I posted this on my Facebook and got a few saying " oh, I could never do that". Made me really upset

[SunkissedChicks]

It isn't easy is it, when we've raised them from hatch and seen their little personalities? I totally agree with you though and now the only meat I eat is meat I've raised myself, as I don't want to contribute in any way to the commercial meat industry.

HI, Thank-you, and yes it was not easy, I have never killed anything in my life ( well, some Buffo Toads) but after having a near death experience with my Pekingese and a 1,000 vet bill, I had no problem to kill all of them and continue to do so every-time I see one in my yard.

It was hard to come to the conclusion of the slaughter, each day as we tended the birds, I would talk about this with my friend that lives with us in my home... I went though such a wide range of feelings and at one point I regretting getting this breed all together knowing that if I didn't' kill them they would die of heart attacks anyway and that would have been such a waste of everything right down to the bird itself.

As the days grew closer and I knew that we had to slaughter, I was going to take the easy way out and have my husband do it.... He has hunted for many years ( not in Florida though but prior in the cold climates) He told me that he would have 0 problem doing it.... At that time I thought, good, I would go out for the day and would come home to nicely dressed birds....The day came and I had a complete change of heart.... I didn't want the birds to feel fear.... I had tried several days prior picking up one and hanging it upside down by its legs and it FREAKED OUT..... I knew that is how he was planning on killing them with the noose around their legs.... The day of the slaughter while he was getting the nooses ready.... I had a complete epithamy. I realized that I had tended these birds from one day old, they knew me, they trusted me, I didn't want their final moments of life to be in terror. So, I did the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but at the same time I feel it was the kindest thing I have ever done... I took their lives so they woudl not be afraid. When I realized this, I got a peace in my heart over the entire thing.

I feel that the birds also did. I know that if we had not killed them on Saturday, they would not have made it much longer without having heart attacks as they were so big. The good thing was they were healthy, their legs were strong, they were fat and big but could still walk and even run ( more of a waddle run) but they could run... They had a great 2 months, they felt the sun of their backs, they pecked the ground, we had a dust bathing area set up with DE and they used it all of the time... They lived the best life a meat bird could have ever had. I feel proud of myself that I was able to do it, to end their lives the same way it started with love and tenderness.

Thank you everyone for the support of comments I am reading on here.

 

[SunkissedChicks]

If people only knew the horrendous lives lived by most food animals, many would be shocked. A few might choose to be as responsible as you have been in the face of the reality of our "live in the food-chain" existence. Much of the reason we raise many of our own food animals (beef & chicken/eggs) is due to the reality of what appalling conditions they're raised in - Utterly horrific & inhumane treatment, with no regard whatsoever for the fact that they are living, breathing, sentient creatures. Given these realities, I feel you should be commended for your thoughtful & humane response to this unfortunate reality of factory farming practices!

Thank-you so much for such kind and truthful statements, the problem is most people refuse to see the videos of the cruelty. They just go into Publix or where ever they shop and pick up a chicken or fried chicken and take it home eat it and lick their fingers. They NEVER give it on thought on how it got there in the first place.

I forced myself to watch the videos... Now some of the videos have misinformation.... Like Pamela Anderson's video on KFC. I know for a fact that KFC uses Cornish X Rocks, as we all know these birds do NOT live for 15 years... They would never make it that far.... If they live for 3 months that would be pushing it and in all likelihood would die of heart attacks at that time. I know Pamela Anderson's heart was in the right place, but I wish she would get more educated on birds before she makes statements like she does on KFC cruelty. It puts us all into a bad light by purchasing and raising this breed of bird.

For an example of head in sand behavior, here is PM messages from my friend who openly says she is putting her head into the sand as you can see in the last part where she finally read everything on my Facebook she said she was sorry for thinking I was killing my pets. We have since resolved our situation.

• • Hi Christine, I'm not comfortable with the videos you are showing and I'm afraid of what I might see just scrolling thru my FB feed, I wish I hadn't seen or even read about your birds. I myself chose not to eat meat...I have to hide you until you stop with the pics, video and explanation of why you killed and ate your birds. I know it might not be rational but it's very very upsetting to me ..I've always been overly sensitive when it comes to animals, people no, animals yes..so I still want to be friends on FB and I love you but just don't want to see or read about killing any animals...esp when I see live ones right next to ones being killed
    
    let me know when it's safe to unhide you
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  Yesterday​
  Sheri
  • I see now that I can just hide pics and video and not you, so that's what I did
    
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  Yesterday​
  Christine
  • I am sorry that you feel that way Sheri, my point of the video was not to offend but to educate on the cruelty of Factory farming or even the cruelty of places that sell what they call "organically produced animals"....
    
