From the suburbs and struggling internally with making the plunge into keeping (and slaughtering) meat birds. Need advice!

[BrandonsBirbs]

Hello all. I am new to chickens in general but have fallen in love with them since getting my 4 layers. I live in the city but am very connected with nature and love doing things that make me feel more self-sufficient, so between these birds and my garden, I've started to feel that way and I'm really happy.

I recently have started browsing the Meat Birds ETC threads and it seems like raising a few meat birds (just 4-5 is all I have room for) would be a great way to be more self-sufficient, more educated about the food source, and would help me feed my family.

However, I come from the suburbs - a place where 99% of the people have never had a farm animal, and where the people are very adamate about animal rights and such. Just to put things in perspective, my sister is a vegan, and every person I've brought up raising meat birds to has said something like, "I can't believe you would actually kill and eat a chicken you raised!"

My reasoning for wanting to do this is the same as most of yours. It's fresh food and you know the source. You can know the animal was treated with respect throughout its life. But with that said, I'm still internally struggling with the idea of killing the birds. It's just really different from the way I was raised to treat animals, but at the same time, if I keep buying my meat from grocery stores I'm likely supporting much worse treatment of chickens.

So, how have any of you who didn't grow up slaughtering animals deal with making the leap? Or, if any of you have struggled with having to slaughter chickens, how did you get over it? How do you rationalize it with yourself internally?

For me, I had a very aggressive male who just would refuse to calm down no matter what you did for him and it got to the point where we just couldn't keep him with any females and it felt pointless to put him alone.

I kept putting it off until one day my favourite girlie was missing her eye and covered in blood. At that point I felt responsible for her suffering and realised I must cull him for their safety.

It wasn't easy and I mentally had to just do it, I'll admit I didn't do the greatest job and left him inedible (he didn't suffer any more), but two weeks later it was time to cull our three meat birds and it was so much easier. There was still a bit of pushing myself that had to be done but for the most part it was easier, cleaner and better for the birds.

My family are super negative about raising birds, especially meat birds but I realised a long time ago to stop caring about what others think of me. I am doing it so my family has a fresh source of fantastic food and to teach my children, that's what matters.

 

[Folly's place]

Today most folks in the USA live in cities, and are far from having any idea about where the food in the grocery store comes from! It's all grown in packaging there, apparently.
And grains and other food crops also involve environmental damage, and loss of life out there. Eating any meat is a direct line to what our remote ancestors have done for milennia, after all we are omnivores, not herbivores!
Growing up, we fished, then killed and ate them.
I like our chickens too, and will eat the birds we raise for the freezer, and locally sourced beef and pork whenever possible. It's not grown in vats, at least not yet, and that type of production, on a large scale, will also have environmental consequences.
Rant over!
Mary

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Used respectfully - NOTHING is to be thrown away. Every bit of the bird will find use somewhere on my property. This is in contrast where most of the bird just goes to a landfill. The meat goes to market and may or may not sell.
*Meat - freeze and eat
*Bones - bone broth, then burnt and the ashes given to the fruit trees
*Cookable organs - soup,
*Non-cookable organs/head - burnt and ashes given to the fruit trees
*Feathers - burnt and ashes given to the fruit trees
*Feet - Dehydrated and given to the dogs as treats

Thank you for this useful list. I never thought of burning spent ‘parts’ (cringeworthy wording but true).

 

[CNJ]

So, how have any of you who didn't grow up slaughtering animals deal with making the leap? Or, if any of you have struggled with having to slaughter chickens, how did you get over it? How do you rationalize it with yourself internally?

I was mostly concerned with plucking their feathers, so I bought a feather pluckier. I can process only 4 or 5 of them at a time before I get tired. However, I can leave my feather plucker outside and process more the next day. My pucker and its electrical parts are water proof. I got it from Hatch Time, its was kind of expensive and the motor is tiny, so its not as strong as similar priced ones, but it gets the job done. The advantages are its light weight, water proof and easy to clean. The disadvantage is I need to remove the head, and cut the leg joint, so it can bend.

I use the feet for chicken stock. The outer skin on the feet and nail loosens and can be easily removed by hand. The feet add flavor and turn my broth into a gelatin after it cools in the ice box.

If you are planning on doing this, its better to raise Jumbo Cornish X. 15 can be raised in a 8ft x 4ft x 3 ft raised floor coop with a 1 inch x 1/2 inch screen floor.

The Cornish X will be table ready in 8 weeks, so you won't have to worry about them crowing. The meat is very tender unlike rubber Heritage breeds.

McMurray Hatchery will ship live chicks to your local post office for free, but they have a minimum of 15 chicks for free shipping. https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/jumbo_cornish_x_rocks.html

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

UPDATE:

I made the plunge and decided to order 6 Cornish X broilers from Meyer Hatchery! It seemed like they didn't have a lot left for when I want them in September, so I figured I'd reserve them. I don't 100% know if I can pick them up on the Monday they will be ready (might get a new job), but I found out you can still get a refund if you cancel a week or more before hatch date. So this seemed lower-risk than banking on TSC, Rural King, or Craigslist having them in September.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and for sharing your knowledge! I still think it will be tough for me to do the actual harvesting, but I think it's a skill worth learning in order to become more self-sufficient.

 

[CNJ]

I still think it will be tough for me to do the actual harvesting, but I think it's a skill worth learning in order to become more self-sufficient.

They will explode if you don't process them, so be ready to do the mercy killing at 8 weeks.....................They should be high quality at 8 weeks and go down hill from there. In the mean time set up a kill cone and watch all those fun tutorials on YouTube.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

They will explode if you don't process them, so be ready to do the mercy killing at 8 weeks.....................They should be high quality at 8 weeks and go down hill from there. In the mean time set up a kill cone and watch all those fun tutorials on YouTube.

Thanks! Yeah, I think that's part of the reason I went with the Cornish X... I literally have to process them or they will suffer. I don't want them to suffer, so I think that will keep me from putting off the processing.

We were thinking of doing the axe-stump method. Is the kill cone better? My fiance grew up on a farm in Europe and he learned to use the axe method, so that's how we were thinking of going about it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks! Yeah, I think that's part of the reason I went with the Cornish X... I literally have to process them or they will suffer. I don't want them to suffer, so I think that will keep me from putting off the processing.

We were thinking of doing the axe-stump method. Is the kill cone better? My fiance grew up on a farm in Europe and he learned to use the axe method, so that's how we were thinking of going about it.

The best way to do the slaughter is the way that you're confident you can handle. The various methods all work.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

The best way to do the slaughter is the way that you're confident you can handle. The various methods all work.

Are they equally humane?

 

[3KillerBs]

Are they equally humane?

All of the common slaughter methods -- axe, branch loppers, broomstick, cone-and-knife, etc. -- accomplish a quick kill.

Some will argue about which is more humane than the other, but if the bird is kept calm during the process and is dead before it's more than mildly aware that it's in danger then it's fine.

My goal is for the catching and handling to be the most stressful part and I try to keep that as calm as possible.