Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat

[sepaditty1]

When we first got our birds, we had roosters too. Our Red (that was his name) was just gorgeous, he was a Welsummer roo and beeeeautiful. About a year after getting our layer flock we decided that we would give broilers a go. Just another step on the road to growing all our own food. We got the cute little yellow chicks and the kids just went ga-ga over them. At dinner we were discussing the fluffy little things and the kids got very upset when it became clear to them that these chicks would one day be dinner. The moans and tears and whines!! Without missing a beat I seemingly changed the subject and asked them all how they were enjoying their dinner. All three of them piped up that it was a very yummy meal (and truthfully I was having no problems getting them to eat that day) to which I calmly replied: "It's chicken."

One day, a few weeks later, my middle son who was about three at the time was out in the yard with me. He was wearing a red sweatshirt...sigh...and Red cleared the miniscule fence that was their "yard" and ran towards my little boy. Oh, he looked amazing running at full tilt across the yard, head forward and his feathers all stream-lined from the speed. My son, seeing him coming, turned and started to run too. Red was too fast for him though and jumped on his back knocking him down. I reached my son a split-second after Red did, so no harm was done...except to my son's pride. After I got his tears dried and his clothes wiped off he looked at me sullenly and said: I think we should eat Red.

I love it! In less than a minute, he turned into a farm boy. Glad he wasn't hurt. Did you eat Red?

 

[MamaDoodle]

I got my chickens as another way to reduce costs - breakfast and baking helpers!

And they certainly have - I have learned a few new things to make with eggs and have been making everyone breakfast and goodies ever since my feathered ladies started laying.

However, my grandma started out saying she would not eat from the hens because when I feed them table scraps, they are not strictly vegetarians, they have had meat...I just left it at, "Okay, well then you can buy your own eggs instead of getting free ones from me."
But her newest reasoning as of this morning was that she felt it was not safe to eat the eggs because they would either be fertilized and have blood in them or rooster sperm.

...

 

[Hinotori]

Well I've been doing my part to reduce some of the rumors and myths out there. I explained to two family members last weekend that the blood/meat spots are not indication of fertile eggs, and that it just is a bit from when the egg was released from the ovary. That has been a very pervasive one in my family.

Explaining about the skin and meat color on silkies was another interesting one. No one wanted to believe me. "chickens don't have black skin". So I sent pictures from one of the silkie cockerels I slaughtered. If I still get told that again, I'm going to take the person a chicken for dinner.

 

[member 142084]

Quote: lol I was down to the fuzz and said screw it. I washed him then put him in the freezer like that *hides* But we don't eat skin, so like out chickens with the occasional feather stubs I just wash good then cook and pull the skin off before serving. I might just skin the next one.. but when I did 20 birds I wasn't about to take the time to skin.. I haven't mastered skinning yet

 

[ghostwolf211]

Oh my...Skinning is extremely easy and fast....When I skin game birds I can do a bird every 3 minutes....That's cleaning and skinning

 

[loveourbirds]

i skin too, takes me about 5-7 minutes per chicken - i have trouble with the lungs. when i skin i do cut the wing tips off, and no one in my family wants to eat the giblets, so i dont save them. i rinse them and put them in salted ice that has started to melt. when they start to freeze, we bag them and put them in the freezer. we usually do them in groups of about 20, when the last chicken is going in the ice, the first is starting to freeze.

 

[sepaditty1]

Ok, guys. I have read page after page of these and I'm laughing my butt off. Also a little irritated that our society is so brainwashed about what is "healthy and normal" and what isn't.

But...I got one yesterday that beats it all:

A new coworker found out I had chickens and she was excited. "Oh, I love chickens. My grandparents used to raise chickens."

To me, this was an invitation to tell her about my flock. I started listing names and ages. When I mentioned one of our roosters:

"Oh, we had to stop keeping roosters. Do you know they RAPE the chickens???"

I couldn't believe it! I said that if he were able, I'm sure he would have at least taken her out to dinner first.

 

[CityHen-Indy]

You guys have have it SO EASY. Let me explain. We move to the 'country', 3000 miles away from our former home to embark on our huge lifestyle change. We find something that is roughly 20 miles round trip to the post office. We set up camp on our Fabulous Five acres and start aquiring livestock. Less than 3 weeks into it, Nosie Nellie sports her Hoveround, Lark (whatever) down our drive. SO IT BEGINS. These are exact quotes. "Where's your rooster? If you're gonna have hens, you have to have a rooster." [COLOR=800000]No, to have chicks I need a rooster.[/COLOR] "You cannot possibly free-range those chickens!" [COLOR=800000]WHY?[/COLOR] "You'll lose some." "Do you know how to candle an egg?" [COLOR=800000]WHY?[/COLOR] "If you EAT an egg with a blood spot, you can get VERY sick." [COLOR=800000]WHAT?[/COLOR] "You have to feed chickens grains. They'll starve if you don't. They won't survive." [COLOR=800000]HA![/COLOR] "Your chickens are screwy. They range too far. You need to pen them." [COLOR=800000]???[/COLOR] "If you don't feed them layer mash, they won't lay." chickens...  [COLOR=800000]So, the entire garden that I prepared for the chickens [/COLOR][COLOR=800000]doomed them to death?[/COLOR]  It is a new growing season. I would love to tell this woman to......eff off. How do I bring this well-meaning so-and-so to heel? She takes my eggs readily enough. "Oh, your Americana eggs are so sweet. Please, no duck eggs, they disgust me." She has even informed my husband that he knows nothing about horses (we have 5) and called animal enforcement on some unsheared sheep at a neighbors. Any advice would be....advantageous. Does anyone else have it this bad? AND....If you you do, in which section should I post this?

Stop giving her eggs and lock the gate when you see her coming. Or if the gate is not an option, just let her talk while you say nothing and keep walking away from her. She'll eventually get the hint. Too nice a homestead from the sound of it, to have a bossy and nosy neighbor! Good luck

 

[cassie]

This isn't exactly the same thing as your neighbor, but in a way it is. I used to know an old man who had five grown children. The children were always telling what he should do and how he should do it, for his own good of course. He didn't want to hurt any feelings so he handled it this way. Whatever they told him, he smiled and nodded and agreed with each them wholeheartedly. Then he continued to do exactly what he wanted to do in the first place. You can do the same. His children meant well. So does your neighbor.

 

[member 142084]

Or you ignore them like I do and watch you cats disappear one by one ow wait until animal control knows on your door, then code enforcement. If she calls CPS because I homeschool my kids, She will finally find out how much noise my mouth can make. I ask animal control if they will come out if she sees me butchering my chickens... He laughed and said you are allowed to butcher.. nice thing is when she harasses us he goes and has a talk with her. Man when we did our birds i was so hoping she would drive by then I would hold up a dead chicken, just so she could see.. but she never did.. amazingly. She drives back an forth like 7 times a day. And if my husband happens to be home she leaves us be. Sigh. She could be worse, have seen it and heard about it.