    Being a vegetarian means that you don't eat meat, but as a vegetarian you eat all of forms of other animals By-products like cheese, butter, milk, eggs.
    
    I can assure you that my layer hens have the best life and will continue to have that there is no organic factory farm in the world that would give their birds the kind of life that I give mine. These facilities are to big and there are to many birds to even start to bond with each one I know each of my birds and their own personalities, I knew those meat birds the same way.
    
    I hope you don't think it was easy for me to do that... As I said in my video, I would not be a hypocrite and pass that job off to someone else. I didn't want the end of my birds life to be taken by some stranger as I didn't want them to be terrorized in their final moments. To me this was the most kind and loving way I could think of to end their lives so I could have roast chicken. I have never killed an animal in my entire life ( other than poisonous Buffo toads that almost killed Naples twice) I spent days researching on this and this was on a whole the most kind and human way of ending their lives.
    
    I am sorry you saw the blood and felt upset. I wish I had made a blood warning on the video so people would know that blood was going to be shown. I have since gone onto youtube and have changed the display thumbnail and I have put a blood warning on the video. I assumed since the video mentioned slaughter that the watcher of the video would know that blood would be part of the part of the birds death. You have to bleed out the bird or you would not be able to consume it.
    
    I hold and love on my birds every day. In 4 more months they will start to lay eggs. Have you ever seen the videos of factory farms layer operations? Those birds don't get anything close to what I give my birds. They are crammed into tiny cages for their entire laying life, their beak ends are cut off so they don't peck at each other in their frustrations. These birds have and will never see the sun or feel it on their backs
    Those birds will never be able to have a dust bath or create friendships with other birds, or live a normal life like mind do. At this very moment all of my birds are walking around freely me entire property.
    
    The same thing happens and goes on with Milking cows. Their utters have been grossly altered and genetically manufactured to be abnormally large, they always have mastitis infections, each glass of milk contains 8 drops of puss in it. Those cattle are just milk producing machines.
    I don't trust the "organic labels" What ever minimum requirements that the government imposes on a farm to give the right for the company to say "organic" I can assure you is given. Producing any animals on a large scale doesn't allow for loving and tenderness, like what I give mine.
    
    My entire reason to do this was to protest factory farming of meat and egg birds. One day soon I will make a video when my birds start laying eggs and I will show you the difference between what they are doing on a mass scale and what I am doing on a small scale but with love and devotion to an animal that has feelings. shows affection, shows fear, shows interest, forms relationships with other birds.
    
    I can assure you that you are no more of an animal lover than I am... In fact I love them so much that I forced myself to be able to end its life by my own hand, it was not easy for me to do this, by ... the hand that feed, cuddled, and loved them. These birds Cornish X rocks would have died of heart attacks had I not ended their lives when i did.
    For the short period of time we had them, no bird in the world that I know of had a better life than what I and Margaret my friend that lives with us provided for it. I eneded the life of 4 birds all of them were videoed, the first one I cried so much, not due to my pending action but for all of the other birds in the world that were nto given a good ending, beginning or middle to their life, for all of the birds that were not given a real life, with all of the opportunities that should be offered to each bird.
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  22 hours ago​
  Sheri
  • Christine I don't fault you what so ever, I'm very very happy you treated
    your birds with respect and kindness and I have no problem with meat
    eaters either, most of my family eats meat and it's fine with me. I
    personally just don't want to be scrolling along then see the video front
    pic, I didn't watch any of them, I'm just talking about the thumbnails. I didn't even read what you said about cows below because I'm a wimp and
    cannot not handle it what so ever. I know what goes on but I do not want
    to see it or read about it, I'm the type of person that will dwell on it
    forever and never forget and it makes me very unhappy, so much so that I
    cannot do anything but think about it. I've had to unfriend several people
    over animal stuff they post, they do it to raise awareness and I totally
    get that but I don't want to see an abused animal in my feed when I wake up
    in the morning and it's the first thing I see. I could never work at a
    vet's office, can't even go into an animal shelter. I'm not a vegetarian
    either I just chose to rarely eat meat, I eat dairy. My husband doesn't
    eat meat so I just never cook it and fell out of the habit, he's not a vegetarian ether he just doesn't like meat..he's a really picky eater
    (drives me nuts) so it's just one of those picky things for him. I'm glad
    that you care where your meat comes from and I support you totally I just
    don't want to see it in my feed and then have to think about it for days on
    end, I hope you understand, in no way do I mean to offend you
    S
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  21 hours ago​
  Christine
  • Hi Sherry, you do have me confused in your first post you said " I myself chose not to eat meat..." and now you said " I just chose to rarely eat meat". I am sorry that I did not pick the thumbnail for my video with my face.... But if you had watched it, and you got to the place in the video where I kill the chicken, then you would have been shocked to see me butcher the bird. It may have been worse. It saddened me when you said you ", I wish I hadn't seen or even read about your birds."....
    
