I love the forum. I love having chickens. And I love eating chicken, especially for Mongolian Chicken. I want to be able to raise and process my own. Many years ago I slaughtered a handful with a cleaver. Last I tried a month or 2 ago I didn't have the stomach for it, couldn't bring myself to drop the cleaver on the chicken... She is still running around in the run. I cancelled my order of meat birds and just bought 4 pullets locally, they are growing fast and are beautiful to watch. Looking forward to the eggs. I have removed 2 dead birds in the last year and buried them, I can't help but wonder that I am essentially wasting the birds by not slaughtering them and making full use. I hate the idea of waste when it comes to potential food. Is this something I just need to man up, get over it and slam that cleaver down? I can process them, just that initial kill part that bothers me : / Would it possibly be worth investing in a cone and trying that method instead? *EDIT* I keep going in circles about this, I've had similar questions before. I just can't let go of raising meat birds for some reason. These chickens are addicting....
Its only a waste if the only goal was to eat it. If you enjoy watching it run around and be a chicken thats great. If it dies and you burry it then it breaks down and becomes part of the soil while feeding many crawling and digging creatures. I you are close to any forest there are plenty of animals that would be glad to eat it especially in the winter.
Man up. Your wasting the bird and wasting feed that could be going to a prime layer. It's soup weather were I live and can't get enough of the quality broth and meat with flavor back yard birds provide.
