How to explain to kids we are culling the cockerel

[ValerieJ]

I'm the same way. I eat chicken and I eat beef but I just can't bring myself to eat my own. We tried having cattle for a while but after we slaughtered the first one and brought it home in bags it turned my stomach and I never could eat it and it kind of makes me queasy to this day to think about it.

Same here. This is why DH refuses to let me get a cow. He knows it will become a pet.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

My folks, long time city dwellers, bought a calf when they moved to the country next door to me (years ago). We split the cost. No problems eating it when it got big enough to butcher. Dad told me it was only fair. "We fed him for a year, now it's his turn to feed us." It was delicious! And way cheaper than grocery store meat.

 

[Henry&Friends]

The rooster goes missing, and I don’t say anything. If they ask, “I don’t know”

Or say he’s a mean rooster and they don’t really stop being mean, so he’s gotta go

 

[Ebony Rose]

Name your roosters Dumplings, Fricasee or Casserole.

Drumstick, White Meat, (A La) King, (Chicken) Parmesan, Popeye('s Chicken)

 

[Ebony Rose]

In seriousness though, you can explain to your kids that mature hens give you eggs to eat daily. Roosters also provide food for your family, in the form of meat. Explaining the 'circle of life' doesn't need to be a touchy subject, it could be presented to them as simply a fact of life. You can take this opportunity to explain 'birds & bees', to their level of comprehension without being overly graphic, at this time too. "We don't want the chickens to have babies right now."

 

[ShannonR]

The rooster goes missing, and I don’t say anything. If they ask, “I don’t know”

Or say he’s a mean rooster and they don’t really stop being mean, so he’s gotta go

That sounds like trying to take the easy way out, and doing a disservice to the kids in the process.

When I was a kid, I had a couple bottle calves. I would always ask what happened to them when they disappeared, and got the "I Don't know" from my mom. Yet, I would notice the freezer was now filled to the brim with beef.. I don't really respect my mom for that.... I knew even at that age that's what cows are for.

Kids aren't stupid. Don't lie to them.

 

[slordaz]

In seriousness though, you can explain to your kids that mature hens give you eggs to eat daily. Roosters also provide food for your family, in the form of meat. Explaining the 'circle of life' doesn't need to be a touchy subject, it could be presented to them as simply a fact of life. You can take this opportunity to explain 'birds & bees', to their level of comprehension without being overly graphic, at this time too. "We don't want the chickens to have babies right now."

good points,, as some kids seem to think the food they eat from the store wasn't raised by someone else or was grown in a petri dish, sure as heck didn't hurt me none being raised on the farm and knowing how things were truthfully from a young age, while not being able to explain something to the kids in proper context or outright lies or ignoring it to be more sensative to kids feelings seems to have hurt my overly sensitive son more than it helped

 

[Ebony Rose]

We live in a time when overly coddling our kids does them a disservice.

 

[aart]

We live in a time when overly coddling our kids does them a disservice.

I don't think there ever was a time when coddling is productive.

 

[noregerts]

I'm guessing you didn't see your family slaughter cattle and process the meat from the time your eyes could focus clearly. Children seem to have a much harder time grasping the roles of food production animals when they aren't exposed to it until they are like 26 years old.