    I don't think you realize how hard it was for me to be able to be strong enough as a person to kill those birds.
    Everyone that knows me said there was no way that I would be able to kill those birds, for two months each day Margaret and i woudl tallk about it and I would cry over it.
    I prayed over it so much and finally God did speak to my heart. I felt if I was able to nurture them and raise them from 1 day old for the purpose of eating those 4 birds then I would have to be a strong enough person to be able to also end their lives that I took the responsibility for. Those birds would have died at 9 weeks old. They were Cornish X rocks and if not slaughtered by 9 weeks they would died from heart attacks and their entire life would have been wasted. They would not even been able to be eaten do to finding them dead in the coop would have been to late to process them.
    
    As hard as it has been for me me tears stream down my face but I force myself to see what is happening in the world outside of my own sheltered environment. If I had not known what is happening to the food that I purchase in the stores I would have continued to buy it thus supporting it by purchasing it.
    
    I have decided to take a stand and not purchase any food that suffered a miserable existence so I could eat it.
    
    I am such an animal lover that I help many organizations, I speak out, I force myself to see the videos so I know what is going on. It hurts my heart so deeply and makes me so angry at mankind. The cruelty involved is enough to send the ones involved with a one way ticket straight to hell.
    
    I didn't have to have someone post on my wall videos, I sought them out myself on youtube and other sites, I cried and cried and screamed out against the injustice of what was happening to them. Not just birds, but cows, pigs, horses, animals for testing ( monkeys) , Whales and other marine animals that are in theme parks. I had to force myself from turning away.... The truth is so excruciating hard for me to watch.
    
    My video shows me, the biggest animal lover, actually doing the most loving thing possible by killing my own bird with love and thankfulness and my son never videoed the part where I prayed over each bird, thanking God and thanking the bird for its sacrifice so I could help feed my family. He never posted the video of my crying and not over killing my bird, , my crying over the brutality and the animal abuse of Factory farming torture.
    How now I am forced to have to raise my own birds and have to kill my own birds to avoid supporting Tyson and Perdue Farms.
    
    I know it's nightmare hard but unless you know what is happening how can you help or do anything. Ignoring it or refusing to watch and not knowing will not make t his go away.
    Factory farms are no going away unless we all take a stand against them.
    
    My little coop with my small army of chikdens is my protest against Tyson and Perdue and companies that claim to "free range"... when all they have to have is an open door and say they are free ranging... I had to teach and train my birds to go outside..... They would NEVER have left the coop and i's safery to them had I not trained them in a smller outdoor covered protected shelter to get them used to being outdoors.
    Chicken are the more fearful animals I hve every encountered.
    
    So agiain, I am really sorry you were upset. I wish you had watched the video and saw what I had to say about Facoty famring.
    
    I did like one comment some one said, they said if anyone dislikes this video, they don't have the right to ever even go as far as eating ONE chcken McNugget from McDonalds.
    
    
    GodBless.
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  5 hours ago​
  Sheri
  • well I've never eaten a chicken mcnugget in my life and I never will. I still chose not to see or read about farming, I"m not strong enough and I'm not going to make excuses for it, I'm not going to spend every day thinking non stop about it and that's what would happen if I watched one of those videos (not your videos) I should have said I don't remember the last time I ate meat..I don't call myself a vegetarian. I guess I'm just confused as to why you would post the videos on FB...but then again I'm always surprised by what people post lol...( some of the relationship things)
    I know you feel strongly about it and I respect that, I just don't want to see it or read about it. Yes, it's sticking my head in the sand. I"m not going to dwell on something that is so upsetting to me that I go non functional.
    Sheri
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  2 hours ago​
  Christine
  • Hey Sheri, I like the fact that at least you are admitting that you are sticking your head in the sand. I commend you for your honesty. In life to me being honest about your true deep down feelings is the most important thing. So many people would never have admitted that truth to me.... They would have just argued on something else.
    
