How do I get started with meat birds?

[JDN]

Okay, so I am a recent college graduate and am only just starting my life as an independent adult. This sequence of life changes has prompted me to consider becoming more self sufficient in providing food for myself and my family. I am an avid fisherman and hunter - I don't have a problem pulling the trigger on a wild animal or throwing a fish in a cooler. However, I do not feel comfortable with slaughtering my own livestock. My main question for this post would be : How do I get myself comfortable with this? I have butchered coturnix quail that I raised from eggs on an occasion or two, and this really bothered me. And by bothered me, I mean that I felt sick to my stomach for several days over butchering animals that I had raised myself. I am seeking some advice from people who have struggled with this same thing and can offer me tips on how to get past it.

Thankyou all!

I found out that the processor that does my deer does chickens reasonably.

I've killed and butchered enough creatures to know that i can do it, but I don't care to, if I can reasonably pay someone else to do it.

 

[JDN]

I found out that the processor that does my deer does chickens reasonably.

I've killed and butchered enough creatures to know that i can do it, but I don't care to, if I can reasonably pay someone else to do it.

Another thought on this...sometimes you need to consider specializing in what your good at.
In a very broad, anthropological sense, at one point, Caveman Joe and Caveman Rob and Cavewoman Judy realized that Joe was really good at hunting for Mastodons, and Judy was really good at raising crops, and Rob was really good at turning the Mastodon hide into clothing.
I CAN change my own oil, but most of the time the savings of doing so evaporate by the time I bottle it, clean up, and take the old oil to the chemical dump.
I've done my own deer before. It takes hours for me to break down a deer. I've seen the processors, in their facility dedicated to the purpose, take a deer down to a skeleton in five minutes, without even gutting it. And they don't cut their finger open as often, and they don't hurt their back moving it, since they have power gambrels to lift them.
If I get to the point where I'm raising 50-100 birds a year for meat, i'll reconsider.

 

[TK421]

This is excellent. Well said!