How to gently persuade someone to kill and eat pets?

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Chicken.Lytle :

I have a problem with the life cycle of my flock.

I bought them as dual purpose birds, expecting them to lay for a while and then become delicious soup. They are doing fine on the first part, but I am unable to hold up my part of the bargain on the second half of my plan.

Against all odds, these noisy dusty uncooperative little poo machines have become our feathery little friends. I can handle the circle of life thing. But I don't know how I can have this conversation with the rest of the family without causing trauma now that they have become attached.

Any suggestions?

ahh, I feel for you. mysuggestion is don't eat your pets, let them lay you nice eggs and let them expire naturally. If you want to try growing some meat get yourself some CX, they're gone in 8 weeks (& you will be glad) adn them you can enjoy the antics of your egg laying pets all summer. One good thing is most hens do tend to expire from natural causes at the end of their laying years.​

 

[Jared77]

I agree with whats been said. I think you may want to do something a little less drastic like the Cornish X, colored broilers, or Freedom Rangers to prepare the family for what to expect. Get them used to the idea that chicks are cute, but they grow up and become a provide nourishment for the family. The ones you named are pets and Id just leave it at that. Once they get used to the idea that not every fuzzy chick gets a lifelong home at your place then you could do the DP birds.

One other thing it might help to send them out for processing so the meat birds are here, then gone. Just put them in the freezer, and thats it. Out of sight out of mind. Don't make an issue out of eating them either. Id just make your meals and if it comes up in discussion then address it, otherwise I wouldn't push the issue. It might not come up, but if it does be honest and explain the reason for doing why you raise chickens.

 

[PhilErvin]

My flock is currently six hens. We are getting ready to incubate more in the spring. I have NO intentions of eating my girls once they stop laying. I know I should but I just can't do it. Now if I was broke and hungry I would be able to do it, I think, but it is too easy and cheap to run to the grocery and pick up all the chicken meat I want.
So I will be feeding a bunch of hens until they expire on their own.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

My solution is to get lots of hens, so no one bird is enough different from the others to get a name. Does NOT always work of course, as our lone Jaerhon is Lena and when the boys had to leg band their fair chickens they could now tell them apart by number and gave them names.

We are lucky that a local Amish family with many children do our processing. We take the birds there and say goodbye, and pick up the beautifully clean carcasses the next day. When many birds go, and the roasting ready bodies come back, it is impossible to tell them apart. At that point they are just meat. The kids do not know they are eating "Suzy", but they do know we are eating one of our own birds.

The older boy will not eat chicken he has raised. Other chicken, yes, just not ones he has raised. The younger son eats home-raised chicken with great relish. The husband eats home chicken mechanically, he does not want to think about it much.

 

[sred98]

Well, we've got some chickens that will NEVER be eaten. One is a delicious-looking fat Dark Cornish. She will be buried with the dog and ferret when she goes. I love her and she is a spoiled brat! I've got a few others that I am partial to, and probably won't eat. The first one I killed and processed was a beloved pet that decided he was going to kill me. I had some mixed roosters I was processing and decided if I could do Dierk, I could do them, no problem!

When I package the birds for the freezer, I label it with the date, and their name. Everything gets a name. That way, when the kids ask "who" we are eating, I can tell them. Then we share stories about that chicken. It took a while for my youngest to get it, but after the pig this Spring, we had a long discussion about the animals fulfilling their destinies. We also do anatomy lessons when I process, so they are learning a lot. We discovered one of the hens that was an egg-eater, apparently had "female-trouble" and had rubber kidney bean sized eggs in her. They were fascinated with that! It was pretty cool, and they have learned what to watch for in case it happens again.

I wouldn't force the issue. Some people will never eat their chickens. That's ok! We are now, a fully functioning farm, and the kids understand and accept that. Everything is named and loved, and fulfills it's destiny, no matter what that is.

Good luck!

Shelly

 

[The Chicken People]

Quote:
Good Job Shelly!!

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

I'm with Shelly. I have a few stand-out birds in my flock that I may have trouble with. Birds with real personality.

