pretty but if they didn't keep the population under control for me, yes I would be forced to shoot and not always eat the rabbit that is doing the damage to my orchard or fruit crop if they were not on the job.

Even in the winter rabbits will chew the bark off of fruit trees, successfully ringing it and killing the tree. The solution? Shoot the rabbit.

So you see, get rid of the rabbits, you get rid of the problem. Rabbits are not discriminatory as to what they eat. They can destroy a garden overnight along with an orchard full of new fruit trees that has cost you almost a thousand dollars to plant.

That being said, there are 'varmints' around that we dispatch regularly for coming close to the house and or chicken coop and no, we do not eat raccoon, (although some do), skunk, possum or coyotes that become nuisance animals.

Last week I was forced to shoot a squirrel that had I caught raiding my Blue Birds nesting boxes. It did that after coming up on our porch and chewing on our solid oak stairs, I can get a picture of the damage it did to our stairs. No, I do not know why it chewed on the steps. It has a whole forest full of hardwood to choose from, yet it chose our steps to sharpen it's teeth on.

I do not like squirrel meat. Nor did I have the time to butcher the animal for our dogs. It was given a respectful funeral but the damage was done to my Blue Birds. I don't think they re-nested after the attack.

Nobody should should shoot any animal for fun. We do not. But there is a flip side to every story. Maybe the man who shot the rabbits for target practice had been overran with rabbits and was taking care of the problem.

Trust me, we were over ran with rabbits this spring to the point that our dogs couldn't keep up with them. I'm expecting the coyotes to be bad this winter and my chicken's safety come first over the life of any 'yote.

I'll probably get flamed for admitting that yes, we kill nuisance animals and do not eat them, but I want folks to see things from all angles.

You are practicing good stewardship of your land. In your place, I would do exactly the same thing. The biggest issue for me in getting rid of an not tasty nuisance animal is the very hard heavy clay riddled with rocks of every size on my land. So, a predator to dispose of may just get buried in my lawn. The grass will grow better there, for sure. But, that is a far cry different than shooting an animal for target practice. The man who initiated this whole discussion said he did it for target practice, and his words were taken at face value. Yes, there are 2 sides to every story, and you have spoken well. But, target practice simply for the killing is not ok. Removal of pest animals is a different story, and a responsible land owner does so instead of transporting the nuisance animal to someone else's back yard.

 

[BantyChooks]

I'd respectively disagree with that. Our meat rabbits had plenty of personality...just because they weren't cute and little didn't mean they didn't have personality. Especially the standard Rex rabbits....I gave one of those to a coworker who wanted a house rabbit and she lived with them several years, watching TV or video games while sitting on the kid's backs, cuddling with the family, etc. Fully potty trained and lovable. Most of the miniature "pet" quality rabbits we had were meaner than sin and would scratch and bite when you put your hand in the cage, but that never happened with our New Zealand whites, nor the standard Rex.....easy to handle, good mothers, sweet to keep and even sweeter to eat.

The quality of having a personality or not shouldn't preclude if an animal should be eaten or not, especially if they are commonly used for food. A cute rabbit tastes much like a less engaging rabbit, just as in all chickens taste pretty much like chicken, no matter if they are big or small, a meat breed or not or if they have names or not.

Agree 100%. I currently have a Netherland dwarf rabbit, and she is a terror on bunny paws.... You may not touch her litterbox or you will be growled at and\or bitten. She is calming down now, after turning two, but in the future I am going back to larger rabbits. Much less hyper and nasty.

 

[Sherloki]

Hmm I was basing my opinions on the meat breeds on the Californians- which make up 99% of the meat rabbits around here. Maybe it's the lines around here, but all of the one's I've seen have been rather nasty. And those have come from different breeders as well.

That is odd on the Netherland though. I admit I did have one Holland that was nasty and would lunge and bite at us, one of our own out of our sweetest buck. Sold her to some people who wanted to show her- they were warned about her first though.

 

[junebuggena]

Maybe the man who shot the rabbits for target practice had been overran with rabbits and was taking care of the problem.

He lives in an apartment. He has no land...