I have a major concern.

[Theo]

If you get attached to animals, maybe you shouldn't keep chickens for meat. My husband is a big soft hearted lug, and he absolutely could not be involved with butchering, because he cherishes every little life. I guess I am a little more hard-hearted towards chickens, because I do not get so attached to them.

I recently butchered our old rooster to make way for some new chicks in our coop. My husband knew it was going to happen and he agreed that the roosters in our flock are disposable, but it was still hard on him when I did the deed. Even though the rooster was a real b@$#@% with a nasty habit of blindsiding me while I worked in the year, the fact that he had a name and a big personality made it tough for me to kill him.

I will be butchering the cockerels from our recent hatch in a few weeks. They are not named. One will be selected to take over the old rooster's job; he may get the name Mr. Lucky. The others are bound for the freezer. I will do the butchering, to spare my husband. I'm glad I practiced on the old rooster, I think it will be much easier the next time around.

Edited to mention that his soft-hearted lugginess is one of the things I really love about my husband ... I wouldn't want to him to change.

 

[florchica]

Quote:

That's the very name I use for our meat flock members! Nugget 1, Nugget 2, Nugget 3..... Currently we have 37 "Nuggets".

We are currently raising our first flock of meat birds for sale as pastured poultry. I was REALLY worried about the processing part and last weekend we "practiced" on a couple of my mother-in-law's birds. It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected! For me at least, the cornish cross really are due to be euthanized (and eaten) at not much past 8 weeks. They just get too deformed and don't have a bright healthy long life to look forward to anyway. They just aren't as active and inquisitive as our layers or adorable banties, they seem to eat, sit, poo, and await the inevitable. With that said, I was still squeamish about doing the deed myself but I stood right there and barely flinched while it was done. Had we had time to do more than 3 birds that day I'm sure I'd have stepped in too. Once the killing is done I found the rest to be surprisingly easy to deal with and this is from someone who usually can't stand blood and guts. Once the feathers are gone they look like dinner and not feathery pets. After our practice run on birds that we didn't raise I'm confident we'll be okay with it on July 10th which is the date we plan to process; I also think it helps that these are a business investment and they're committed. I also rest easier knowing that being born a cornish cross is not a good lot in life but to be one of the lucky ones that we raise with care and good practices is a blessing to them. The fact is that they were going to be dinner, their lives are short and at least since I took on this project these lucky birds lived their brief lives well. I like some of the other members comments about it being empowering- it was weird but that's how we felt too. Somehow we were more grown-up than we were before; it's a sort of right of passage to kill and dress your own food for the first time. We fish, but these were the first land critters we'd killed for consumption.

To each his own, I can certainly understand the apprehension; I can't fathom killing one of my banty babies! I do like the idea of starting with a mean rooster though!

 

[bckyrdchknluvr]

My husband and I started keeping chickens a few months ago. I agree that making sure the first one you take is one you don't like makes it easier. I named most of mine, but the one roo with a nasty attitude and that really liked to bite and bleed me I named Stew. That is the only way I thought of him, right up until we culled and processed him and another roo that had beak issues two days ago. It made it alot easier on me. While I was processing it also helped to remember how good they will taste when we eat them. I also am a meat eater and I much prefer to eat animals that live a happy life as to one that are mass produced and forced to live in very confined unhappy conditions.

 

[Jschaaff]

Quote:
<-----heads outside to start taking Easter bonnets off of 25 little meat birds. Darn it Itsy!.......

 

[BoomChickaRocka]

Just think of them as food. If youre getting Broilers that is all theyre good for anyway. Food. Just like in the fall the corn is taken off for harvest, a chicken is harvested when its time has come. Its a little cold to think that way i know, but I was raised on a farm and have been processing chickens since i was strong enough to raise the hatchet. Also, dont look them straight in the eye.

 

[cpwhip]

Thanks Guy's all great advise and I must say I got a good chuckle from many of your posts
I will be using some if not all the idea's given lol no I will not name them unless it's nugget 1-6 lol
I'm excited to get started!!!

 

[cpwhip]

after my morning ritual of cleaning and maintaining my reef tanks I realized that I shouldn't have a problem
with butchering a chicken after all I just took a meat clever and hacked off two starfish legs to feed to my Harlequin
shrimp then I put the starfish back in my sump so he can grow his legs back for future feeding so I thought to myself
its nature just like chickens, harlequins need to eat and they only eat starfish. lol I can do this
these are Harlequin shrimp, I have a mated pair and they require a leg each every 10 days.

 

[RoosterGeek]

Quote:
I am so jealous!

I've always wanted a huge salt water reef tank. I'm still young (28) and not settled in a permanent house, so things like that aren't a good idea.

Beautiful Tank by the way!

 

[cpwhip]

yes you are still young I got into reefing several years ago and I know I could have purchased
a brand new car or two with the money I spend on my tanks so keep that in mind when you do decide
to become a reefer not only the cost but it's super addictive lol I find myself stopping by local fish stores that are not on the
way home one good benefit is I sell frags of my corals so that helps to put some money back into my pocket and to support my addiction.
so here I am addicted to Rottweilers and Reef tanks and I'm gonna add chickens to that list hmm kind of a weird combo eh?