    
    I want you to know one thing else, before I took the life of each bird, I did pray over it and I thanked it and asked God to help the bird to leave this world quickly and as painlessly as possible.
    
    It was the first time in my life that I have killed anything. It was done with such love. I had those chicks since they were 1 day old as you saw in my photos. They came as helpless little yellow fluff-balls. I nurtured them and took such extreme care of them to provide them with the correct temperature of the heat lamps, I provided them with the correct foods and clear water always. When they got bigger each day they got a treat of meal worms. The coop we made is the nicest coop I think I have ever seen. I keep it spotless, ammonia smell free ( I spend a lot of time in there with them in a folding chair) Many nights were spent just being with them and holding them and loving on them.
    
    The day of the slaughter right up until the final hour, it was always going to be Wayne that was going to "take care of them".... I really love JC with all of my heart, even so much more since my Mom died and I have had such a re new of my faith, it has become my every day life now to pray and to do devotions for God.
    That day, I did have a message from God in my heart... It was to not have Wayne do the "deed" but for me to take those birds who loved me, who trusted me and end their lives in the most loving and humane way I could possibly give them... The only person in this family to give them that was me.... Sure Wayne would have done it..... The difference is the birds would have been afraid I didn't want them to feel fear. I really loved them. I did get them to consume. Sheri, I really hate Factory Farms. I have forced myself to watch those videos. I have come to the realization that if I purchase anything food related from the grocery store I am as guilty as the savages that run those Factory operations.
    Butter, cheese, by-products of factory farms.... Eggs, milk, a direct result coming right from Factory farms.
    
    I am trying my best in my own way to distance myself as much h as possible from these places. Having the chickens is just the start of doing this.
    I am going to find farmers that sell home made cheese and milk. I want to purchase locally as much as possible avoid at all costs anything related to animal cruelty.
    I already have been purchasing all of the produce I buy from local farmers. pesticide free.
    
    Thank you for being honest Sheri, that quality is respect very much.
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  19 minutes ago​
  Sheri
  • I didn't read close enough when you first got the birds to know they were for eating, I thought they were your pets..probably why I hate such a shocked reaction. The way you are doing it though is much better then buying at the store, I totally agree with you on that and I commend you for being able to do as you say and follow through even though I know that must have been really hard.

 

[furbabymum]

The actual killing will be hard on me. I've skinned and gutted animals but I've never killed one. That will be the true test!

 

[SunkissedChicks]

The actual killing will be hard on me. I've skinned and gutted animals but I've never killed one. That will be the true test!

It is funny, i have never done the skinning and gutting part.. I would have 0 clue, my husband is very good at that part. We used to live in The Bahamas and man could he ever gut and filet any fish beautifully.
He did a great job on the birds, I was impressed.

 

[furbabymum]

It is funny, i have never done the skinning and gutting part.. I would have 0 clue, my husband is very good at that part. We used to live in The Bahamas and man could he ever gut and filet any fish beautifully.
He did a great job on the birds, I was impressed.

I was determined to be a veterinarian so I've skinned dogs and seen all sorts of body parts so that doesn't bother me. My husband does most of the actual killing. I've got terrible aim with a gun. This will be something I can do though so we'll see who ends up doing what. I'd almost rather kill and have him pluck.

 

[galanie]

Your friend Sheri says "I'm not strong enough" - there ya go. I wouldn't fret over that at all. Let people do what they choose and do what you choose to do. It did take an enormous amount of inner strength to slaughter those birds. And you have it. She doesn't. Enough said.

 

[SunkissedChicks]

Here is a complete video of our entire set up

 

[bama gal]

I too have never processed my own animal. My family has always farmed. I remember helping process pigs & cows etc....just never did the 'kill' myself until now. Love having fresh meat to go with ALL of the wonderful fresh vegetables we grow. I had 11 CX that we got in April and processed at 8 weeks. Did the first one and like you, had a sharp knife.....three days later we processed the rest of them using a disposable scalpel. Much easier. Good job on the video. I love my chickens. I also love being able to provide a healthier environment for the food I feed my family.

 

[flewdacoop]

i could not do it but i know its a part of life

 

[donrae]

Give your vegetarian friends this quote from Barbara Kingsolver, it's something like "until humans develop photosynthesis, something has to die for us to live".

I think I may add that to my sig, come to think of it............