How Sick is This!

[Barnrat]

This thread is fascinating. My first ever chickens are now about 4 weeks old--I wanted to have fresh eggs and I am intrigued by the notion of being more self-sufficient. I have resisted the idea of ever killing my chickens for the meat, but then I think of how hypocritical I'm being since I'm willing to eat meat from the store.

Dennis, your comments really hit me; I've been willing to turn my head, close my eyes/ears--in short ignore what I believe to be true, which is that we are killing ourselves by the way we raise, feed, and slaughter the animals we eat. And perhaps more importantly, these animals have no life at all; death is probably a welcome release for them. How evil is that?

I'm going to get those books you recommend; I can't shut this out anymore...

 

[Crunchie]

Haha, I'm a vegetarian, too, and yet here I am!

No, I'm not secretly wanting meat or anything, I just think it's interesting. I like to think that I'm a pretty realistic and practical kind of veggie gal. After all, I farm, and I have a lot of chickens (and other critters). Death is a fact of life. I don't have a problem with the consumption of meat necessarily, I have a problem with factory farming. Which I think is why it makes a lot of sense why I occasionally browse this forum!

I am giving my cull and extra roosters to a friend who wants them for meat. I know they had a good life, and I can't keep them all, so I want them to be put to good use. Feeding a friend's family sound just about as good as I can do! I have no desire to eat chicken, so off they go! I actually came onto this forum today to post a topic about some questions I had regarding this...

 

[Crunchie]

Quote:
Vegetarians generally give quite a bit of thought to the idea of eating meat and animal welfare. People who raise and butcher chickens to eat are forced to think about the same issues. In addition to wanting healthy meat for my family, one of the reasons I raise my own chickens for meat is because I don't like the manner in which factory farmed chickens are raised.

So vegetarians and folks who raise chickens for meat may actually have more ideas in common when it comes to animal welfare than with folks who go to the supermarket and buy factory raised chickens.

Exactly. Which is why I am a vegetarian who wholely supports each person's right to raise--and slaughter and eat--their own meat.

 

[Crunchie]

Quote:
on nightline, they were talking about how you can keep a child out of a live of slavery by giving that family a couple of goats.

that's why i love heifer international.

sorry, went off subject here.

Heifer International (www.heifer.org) is a charity with a great premise. Simple, but effective. Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day; but teach a man to fish... They have all kinds of different livestock programs. They just don't drop off a goat, for example, they teach the whole family how to care for it. They usually get a bred animal (or possibly a breeding pair, etc.), so they get offspring--to grow their herd, to provide milk, to provide meat. They feed themselves and possibly have extra to sell at market for income. When they can, they must pass on the gift by providing some of the offspring to another needy family to get them started. Sustainable in every sense of the word.

I love this group. Most of their work is in 3rd world countries, but they do some work here in the States, too. I think that they had a honeybee program?? Cool...

OK, I swear I'm going to stop posting, I'm not trying to spam this topic I just keep going back and reading things I want to respond to.

That's what I get for not reading the whole thread before opening my big mouth.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Ain't nuttin wrong with ya. You're just a broad-minded, intelligent person who's interested in learning anything/everything.

 

[blue90292]

Quote:
they helped a group start a worm farm in new jersey, i think. it's a pretty neat group. i always give money to them at Christmas time for baby chicks and tree saplings.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I just wanted to thank all the vegetarians and vegans in here for being realistic and open-minded. Truly, you guys are great. All to often vegan and vegetarians are a little over zealous about their dietary choices and are too close-minded to except that it is really up to each person what they choose to eat.

I just think it's great that you read this section and not criticize every thread talking about meat birds.

It is a fascinating topic and I don't think it is the least bit sick that you would read about another area of poultry keeping, whether you did it yourself or not. I think it is interesting to read how other people manage their animals, their lives, and their diets. I think the reason most people read this board is the learn about other people and their birds. True, you may never have meatbirds yourselves, but it doesn't hurt to know how most backyard keepers are raising them ethically. I think it's much better to read and learn than generalizing and saying "All meat-raisers are bad or cruel or etc."

LOL. Sorry I couldn't contribute much to this post, but I still felt compelled to thank ya'll.

PS: I know you aren't secretly craving meat and most of you are comfortable with you non-meat diets. I posted my original comment, just playing around.

This is a wonderful thread and I'm enjoying it.

-Kim

 

[Goat_Walker]

Im right there with ya, Ive been a veggie for 2 years now, and I accept the fact that other people may be animal lovers and still eat meat. Those veggies that get all "religiously vegetarian" on people get on my nerves a little. Its hard sometimes to understand.

 

[bills]

If you raise and slaughter, your own chickens, beef, pork, etc., and you know what they are eating, and what drugs, (if any) they are given, why not eat them?

As the meat is nothing more than a processing of the vegetables that they were fed, in a way you are still eating vegetables.

As the saying goes, "I love vegetarians, all the animals I eat are vegetarians".

That fecal bath thing? How in the world does fecal matter get into a chill bath? What processor does that?

That sounds like some PITA scare propaganda.

At the plant I visited, the chickens entrails are emptied before they get to the bath, and any fecal matter would be in the guts. The birds carcass's are also rinsed, inside, and out, with a blast of cold water, to rinse off blood, before being dropped into the chill bath. The chill bath water is also circulating through filters, and a cooling unit, so I can't see how anything could end up a foot deep in the bottom of the tank. There is some blood tinting in the water, but no fecal matter that I ever saw. The processor I visited had hygiene as one of their top priority's.

I worry more about the commercial chicken meat as to how the birds were caged, fed, and handled, prior to getting to the processor, far more than I would worry about the processing itself.

 

[Beekissed]

I worry about ANY animal that is fed medication from day one, forced to live in overcrowded housing with no sunlight, and drinking chlorinated water. I'm wondering if the hatcheries from which we order are the same way? I know someone in this county who runs a turkey hatchery and it is only slightly better than the meat and egg poultry houses.