Has getting to know your ducks changed your mind about the freezer?

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
this.
for some animals, naming was just a pracality... have to refer to them some way in order to easily identify which animal we're talking about. we at least tried to keep our perspective... lambs got names like "Lambchop" and "Stu" (stew). anything that earned a cute name by exceptional personality was ultimately headed for the pet flock. when we've had to cull animals out of the pet flock for old age or health reasons, more often than not they're too old for the table, and we have them processed for our dogs. that's practical, but it also reduces the need to mentally process eating one of the pets ourselves. if they feed the dogs, at least we have honored the animal by not letting it go to waste.

 

[dumb_cluck]

I could NEVER kill anything that I have named......

If I had to kill to get meat, I would very quickly become a vegan.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
just a question, no disrepect intended...
but it's ok as long as someone else kills it?

I guess my brain prcesses it this way... if it's dead, so I can eat it, then I am responsible for killing it, even if I didn't do the deed myself. while I don't enjoy killing things personally, either way I did it. I don't mind paying someone to do this for me, if they can do a better, swifter, cleaner job than I can, but I do always try to be there if I raised the animal. for commercial animals, I may not be there, but I figure it's still down to me.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

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I sort of agree. After 4 years of having chickens, I am growing more squeemish about eating meat in general.
And if I actually had to kill something, there's no way. I'm lucky to be able to have a choice.

 

[dumb_cluck]

Quote:
just a question, no disrepect intended...
but it's ok as long as someone else kills it?

I guess my brain prcesses it this way... if it's dead, so I can eat it, then I am responsible for killing it, even if I didn't do the deed myself. while I don't enjoy killing things personally, either way I did it. I don't mind paying someone to do this for me, if they can do a better, swifter, cleaner job than I can, but I do always try to be there if I raised the animal. for commercial animals, I may not be there, but I figure it's still down to me.

If I owned a bird, sent it away to be murdered, I could not eat it.

If I were to raise meat birds, I would have to remain unattached, but how does one tend your flock without some interaction? Nope, can't/won't do it. My brain and conscience won't let me.

 

[dumb_cluck]

I need to add something:

*IF* you still want to kill your own, make sure that you know how. If you are new to it and do a botch job, well, that is plain torture.

*IF* you don't mind someone else doing it, make sure they are professionals.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I have to confess. There is something about a duck that makes it more difficult to kill them. It's much harder to psych yourself up to kill a duck than it is to kill a chicken. I'm not sure why that is, but it is.

You have to think of it as a gift you are giving to the bird. To give it a wonderful life out in the fresh air, where it is well cared for, instead of a crowded life where nobody cares about it. My birds live a very good life. I deeply appreciate them and I am very thankful to them for the food they provide.

You also have to understand that they are prey animals and you are further up the food chain.

I am lucky that I have a son who hunts and he does the killing and I do the cleaning and cooking. It's not that he enjoys killing, but he really loves to eat.

He has a chopping block with two nails. The neck goes between the nails, the body is gently pulled so the neck is straight. The bird will not move when he is in that position and you strike the neck really hard with a sharp hatchet. The head is off, the bird is 100% dead for sure. It is very fast. The bird doesn't move, so you can't miss. Your hands are well away from the neck, so you aren't going to chop yourself my mistake. You must strike hard and not be tentative.

The death is very quick, so it is humane.

To catch the birds, I don't let them out of their night pen in the morning. Then I use portable X-pen panels (made for show dogs) to crowd the birds into a small area. That way they can simply be picked up and they don't get into that hysterical stampede that ducks can work themselves up into.

 

[Chickie_Banana]

When I get ducklings that are specifically for meat, thats what they end up as. No pets involved. Ever.

When I get them as pets, they became pets. Unless I change my mind

 

[dumb_cluck]

Eeeeuuu! Poor ducks!

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
see this is where I struggle with people's ideas on this.

I have some friends who drove to work past a slaugher house daily, and after a few months of discussing it, and the less than humane conditions in which many commercial animals are raised, and observing that it's work they'd rather starve than do, they became vegans.

my response to the same situation is I grow my own animals, and am working towards the day when I can supply all my own meat and never have an animal live in less-than-humane conditions on my account.

please understand I'm not judging here, just seeking to understand. you see sending animals you raised off to be slaughtered as murder, and would not eat them. but still, you are able to eat commercially produced and killed meat from animals that may not have been humanely raised? this is where I struggle.

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i understand about attachments, there are some animals I have raised that have moved from the utility flocks to the permanent pet flocks. but between the animals I eat, both those I raised and those I didn't, at least I know the ones I rased had a fair and decent life. that makes me feel *better* about eating those than the commercially raised ones, which may not have had a humane life. either way, they've died so I can eat them. at least the ones I raised did not suffer while they lived. that's where my conscience takes me on this issue.

how I stay "unattached"... I am a carnivor, I do not do well on a no-meat diet, I like eating meat, and physically, I don't fare well without it. given that I know that is true about myself, I have to have a way to eat meat that fits with how I live in the world, suits my morals and ideals, allows me to eat what I need in peace.

by raising the animals myself, I can be sure they were not tortured, lived as natural a life as they could expect, and did not suffer unduly when dispached. I remember what they are there for, and the nature of my responsibility to them when I care for them.

I am attached, in that I raise and care for them. I am not as attached as if they were people, or my children, or my pets. They get names only out of necessity (refering to this one vs. that one.) I do not spend time domesticating them or taming them or teaching them to eat from my hand or developing their personalities. I do spend time with them to be able to see if they are well or sick or injurred, and what their normal behavior is so I can tell the difference, and so they will not be excessively fearful of people and being handled when necessary. I remember when I interact with them why they are there... these animals would not exist - I would not have bred them - if I did not intend to eat them. so I give them a good life, a swift death, and honor them by wasting as little as possible.

given that I'm a carnivore, and will eat meat, it is the most honorable way I can see to behave... despite the discomfort of killing an animal I've raised, or having it slaughtered for me, I see it as more consistent with respect for the animal to make sure it lived well first.

as I said, not judging here, just talking about the way it works for me.