How many people eat there chickens on this form

[Stephanie739]

As long as I eat meat, I am fine with eating my own chickens. I'm new to chickens, so I haven't done it yet, but I am already preparing my children for 'meat birds.' I hate factory farms. My chickens will live good lives, have a humane end, and we will be thankful for our food. I really need a deep freezer first because I don't plan on doing the deed too often

 

[Azriel]

Why would I eat a mushy store bought chicken that has been injected with who knows what, and raised in a building with several hundred others never getting out side when I can eat my own healthy young roosters that haved lived a happy life up to the end. If I'm going to eat meat, then I want to know how its been raised and taken care of, and I should have a hand in ending its life.

 

[Stephanie739]

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I'm kind of thinking of raising ducks just for the meat. Yum.

 

[shamblescross]

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I second that. (except the part about having a hand in ending it..... That's my husbands job. But I will help clean it and everything.) I've even tried rabbit recently, and rabbits are close to my heart. I decided that if DH did the hard part, I ought not let it's life go to waste.

 

[Hens_And_Chicks]

I have layers and raise meat chickens. When it is time to cull the egg layers, I tearfully put an ad on Craigslist and rehome them - their new owner can do what they wish and hopefully they get to live a long life without having to worry about production

. I just can't eat my sweet little friends that lay my eggs for me.

I raise cornish cross chickens specifically for meat. I don't make pets of them and I don't see them as anything but freezer meat.

I know, it's wierd!

 

[Kassaundra]

I personally don't think it (the reason most don't eat their own chickens) is deep or metaphysical or anything like that. This is BACKYARD chickens, and look at the recent poll Nifty did, most on this site have had chickens two years or less, and I would bet most peoples flocks are under 10 and live in a urban or suburban area.

The act of killing any animal (let alone one you know) doesn't come easy to anyone not raised to it, but the act of going to the grocery store is easy, chicken for the most part is inexpensive to buy at the grocery. We are all good at tuning out or distracting ourselves from unpleasent things we know are going on in the world (not just badly treated meat animals) just as long as it doesn't affect us directly, we have to in order to walk out our door in the morning with all the violence, and injustice (world wide) that we live with.

While I deplore the conditions most meat animals are in, on the grand scale of world wide evil that isn't even in the top 10. (predation on children physically, sexually, emotionally, unimaginable famine, war including attempts at genocide, human slavery, animal poaching to extinction, toxic waste in our air, water, and soil, nuclear and oil "accidents", deforestation of the worlds rain forests, etc......)

 

[cluckygal4]

When we order turkey poults they are usually shipped with rooster chicks we usually process those as keeping them all would cause our hen to rooster ratio to be off. We have also raised a small flock of meat birds that we only processed the roosters from. We kept the hens for layers. There is a definate difference between store bought and self raised. There is a cleaner taste, but because they are allowed to roam the yard and not injected with stuff the meat is a little tougher. Quite honestly, it takes a little getting used. However,when I think of how commerical chickens are treated, and how they are processed I am so glad that raising and processing chickens is a skill we have learned. Our chickens have a great coop and are allowed to roam the whole yard, they have a great life...until about the last 5 minutes...

 

[midwestchickenwrangler]

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We do. Even the smallest chicken we have cooked the the best chicken we have had. I really like the fact of knowing what goes into my meat and how they are raised / handled.

 

[BarefootMom]

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I can understand that to some degree. I have been raised around eating our animals our whole lives. To me chickens are not pets, they are livestock. I don't have a problem with processing animals, I used to when I was younger though. This past week my DH and I have processed 3 deer so no it doesn't bother me anymore. I don't have a problem killing animals whether by wringing their necks or shooting. My kids ages 4 and 2 now know that we eat our chickens, cows, and rabbits. They both watched us process the deer and have no problems with it.

As for chicken being inexpensive - I don't know where you live but here in the grocery it is expensive - $4-$5 a pound for Chicken breasts that haven't been frozen and pumped with chemicals. When you are feeding a family of 4 on about $150 a month for groceries you just can't afford that.

Yes there are terrible things that go on in this world, but you can't live your life not caring about yourself and what goes into your body. I try to be a self sufficient as possible, and am gaining more each day. For me we eat our chickens and other animals or starve. Simple as that, especially in the winter when we don't have fresh produce. I can and freeze as much as I can get my hands on, but with a family of 4 eating 3 meals a day at home - it is tough.

 

[Kassaundra]

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I can understand that to some degree. I have been raised around eating our animals our whole lives. To me chickens are not pets, they are livestock. I don't have a problem with processing animals, I used to when I was younger though. This past week my DH and I have processed 3 deer so no it doesn't bother me anymore. I don't have a problem killing animals whether by wringing their necks or shooting. My kids ages 4 and 2 now know that we eat our chickens, cows, and rabbits. They both watched us process the deer and have no problems with it.

As for chicken being inexpensive - I don't know where you live but here in the grocery it is expensive - $4-$5 a pound for Chicken breasts that haven't been frozen and pumped with chemicals. When you are feeding a family of 4 on about $150 a month for groceries you just can't afford that.

Yes there are terrible things that go on in this world, but you can't live your life not caring about yourself and what goes into your body. I try to be a self sufficient as possible, and am gaining more each day. For me we eat our chickens and other animals or starve. Simple as that, especially in the winter when we don't have fresh produce. I can and freeze as much as I can get my hands on, but with a family of 4 eating 3 meals a day at home - it is tough.

I would be willing to bet the majority that have an issue w/ eating their chickens have not had that experience


I'm a huge skeptic and do not believe the hype about the more expensive meats being raised healthier or in better conditions. I believe there are some loop holes that mean nothing to the actual conditions of the animals that some processors / raisers have jumped through so they can add the higher price to their meat. Like a friend of mine who worked for a cookie maker factory, she said they made the name brand cookies and the store brand at the same place just a different package.

I wasn't meaning that b/c of the horrible things in the world we shouldn't care, just that we have been conditioned our entire lives not to think about things.