How many to sell?

[FunClucks]

It seems to me that the problem is the rooster!
So, why not eat the rooster, and sell the hens?
This way sounds callous, but you can have a free meal, some cash in your pocket, and get on with your life afterwards!

Because my children would cry. I agree with you, but the kids are not getting on board yet.

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

Because my children would cry. I agree with you, but the kids are not getting on board yet.

You just have to be quiet with it lol. Slaughter while they're gone, and go buy a few breasts from the store. Then cook some chicken for dinner and tell them you sold him! Boo yah!

 

[FunClucks]

You just have to be quiet with it lol. Slaughter while they're gone, and go buy a few breasts from the store. Then cook some chicken for dinner and tell them you sold him! Boo yah!

LOL I wish! That sounds so much easier! Unfortunately I have an inconvenient but firmly held conviction that I should tell my children the truth whenever and wherever possible (while at the same time being age-appropriate). Telling them I sold him but eating him instead, while much more convenient and less trauma/drama inducing at the time, runs firmly contrary to my convictions. So eventually I will end up culling chickens while the kids are not around and they'll just have to cry when they get home, or a number of people on Craigslist will get new roosters for their flocks (or tasty chicken dinners, but we'll never know for certain, so we can hope not). Parental teaching moments can really suck!

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

LOL I wish! That sounds so much easier! Unfortunately I have an inconvenient but firmly held conviction that I should tell my children the truth whenever and wherever possible (while at the same time being age-appropriate). Telling them I sold him but eating him instead, while much more convenient and less trauma/drama inducing at the time, runs firmly contrary to my convictions. So eventually I will end up culling chickens while the kids are not around and they'll just have to cry when they get home, or a number of people on Craigslist will get new roosters for their flocks (or tasty chicken dinners, but we'll never know for certain, so we can hope not). Parental teaching moments can really suck!

For sure! I would never do it to my children. I feel like the truth is a good thing to hold.

 

[raingarden]

LOL I wish! That sounds so much easier! Unfortunately I have an inconvenient but firmly held conviction that I should tell my children the truth whenever and wherever possible (while at the same time being age-appropriate). Telling them I sold him but eating him instead, while much more convenient and less trauma/drama inducing at the time, runs firmly contrary to my convictions. So eventually I will end up culling chickens while the kids are not around and they'll just have to cry when they get home, or a number of people on Craigslist will get new roosters for their flocks (or tasty chicken dinners, but we'll never know for certain, so we can hope not). Parental teaching moments can really suck!

At what age is it appropriate to teach/demonstrate to children how to dress a bird? Our kids were allowed to watch, but we didn't make them get their hands dirty. I was taught very early.......,

......but look what happened to me.

 

[NatJ]

I have an inconvenient but firmly held conviction that I should tell my children the truth whenever and wherever possible (while at the same time being age-appropriate)...So eventually I will end up culling chickens while the kids are not around and they'll just have to cry when they get home

Or you could get a few chicks that you KNOW you will eat, make that clear to the children from the very beginning, and offer that they can watch the butchering if they want to. This avoids the shock of "but you killed Fluffy?!!" while still introducing the idea of butchering & eating chickens. After the first few, they will be more used to the idea, so then you can progress to "and if any of these turn out to be male, we will eat them."

 

[FunClucks]

At what age is it appropriate to teach/demonstrate to children how to dress a bird? Our kids were allowed to watch, but we didn't make them get their hands dirty. I was taught very early.......,

......but look what happened to me.

I'm not sure. I think it depends on the child, and am kind of feeling my way through this. If we'd always had livestock chickens and were regularly raising and butchering our own meat chickens or other animals the whole time they were growing up, they might be more used to the idea now, but as it is I think we'll ease into it. I taught my children how to remove meat from a cooked whole roasted chicken around 3-4 and 5-6 years old (my 5-6 year old wanted to when I asked and I happened to be roasting chicken that day), and he's since developed an aversion to eating meat that crops up periodically, so I suspect 5-6 yrs old was a bit too early for him to be confronted with the reality of where chicken meat comes from, but my then 3-4 year old doesn't have that aversion. So I may butcher for a while when the kids are away from home, and then eventually they'll participate when they're older. Having meat from both our chickens and the store in the freezer and cooking it so it doesn't look like a bird should help with convincing him to eat it. In their heads they understand that meat comes from animals and that we are grateful for them giving up their lives so we can eat healthy and nourishing food, but being confronted with the reality of that close at hand is still an emotional thing, even a bit for me.

 

[FunClucks]

Or you could get a few chicks that you KNOW you will eat, make that clear to the children from the very beginning, and offer that they can watch the butchering if they want to. This avoids the shock of "but you killed Fluffy?!!" while still introducing the idea of butchering & eating chickens. After the first few, they will be more used to the idea, so then you can progress to "and if any of these turn out to be male, we will eat them."

That's a good idea, that progression of events makes sense to me. I think I would have to get meat chickens to do that. My original plan was have hens that would lay for a few years, and then eat them when their production dropped significantly, but those turned into pets pretty quickly, so I've been adjusting my goals a bit. Even rehoming chickens was traumatic the first time, I'm hoping next time won't be so hard now that we've been through it once. If they all look the same, and have leg band numbers instead of names, that may also help.

 

[NatJ]

I taught my children how to remove meat from a cooked whole roasted chicken around 3-4 and 5-6 years old (my 5-6 year old wanted to when I asked and I happened to be roasting chicken that day), and he's since developed an aversion to eating meat that crops up periodically, so I suspect 5-6 yrs old was a bit too early for him to be confronted with the reality of where chicken meat comes from, but my then 3-4 year old doesn't have that aversion.

When children are a certain amount young, they have less expectations about how things are "supposed" to be. So sometimes introducing the idea when they are younger is easier.

But older kids are more able to think through and understand why we are doing this, so sometimes older kids do better with some kinds of ideas.

And of course different children take things differently, so you might have had the same results with your children even if they had been older or younger when you introduced the idea of eating home-raised chickens.

 

[high5]

At what age is it appropriate to teach/demonstrate to children how to dress a bird? Our kids were allowed to watch, but we didn't make them get their hands dirty. I was taught very early.......,

......but look what happened to me.

I was taught early too! Didn't do me any harm, either!