I used to be of the mindset that I would never eat my own birds, but my mind has been pretty thoroughly changed.
Though I have yet to butcher any of my excess cockerels, I certainly will once I've learned well enough how.
My thought on it is this. Meat purchased from the store comes from birds that were probably raised in deplorable conditions, never interacted with, and terrified at the time of butchering.
My birds are raised in a completely loving environment, petted daily, and won't even tremble at butchering time.
It will probably break my heart the first few times, but at least I know /my/ birds have lived a good life.
I don't think I'll eat my old hens when they stop laying, but that's a completely Personal choice.