Just Butchered My Cornish X. Now I Feel Terrible.

[naznaz11]

i made a thread earlier about what to do after butchering my cornish x. see link below

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/about-to-butcher-cornish-x-need-help.1475243/

this was my very first time butchering a chicken, i have cleaned and processed fish and clams before and never felt bad, but this time i feel so terrible.

i am pro gun, pro hunting, but damn, this hits me hard. i am a fully grown man and aint some social justice warrior or special snowflake.

anyone else on here felt the same after killing their chicken??

here is a pic. it weighs a little over 8 lbs in the bag. he is 12 weeks old.

it must have weighed about 10 lbs before removing the skin, organ, feathers and other body parts.

 

[WonkierZulu]

The problem is getting attached. I try not to other chickens isn't the problem it's your own that you raise. I bet he will be delicious though.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Looks like you are at least 1/4 snowflake. Sorry about it. lol

But seriously being "pro gun" or "pro hunt" doesn't mean you don't have feelings. You raised this animal and then took its life to sustain yours. That is a serious deed and it is completely ok to have some feelings about it.

Personally, I love and appreciate every animal I raise for meat. Chickens and rabbits. I thank them them for their sustenance. The day I feel nothing when I kill an animal is the day I should probably stop doing it.

 

[ChickNanny13]

2X ... It's the mind set ... I raised/butchered New Zealand's at 8wks but it took me a week to prepare myself/mind set. When I did it, it was like I was a 'robot' with the process and it was done after Hubby/kids left fo the day.

I had the comments about "but it's Peter Rabbit", someone mentioned how the carcass looked like a "fet**" ... I just had to put it out of my mind cause everyone enjoy the meat. I gave up that "business" after a few year, would not be able to do it now.

@Tre3hugger

 

[Disintegration]

I'll probably never raise animals for meat because I'll become way too attatched, but I can understand why it would be a bit upsetting to do so. It's okay to have feelings about your animals, ESPECIALLY the ones that you raise for food yourself. You get attatched to them because you've seen them grow since they were young. It doesn't make you a "snowflake" at all. It shows that you're a good human.

 

[sourland]

Your feelings are normal and healthy.

 

[yakitori]

In the end we're all just human

 

[Bryce Thomas]

Idk about meat birds or anything, but im in FFA. FFA stands for Future Farmers of America In FFA we raise: Pigs, goats, sheep, cows, rabbits and chickens. At the end of the year all animals go to the fair. There are different ways for showing for each animal. You have to train your animal to pose. After fair all the animals besides rabbits and chickens go to market which means slaughter for markets in the US like frys or walgreens meat section or anything. Pigs, cows, sheep, lambs always have to go for slaughter. You can choose to sell your chicken or rabbit, if you dont you get to keep it. Sometimes a buyer will buy an animal then give it back to the animal raiser just to give them the money to help the kid out. FFA is for high school students, im a sophmore. So what does this have to do with your problem? Don't get attached. I always tell freshmen that want in "Raise all you want, but if its not a rabbit or chicken don't you ever get emotionally attached, because that animal was designed to be shot and killed for its meat for you to eat." (I raise silkies because im smart, I know I get to see my birbies happy and healthy while kids watch their animals die and processed into meat, I'm smart because I know I get to keep mine all 4 years)

1:do NOT name slaughter chickens
2:do NOT try to love slaughter chickens
3:do NOT play with slaughter chickens
4:try your best to not care or think about your slaughter chickens, remember that ornamental and layer hens and breeding roosters are more pet-like, and slaughter chickens are for MEAT ONLY

Once the newcomers learn that they don't even shed a tear herding their animal they worked on and trained with all year as they heard it onto the slaughter truck

Might sound morbid, but this is what we do. I hope I helped you not be as attached to the slaughter birds from now on! Also from the picture I see its named NazNaz and you put a date on when it was killed. Its a meat hen, not a pet hen. If you care and love to meat hens/animals, when you kill it, its more like throwing a funeral when you just killed your dog then eating the dead dog. Never name the meat hen, ever!

 

[Molpet]

Yeah the first one is the hardest. I thought since I grew up hunting it wouldn't be that bad.
The first one every year is hard, but not as bad.

I agree, don't name them and don't play with your food

 

[Disintegration]

Idk about meat birds or anything, but im in FFA. FFA stands for Future Farmers of America In FFA we raise: Pigs, goats, sheep, cows, rabbits and chickens. At the end of the year all animals go to the fair. There are different ways for showing for each animal. You have to train your animal to pose. After fair all the animals besides rabbits and chickens go to market which means slaughter for markets in the US like frys or walgreens meat section or anything. Pigs, cows, sheep, lambs always have to go for slaughter. You can choose to sell your chicken or rabbit, if you dont you get to keep it. Sometimes a buyer will buy an animal then give it back to the animal raiser just to give them the money to help the kid out. FFA is for high school students, im a sophmore. So what does this have to do with your problem? Don't get attached. I always tell freshmen that want in "Raise all you want, but if its not a rabbit or chicken don't you ever get emotionally attached, because that animal was designed to be shot and killed for its meat for you to eat." (I raise silkies because im smart, I know I get to see my birbies happy and healthy while kids watch their animals die and processed into meat, I'm smart because I know I get to keep mine all 4 years)

1:do NOT name slaughter chickens
2:do NOT try to love slaughter chickens
3:do NOT play with slaughter chickens
4:try your best to not care or think about your slaughter chickens, remember that ornamental and layer hens and breeding roosters are more pet-like, and slaughter chickens are for MEAT ONLY

Once the newcomers learn that they don't even shed a tear herding their animal they worked on and trained with all year as they heard it onto the slaughter truck

Might sound morbid, but this is what we do. I hope I helped you not be as attached to the slaughter birds from now on! Also from the picture I see its named NazNaz and you put a date on when it was killed. Its a meat hen, not a pet hen. If you care and love to meat hens/animals, when you kill it, its more like throwing a funeral when you just killed your dog then eating the dead dog. Never name the meat hen, ever!

I'm in FFA as well (Freshman last year) and that's the reason why I chose chickens over sheep or cows. I was sure that I wouldn't be able to handle sending animals away for slaughter, so I chose to start raising chickens to show so I'd be able to keep them as pets while taking them to different poultry shows at the same time.