Everybody understood the deal from the start. We're getting hens. They pay rent with eggs. If they can't pay rent we eat them. Looks great on paper but that first bird you kill.....well, I'm glad I don't have to do it for the first time again. There's nothing wrong with keeping a pet hen. Nothing wrong with that at all. I wouldn't even try to convince someone to eat a pet chicken. If they were dithering though, I might offer to help them through it. I cried when I killed my first hen but I had hurt her and there was no saving her. She had 3 eggs in various stages of development. Awesome home school opportunity.

Earlier someone mentioned meat birds looking alike so it's easier. I find it's easier with meat birds because it takes 6 weeks for them to become obnoxious to the point I want to kill them. You can't get to know them individually in 6 weeks. No favorites. Just meat.

This chicken-to-meal-thing isn't for everybody. Some people are made to kill birds. Some people are made to weed the garden. I'm not a garden weeder, though I try.

Our wether goat kid may prove to be a problem for all six of us. I've done my research and I'm ready, I'm just not ready. You know?

 

[ShadyHoller]

Quote:
That's good advice. I was about ready to dive in, advising you how to eat your pets, but this comment made me reconsider before giving that kind of advice. It's your call.

Still, I want to just to join the conversation, so I'll throw out my perspective on it. It's something I've thought a lot about, and I still don't find it easy. I really, really enjoy our poultry. I get such a kick out of their antics and I can waste huge amounts of time just watching them, throwing them scratch or garden scraps, etc. They aren't exactly housepets with names, but I take their welfare seriously and I am committed to providing them with a dignified life. They get a lot of elbow room, a lot of fresh bedding and/or access to fresh pasture (as the case may be with different coops and tractors) and, when the time comes, I do my darndest to provide them with a decent and humane end.

That being said, most of them are destined to end up in the freezer at some point or another. It's part of the chicken equation at our place. The way I make sense out this ethical tangle is that I remind myself of what a crappy life broilers have in a commercial barn (I won't belabor that point, we all know what I'm talking about) and I remind myself of how hard I've tried to provide our birds with a high-quality life. As long as I'm going to eat meat, I want it to be meat that has been raised humanely and without unnecessary chemical inputs. In order to get that, I've got to be able to swing the hatchet myself. The only alternative is for me to either pay someone else to do it (in the form of buying meat at the grocery store) or to quit eating meat in general.

That doesn't make it easy, but for me, it's the best option. And I can understand exactly where you are coming from, in terms of getting attached to your animals. I remember when I was a little kid, the first time I saw the slaughter truck come up to my parents' place for a cow. It made an impression on me, but my feelings on the subject have never really changed: be good to your animals, accept it that part of their role in life is to become food, and, in the end, be grateful to them for it.

Again, that's just my perspective. Everyone has a different ethical position on eating animals, and I can respect every different ethical position ... except for the people who are OK with eating meat from the store, but who aren't OK with other people eating meat that they raise or hunt themselves. I've known people like that.

 

[babalubird]

Well, I think this could be a good opportunity to teach the children some of the realities of life. It's a waste of food and money to keep them alive if they were not intended as pets in the first place. The most blessed kids in the world, I think, are those that grow up on a farm because of all the important life lessons and work ethic it teaches. Your kids have the opportunity to see where their food comes from, to be part of growing it, and the work ethic of caring for something that is going to pay a dividend--food--at the end of that cycle of work.

You should try reason at first. I wouldn't do it behind their backs. But if they dig their heels in, you're bigger and you're the parent. I'd put my foot down and say, "I am very sorry, but it's not the purpose of why we bought and invested money into these birds. We are following through with our purpose so that we can get new ones for more efficient egg layers and meat birds. These have outlived their usefulness."

End of story. Kids on farms have seen animals harvested for food and even helped, for ages, centuries, and decades and they did not all turn out to be Jeffrey Daumers. They will get over it, be the better for it, and eat better.

 

[kla37]

I'm not eating my girls when they get older. We are going to build a second coop in a few years when we need more layers. They still will eat bugs and make great fertilizer. Not all kids live on farms and not all will "get over it." My sister, a vegan for the past 25 yrs, is living proof of that.