Just Butchered My Cornish X. Now I Feel Terrible.

[HomesteadNowhere]

When you don't have any feelings about it is exactly the time to stop doing it. There should be feelings. If I'm going to eat then something must die whether it's a tomato or a chicken etc.

 

[3KillerBs]

It's a solemn, serious thing to take a life. We should never take it too lightly but always treat our meat chickens with respect, care, and gratitude.

I'd worry about people who could just casually kill their first chicken without having some kind of reaction.

I name all my chickens after food as a reminder that as much as we care for them they are, ultimately, intended for the table in one form or another.

 

[aart]

pro hunting,

Have read of other hunters having a hard time with slaughtering chickens.
I shook with adrenaline for an hour after my first slaughter.
It gets easier, but even after a few dozen still not an easy thing to do.

 

[Eggstatic ChickyDoo]

When you don't have any feelings about it is exactly the time to stop doing it. There should be feelings.

I know I'm an outlier because I do name them, get to know their personalities, etc., even if we plan to eat them. To me, it's part of having respect for my food and where it comes from. The feelings get easier to process, but if I stopped having them I'd be worried.

 

[MysteryChicken]

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 care, & love my meat chickens. I don't get all emotional about butchering them, since I know they had a good healthy diet, in which I know what I'm feeding them, & knowing they had a happy life before meeting the freezer.
I also name them, & play with them too.

This is Meaty.

I love my Home Raised Chicken.

The only time I get emotional with chickens, if I lose a favorite bird, or a bird I was planning on breeding for a specific project.

 

[Blue Raptor]

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.




View attachment 2717139

The more you do it, the more used to it you’ll be. This sometimes makes people angry, and I myself don’t particularly agree, they they are really just livestock made to be raised, maybe loved (don’t get too close close if your going to eat it!), then eaten. Sry for those who disagree.

 

[neo71665]

My grandpa couldn't eat a bird he killed for about a week after he done it.

I'm heartless I guess because it has never bothered me to kill livestock. He started me doing it for him when I was about 8 because of it. If something is being raised for meat it just doesn't phase me, be a cow or a chicken.

 

[NatJ]

I know I'm an outlier because I do name them, get to know their personalities, etc., even if we plan to eat them.

I also name them, & play with them too.

Me too.

 

[MTR]

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.




View attachment 2717139

I have designated our “pet” chickens from our production chickens for both myself and my kids. We won’t eat Bowling Ball (barred roo) and several others we named but we don’t get attached to the rest. I even have my 3 year old “help” butcher - which he now loves asking how things work and what the different parts do. If your not “country” that may seem odd but it’s great family time.

 

[MTR]

I know I'm an outlier because I do name them, get to know their personalities, etc., even if we plan to eat them. To me, it's part of having respect for my food and where it comes from. The feelings get easier to process, but if I stopped having them I'd be worried.

I’d have a hard time eating a chicken in a zip lock bag with a name on it - lol