eating chickens you raise

[Chicken Lil]

I figured out that if I tell my DH which ones to go he will butcher, clean and put in the freezer next to any store bought frozen chickens, so I don't know who it is I'm eating.

The only problem is DH has now become attached to one of our Leghorn hens. She sits on his lap and follows him around when he is outside or in the garage. He has told me that when she stops laying she will have diapers and become a house pet, as he will never kill our Cagney.

Guess DH has the chicken fever too!!

 

[gckiddhouse]

I grew up hunting. I have killed many a deer and a few elk, too. I don't know those animals at all and they are easy to kill, clean, skin and butcher. I helped my dad do it when I was just a little tyke. We really enjoy the meat, too.
I thought I would be as tough with the chickens (which we have for eggs, not meat), but when the coyote came and maimed two of our girls, we had to put them out of their misery and clean and cook them. I cried like a baby.

But once they were de-feathered, they were just like a store bought chicken and I was okay.
Personally, I don't think it is the naming. It is the raising. Even if you don't name them, you identify them. "The one with the crooked toe" or "the mean red one".
It is that you know them, raised them, and then have to kill them. It isn't natural.
You don't see coyotes and bobcats raising rabbits and then eating them.
You just have to do it. Make yourself do it once. Then you have to do it a second time. By the third, you will be reconciling your relationship with the chickens.
It is the circle of life.
I am so glad that more people are getting back to understanding what that is. Nothing worse than those who put animals on the same plane as humans. They are so far removed from that circle that it is really unhealthy!!!

 

[cariboujaguar]

We eat our own goats- I raise them knowing I will eat them and keep them wild so they're nice and irritating BUT my herd is so friendly they usually end up being pretty sweet after awhile and then it's kind of hard... but I have the most trouble with the actual killing- once it's dead I can eat it no problem, I could eat my favorite does if they died of natural causes or something, no use in wasting good meat. I guess I'm strange...

Do Roosters taste odd like other male animals? Do you have to kill them earlier or are they good at any age? Is what we eat in the grocery store male or female or just anything?

 

[silkiechicken]

To me, roos or hens of the same age will taste the same. That said, the common back yard bird should be eaten up for meat by about 16 weeks or so, while soup can be any age. The store birds are butchered at 42 days or so old and are any gender because well... they are just big fat chicks at that point. If you get meat birds, butcher at about 8weeks for a 5-6 lb bird on the table.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Quote:
As with any animal, the younger they are, the more tender. Most meat birds are killed before they reach 4 months of age. I think what you buy in the store is all of them, male and female, alike.

With elk and deer, we find no difference in taste if the meat is handled well.

Haven't eaten my roo... yet... So don't know about dual purpose birds.

 

[mzrea]

I had a problem eating the first egg but have since gotten over it. We raise, kill and eat two pigs a year. I don't have a problem with it knowing that they at least had a good life, albiet short, and are humanly killed (although I can't be around when its done!). We did meat bird once, while I didn't have a problem eating them, watching them grow at such an unnatural rate really bothered me and I refused to keep the light on 24 hrs a days to keep them eating and growing (something another chicken grower recommended). Its all the food chain.

 

[wings]

When I got my first batch of baby chicks, I couldn't imagine losing them to anything, especially to my dad's knife.

But as they grew older, I realized I was ALMOST doing them a favor. I gave them love, a warm coop, good food, clean water, the sight of sun, and the feel of dirt.

Some chickens in factories don't get that in their entire short, miserable lives.

It makes me feel good to know that I gave them a good, respectful life, and they fulfilled all the purposes of their species (companion, food, eggs, etc.).

It does disturb me to watch my dad kill them sometimes (come on! I'm only thirteen!), but I know I'm doing what's right.

 

[AHappychick]

being a city girl and not used to it has made it harder I think. I never before now had animals that I ate but I have always fished and gutted and fillet them with no problem. I did have to do a lot of talking to myself before hand, you know reminding myself that this is how we eat and that I needed to "grow up" and learn to be self sufficient. Now this is what I told myself to give myself that push I needed. Not that there is anything wrong with not wanting to eat your animals or anything childish about it.

I have no problem talking about it very matter-of-factly but the actuality of it is different. I had tears in my eyes when I did it I would not anyone see me for a while after because I was embarrassed.

Since then I have only had to cull chicks and ducks that were born with a problem and suffering. I am gearing up though to process my roo this upcoming week and will have a bunch of birds to do in March. Hopefully the next time wont be as hard but I am attached to this roo even though I cannot keep him so who knows maybe I will cry again. I hope not though.....

 

[moduckman]

I can't eat my own.

 

[Icthusa]

Quote: