Help! Trying to get up the nerve to eat my own chicken

[larry529]

I'm from Galion, but living in Indiana now. We're fortunate here since Chicago is just about 40 minutes away. My family is still in Galion, so we're there a few times a year.

Don't come visit right now, its down right FREEZING!!!! They are calling for a chance of snow, and that won't make it any colder lol. It was like 5 degrees with windchill yesterday with know snow yet.. Gonna be a very long, cold winter I think.

 

[Dreyadin]

Your friends probably don't know how the commercial chickens from the grocery were raised. It's not easy, but it does give more respect/acknowledgement when you are aware of what you are eating.

I named all of ours (after friends nonetheless).. and could identify who was who in the freezer (80% of our chicks turned out to be roos.) For us the worst part was that they were soooooo trusting- right up until the end. They never saw it coming. I'll still name them all and spoil them rotten. (Although because of this all we eat less meat- and try to buy locally to support the small farmers aiming for quality.)

At least your chickens.. were lucky enough to have been treated like pets. They got to have a much better life than the broilers at the store.

 

[larry529]

One more food for thought... Typically raised chickens the proper way area little more chewy than store bought, thats from exercise. I think thought if you give yourself a couple to eat, you will not go back to store bought. Also, I read, idk... couple months ago, that China will start importing chicken after its butchered to our United States stores. Just a thought, if only 5% or less of seafood gets inspected, why the hell am I going to roll the dice with chicken.. I will take a rain check lol

 

[mrchicks]

We've always bought our chicken to eat at the grocery store. A few months ago I had my 4 chickens butchered and are now in the freezer. Still trying to decide if I'll get more chickens because that part of chicken raising was emotionally difficult. Just me and DH in the house now and he doesn't eat chicken. We live in a small town and the reaction from others is mostly "You're going to eat them? But they were your pets!!!!" First off I made the mistake of naming them. It makes me nauseous thinking about eating them but I know it's what is supposed to happen.
How does a city girl get past the sick feeling of eating them?

I had the same problem at first. I solved it by putting the first bird in the slow cooker and making soup. It not looking like a chicken got me past that first bird. The second one ended up in a chicken pot pie, the third was easier. Just remember why you are doing this, and that you are eating healthier for it. And personally, I could never eat a store chicken now. My birds taste better, and were raised with loving care. And you are not contributing to the horrible conditions that the store birds live in.

 

[LivingTheDream65]

Makes me feel better knowing that others had the same feelings eating their first one. I'll be taking one out of the freezer in a few days and will let you know how it goes

.

 

[donrae]

Why did you butcher them?

If they were pets, you may have to accept the fact you just can't eat them, and that's okay. Pets and food should always be kept separate.

Thaw one out and give it a try. If you're good, then great. If you just can't do it, that's okay too. Gift them so someone who will enjoy them. Next time you plan to have a bird that will end up on your table, consider it livestock, not a pet, and just try it again. It's not the end of the world if you don't eat these specific birds. You're not failing some big self-sufficiency test!

 

[BCMaraniac]

One more food for thought... Typically raised chickens the proper way area little more chewy than store bought, thats from exercise. I think thought if you give yourself a couple to eat, you will not go back to store bought. Also, I read, idk... couple months ago, that China will start importing chicken after its butchered to our United States stores. Just a thought, if only 5% or less of seafood gets inspected, why the hell am I going to roll the dice with chicken.. I will take a rain check lol

I prefer to say that the chicken grown at home has more texture, not that it is more chewy....

The meat has a richer flavor, and until you eat the chicken grown at home, you don't realize that meat from the store is actually bland. I read about the importation of chicken. As for the China chicken thing, the chicken is grown in the US, then shipped to China to be processed, then returned to the US and sold here. I think I read somewhere that it won't even have to be labeled as being processed in China.....not certain about that, though. The concern in addition to the obvious health issue is that this will lay the groundwork for chicken to be grown AND processed in China, then shipped to the US. There is just so much that can go wrong. I am gonna eat my homegrown birds.

 

[Elke Beck]

The first time is tough, but it does get easier.

If you really cannot stomach eating your own, what about finding someone near you who does their own birds and swap yours for anonymous chickens raised by someone else?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

We've always bought our chicken to eat at the grocery store. A few months ago I had my 4 chickens butchered and are now in the freezer. ...First off I made the mistake of naming them. ...

How does a city girl get past the sick feeling of eating them?

In the future tag your chickens with names like "Chicken Salad" or "Sunday Dinner," the name "Dumplings" would be nice, and finally there is the old stand by, "Brunswick Stew" Do you get the idea? Before long you'll be dressing in long calico skirts and get this weird hankering to cross the country in a covered wagon.

 

[BCMaraniac]

In the future tag your chickens with names like "Chicken Salad" or "Sunday Dinner," the name "Dumplings" would be nice, and finally there is the old stand by, "Brunswick Stew" Do you get the idea? Before long you'll get this weird hankering to cross the country in a covered wagon.

LOL. This reminds me of my 5 year old daughter, when we bought two day old calves to raise for beef. The kids named them Hamburger and Sirloin. They would suck my daughters thumb....even when they got bigger. So Hamburger went to the freezer, and when we at burgers after that, she asked if if was Hamburger hamburger. We told her it was, and she said, "He sure tastes good"!! I guess she had her priorities right. She is 22 now, but she found the first chick from our first incubator hatch, so she adopted him, understanding he was going to be a meat chicken. He is now a capon, and she will have no problem having him on the table. Sometimes kids are more pragmatic than we adults are. I don't see her in a covered wagon, though