Hubby wants me to let him kill my chickens!!

[Misstwixler]

Uh, my husband said the same thing about our chickens and my stomach dropped...I couldn't imagine eating our chickens unless zombies took over and it was our only food source....then I might be able to part with one or two of them.....

 

[lauraschickens]

My mom was the one that helped me, she said to think how much better life my chickens had lived compared to the chicken I got from the store. Any day spent in fresh air, scratching around and just being a chicken was so much kinder then anything commcercial chickens have. My hens lay eggs until they are done in comparative chicken luxury. It is a better was to treat your food.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Another thing about eating the chickens that I myself raised, I want to turn each chicken into a wonderful feast. When butchering, the livers are saved for chicken liver pate'. The necks go in the crock pot with the other organ meats for a wonderful stock (the dogs then get the organ meats as organic, not-made-in-China dog treats). I'll make a baked chicken (using new and delicious recipies) for Sunday dinner and then we'll have chicken ceasar salad or quesa dias for a midweek meal. The remaining meat and carcas goes back into the stock pot for more broth and a chicken-noodle or chicken-barley soup. Because I have more of a connection with these chickens I want to be sure that nothing goes to waste.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Another thing about eating the chickens that I myself raised, I want to turn each chicken into a wonderful feast. When butchering, the livers are saved for chicken liver pate'. The necks go in the crock pot with the other organ meats for a wonderful stock (the dogs then get the organ meats as organic, not-made-in-China dog treats). I'll make a baked chicken (using new and delicious recipies) for Sunday dinner and then we'll have chicken ceasar salad or quesa dias for a midweek meal. The remaining meat and carcas goes back into the stock pot for more broth and a chicken-noodle or chicken-barley soup. Because I have more of a connection with these chickens I want to be sure that nothing goes to waste.

x2 I think its a really good point. With the exception of the digestive tract you really can use everything, even the feathers.

 

[sarahr]

Thank you all for your answers, and it will make it easier if I invest in meat chickens and leave my pet chickens for just eggs!

 

[Kilsharion]

x2 I think its a really good point. With the exception of the digestive tract you really can use everything, even the feathers.

Well, what's in the tract can be tossed into the compost.

And the digestive tract itself makes a fine sinew type product for doing various things - attaching rattle heads on old style rattles, lashing x together with y, etc. Clean it well, pull it around whatever you want it to lash, let it dry. Unlike sheep guts, they aren't big enough nor do they carry enough of the right properties to make strings for instruments. But, small lashings - sure. Work great!

They also work well for bait if you go fishing and feed other carnivorous animals.

As well, some people absolutely love the gizzard and livers (all part of the digestive tract) along with the heart - they use them in gravies and pates.

Overall, I haven't got a single bit of the chicken that hasn't got a potential, listed use. It's one reason I value having them. I know they are cared for and well treated when I raise them. I know they are humanely killed when it's time to process them. And, I know that no part of them is going to go to waste. That honours and values them much more than going to the grocers and buying bulk raised chickens that may or may not have ever seen the light of day, much less more than 4 sq ft or had any sort of positive experience in their short life...and, I don't even want to think about the places that don't allow so called "free range". So - because that's important to me, I am able to handle the concept of having to process my own chickens (and guineas and rabbits).

 

[roostersandhens]

I would be so MAD if someone wanted to wat one of my chickens after it died. I would NEVER forgive them. It is just like wnting to eat a dog after it dies.

 

[Kilsharion]

I would be so MAD if someone wanted to wat one of my chickens after it died. I would NEVER forgive them. It is just like wnting to eat a dog after it dies.

I have to disagree. Here in America, you can't run to the corner store and buy packaged dog breast. Pretty sure every one of us lives close to a store that carries packaged whole chickens, chicken breast, chicken thighs.....

 

[ZooSD]

Our family raised chickens and turkeys when I was a kid and I was the child chosen to help with all of the processing. I never thought moving to a city on the coast that I would ever be doing it again. We adopted a couple of laying hens a few years back and then a couple more and those became pets. My family enjoys watching them and we love the fresh eggs, but with the economy and the uncertainty of what's in most foods at the grocery I decided it was time to "do" chickens on a larger scale. We now have 2 silkies, 1 bantam roo, 24 layers and I'm raising 15 meat birds. The kids were allowed to name the little ones and layers only. All of these new chickens were purchased with the idea that they will provide for us when required. They are well cared for and appreciated and I refused to get too attached. Our original adoptees are pets though and will not end up on the table. My husband is proud that I can provide food for the family with our garden and chickens but he'll make sure he's no where around when it's time for processing, he says he could never do it.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Read a bit about the mass-slaughtering practices of factory-farmed poultry, and you'll be grossed out enough to start warming up to the idea of eating the birds culled from your backyard flock. I'm not really talking about the raising/killing procedures, which are off-putting enough, but about what happens during the after-death processing. Chickens sit in vats of poo-soup, and their flesh is mushy enough to soak up a lot of that soup. Yucky.