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

[Sunny Side Up]

After a while it goes from "Ohhh, how can you bear to eat something you've raised from a chick?" to "Ewww, how can you put something in your mouth if you don't know where it came from?"

But it is a progression that may take time. This is a departure from my upbringing too, I grew up in the suburbs and was once a vegetarian in my teen years. I've only been keeping chickens for about 6 years now. I still cannot bear to dispatch my old laying hens, nor my ducks or geese. Perhaps some day I will.

It's okay if you never want to process your own chickens, if you want to let your elderly hens enjoy a long retirement. The main thing is to stay connected with the sources of your food, and be grateful for them.

 

[SallyF]

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LOVEyour naming system! My grown DS named my chickens Original Fried and Extra Crispy.

 

[terri9630]

If you get broilers you won't want to play with them much. They are dirty birds and not much like our/your layers. I could see playing with the layers but not the broilers.

 

[Chicken_Lover4567]

Well, so far I have only processed my "unwanted" roosters (9 out of 10 chickens = roosters = Problem.) and I did feel a little odd eating something that I had named, played with, and raised. But the way I figure, if you give that bird a good, happy life, then you've served your purpose as a good chicken-raiser, and the bird has repayed you with the service of being dinner.

Although I don't think I could ever eat any of my laying hens, because I count their eggs as rent. My extra roosters though...they're all free-loaders.

 

[JOSEYWALES]

I LOVE ANIMALS.......... THEY ARE DELICIOUS!

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

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I really respect you for this. I feel like a hypocrite because I profess that it is best for all the reasons already listed here but I can't seem to bring myself to kill them. I take them to the Amish who have no problem that I know of. I will say this though, I have some chickens I can eat and I have some I can't. Example, I was without chickens this spring as I got rid of them for the winter. Was being lazy... The first three hens I bought were the funniest, sweetest girls I've had. I didn't raise them but I will NEVER eat them. I raised a butt load of chickens this year and I could eat any of them. I can't really tell you why except they are functional birds and the ones I bought are more. BTW, they know this too. They are the only birds that are so attentive to what I'm doing that they almost trip me while walking out to the coop. Everyone else seems to keep their distance. Here is something else that is interesting. I just bought a Coronation Sussex and he feels more like the girls do. Although there is no petting allowed, he feels right at home under my feed.

I eat my chickens cause they taste good. I think people should grow and eat their own food for ethical reasons. I think we waste food like crazy and most of that could be passed on to the chickens to clean up instead of putting it in a landfill.

I think yards are stupid. Chickens, ducks and geese like to eat yards. Seems more like what one should do with a yard. Statues are kinda stupid when your chickens are live, funny and active yard art.

Chickens are both food and pets. I eat the food and when I have a pet that no longer can live here for what ever reason, I pass them along to someone else. It is a kinda agreement we have chicken pet to owner.

Dave

 

[PineappleMama]

I've wondered about this myself. We're only allowed four here, so meat isn't a possible, just eggs. But SOMEDAY...? This much I know...

I'm not an herbivore, I'm not a carnivore, I'm an omnivore.

That said it means my diet will contain meat, be it fish, fowl or mammal.

So I have two choices... I can buy from others or I can grow my own.
Buying from others you have options, organic/not, cage free/only cage... etc etc.
Growing your own you have the same choices.

The difference in the two is that growing your own you KNOW if your "needs" are being met. You aren't depending on the seller to be 100% honest and not caring if it hurts profit. If you're okay with not being 100% sure (as we're stuck now) then by all means you're welcome to buy from whoever you like.

If you want more control over your food, what's in it and what is not, how it is raised, how it is slaughtered... etc then you've got to have control and the only sure way to do that is raising your own. It's not for everyone, not everyone can hack it (my fear) but if that's what you want, again, welcome to it.

This isn't something I'm having to choose today, but it's one I've chewed on for some time and I'd like to give growing my own a chance. Time will tell if I can hack it or not.

 

[Moabite]

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Wow. yeah. That is very well put.

 

[Buster52]

Last weekend was my toughest processing day so far. I butchered the 4 last remaining from my original flock of chicks. These were the closest things to pets I have had. I considered selling them, but then how would they be treated? And if they were butchered directly, would it be done with the care that I would use.

I loved a couple of these birds. Mama Chicken was my first broodie and I remember her carefully raising her little ones, and the first time I saw a tiny little head poke out from under her wing. Randy the rooster followed me around the yard and got very happy any time I butchered some of his competition, like we were partners in crime.

But that is at least partly why I did it. The hens had slacked off, I am now using Marans and selling their eggs, and Randy (a BO) wasn't fulfilling my future plans. So, I was just keeping them because they were my first, and because of the emotional attachment.

And that turned out to be their undoing. I am building a working farm here, and I can't afford to get emotionally attached. In a way, it was a major triumph for me, because I didn't think I could do it. Ironically, doing this very difficult thing has made all the rest so much easier. I figure if I can kill my bud Randy, I can kill anything on the farm.

Sometimes, grownups have to do things they don't want to do.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

I dispatched two of them with my Dad- old school. It was hard. Let me say it again- it was hard and they are still in freezer camp- I know they are there and I feel bad for dispatching them but they are doing their duty. And If I put up my arguments- I know my food, yes but I also know that my food was well treated, fed well and lived a generally happy life.

My plan for the chickens all along was to eat the roosters and eventually we will be eating our laying hens when they no longer lay. Yes it will be tough but I would much rather me eat them than the dog or for them to go to waste.

Shrug- I eat meat. I know that when I eat a steak somewhere there is a cow going moo and perhaps getting ready to be dispatched into being a steak. Should I feel bad for those animals as well (yes I do but still I eat meat.)? I loved Grandpa's cows which were also prepared for dinner table. Again the animals in my care get Grade A care and if I didn't raise them for meat/eggs they wouldn't be getting the awesome care that they are getting so Yep I can live with what I am doing with these animals. They are a cross between a pet and livestock to me. And just as I am holding up my end- feeding and caring they are holding up their end by giving me food in eggs or meat and as a bonus they get to play with the kids and give us entertainment and teach us about animal behaivor and life cycle. Hopefully I can get to swing by the kids classrooms and give them a mini lesson on them as well. It isn't a bad thing to know your food and know where things come from- I think at times we are too removed from where our food comes from. Ask any inner city kid and the answers will surprise you.