How do you live with yourself eating the birds you raised?

[RedfogsFlock]

Famous words of my husband "No one on this earth gets out alive" We only kill what we eat, no more.

 

[NevadaRon]

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Besides... Well, just read this and you'll never eat soy again!

Dangers of Soy

 

[lacasitarojafarm]

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[prov31gal]

if you are not keeping birds as pets, then its easy to process them, thats why you got them. but if you have birds as pets, then you obviously have a diferent idea of what your plans for the birds are, so you dont want to kill your pets. its all in your frame of mind and outlook. we wouldnt butcher our cat, because hes a pet, but some people in a different country and culture who have cats for a different reason would have no qualms.

 

[Sootsie]

nope no way can't do it call me a hypacrit i dont care i buy frozen chicken to eat my birds are pets with eggs as a benefit but then i can only keep 6 in my garden, if i had a few hundred on a farm and someone else did the culling and prep then i could probably eat it it not a cute chuck in cling film no head etc

 

[missychicky]

I would like to conferm that I am not trying to make anybody look or feel bad, but just trying to convince my self. You guys are doing a good job of persuading my soft center that it's not such a horrible thing to kill something and eat it. I think now that you've given me all these good reasons to raise my own meat, I just might be able to send some birds to the procceser, when I move to the country...

I'd like to thank all of you for helping me see reason.

addition: What do you think is the meanest breed of chicken out there? I would want to get that kind for my meaties becuase if they were at all nice a would probably get atached.

 

[kla37]

I used to feel the same way about meat in general, before I learned about how horrible the conditions on factory farms are. I feel a lot better about eating meat knowing that it had a good life, and was allowed to act like and be whatever it was, and was treated humanely and with respect while it lived. I feel much more guilty when I eat mass produced meat since I know it's origins and that the animal it came from was miserable from birth to death. We get our meat now from local organic humane farms where I know I'm paying more but it's worth it. If I had room to raise meat animals myself I would!

 

[Buster52]

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Leghorns, hands down.

Problem is, they are also among the smallest, at least anything short of bantams.

 

[BlackBart]

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I still have a problem eating my birds and taking them to the processor. On that day, I don't want to talk about it or hear anything about it.
So far, my neighbor has taken them to the processor, in exchange for processed birds. Whew! fair trade.

So........ I trade my processed birds for favors and buy home grown processed birds from my friend. Dumb, I know, but I am coming to the realization of it all.

Somebody told me to take comfort in the fact my birds lived a really good life, until it was over. I try not to get too familiar with the ones that are destined for processing. But it is like they seem to know and they are the friendliest

What really bothers me is the nonchalant attitude some people have about it. One of my neighbors delights in telling me chicken killing stories of his childhood days. I don't understand the need to share graphics or suffering birds

 

[Beekissed]

Well...if the processing is done correctly, there should be no suffering. People tell stories about their youth because they want to pass on the knowledge and because this is part of their heritage.

Just like city folks like to talk about their lives and experiences when they were young, country folk do also. Fortunately, a lot of those country experiences revolved around processing animals for food~no neighborhood butcher shop down on the corner where we lived.

One of my favorite stories to tell is about how my grandma butchered chickens. She was one tough lady and I admired her strength and fortitude. It may sound like someone is delighting in telling of the death of an animal but it may just be that it was what we were taught to do and it wasn't a big deal. Its just one of many stories of our youth...like playing in the hay barn, milking a cow, fishing, harvesting crops.

Our nonchalant attitude stems from the fact that this was just a fact of life for us and nothing horrible, graphic or sick about it. It just was....and still is. Like going to work, making breakfast, gassing up a car, washing clothes, getting in firewood....killing animals for food was just an activity that was necessary.