Is it wrong to be a bit sad?...took them to the processor today....

[Chickending]

I took my 30 cornish X's to the processor today. I dropped them off at 7am and was kind of sad to send them off. I was all along pretty careful to not let them get too cute to me but the big poop machines looked sad to me in their cages. Not that I will not enjoy eating them when I get them back tomorrow but it was still sad to me in a weird sort of way. Even though they stayed in the coop and pretty much ate and slept but a few of them tried to endear themselves to me.....The chicken coop looks so empty now.....

Does anyone else ever experience "meat bird regret"....LOL

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah. Sometimes I feel that way. I raise them in such small batches they all know me. They look so happy and satisfied all the way up through where I am holding them down. They are almost like calmly asking, what are you doing? And then they become food.

 

[Chickending]

I know my Mom brought them their "last meal" of treats last night....it was just a weird feeling. I dont remember feeling this way when I was younger and we butchered them ourselves and did about 200 at a time...much more mechanical then.

 

[justusnak]

Being sad is human! We had several we processed oruselves. They learn to trust you just about time for processing. UGH! But they sure are tasty!

 

[greyfields]

I always take off really early (6 am) which makes it too early to think clearly, let alone regret anything.

You always have to keep in mind that less than 2% of chicken in the USA saw the sun in the sky or had grass under their feet. What we are doing by raising our own is ensuring that percentage increases (even if modestly) and we can all be proud what we are doing is ultimately ethical.

You should really have regret over the 49 out of 50 birds you've eaten in your lifetime which by eating, you help the intensive system go along. How many chickens do you think you've eaten in your lifetime? It's a staggering thought really.

 

[UncleHoot]

We took our first batch (ever) to the processor last June. My 8 yr old daughter was ok with it. I had been priming my family of three to realize that these were all meat chickens long before we ever got them. I tried to make sure that if any of them were given names, they had to be "food" names, like "Extra Crispy", "Chicken Nuggets", etc. But since they were so hard to tell apart, any names they got as chicks quickly went away once they grew their feathers.

Anyway, everyone was pretty okay with taking them to be processed, but it was still a sad moment for me. I had grown so accustomed to going out every morning, giving them feed and water and moving the pasture pen. Suddenly, that all ended. I somehow felt less "useful".

Oh well. A month later, we got our second batch, along with a few pullets for layers. I don't miss the first batch anymore.

 

[Chickending]

Well I guess it was all worth it. I now have a feezer full of nice sized roasters. I got them back yesterday from the processor. They told me they ranged in weight from 6lbs to 8lbs roasters. I tell you what for the price you can't beat it. For what I paid I couldn't have done it myself for less.

It was sad to send them but I got over it quick enough. The coop is definately alot cleaner now.

 

[jenichick]

We had 12 roos in our standard run batch. We processed our first two yesterday, and DH and I were a bit sad. We knew that we were going to processes them from day one though so it was expected. They had a good bit of meat on them to only be 14 weeks and not meat birds.

 

[Omeletta]

Chickending, can I ask how much it cost to process? I know prices are different everywhere, but I am just curious. I believe near where I live they are $2 a bird.

 

[Chickending]

I was charged $2.00 a bird. When I thought about my time and all the "stuff" I would have to get to do it myself it definately is more cost effective to have them do it. It was a 30 min drive from my house.

For 30 birds, 60.00 total. Cant beat that!