Meat Birds and small children??

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Yes, I agree.. Ours too tend to be long and stringy, even though the breeders are more the butterball variety, and ours are very late to feather out on their heads and tend to run about looking like relatives of Uncle Fester until they are about 2.

We do the cloth diapering and breastfeeding here, makes it very economical indeed.

Now if the "pullets" would just lay eggs already....


On the topic, I'm not sure how we're going to handle our kids when it comes time to do the deed. Ours are almost 8, 6, and 2 1/2. My 8 year old wants no part of seeing them slaughtered and I'm not about to push it, he's a great kid and an extreme animal lover like me. I think he would have no problem handling it after it was dead but getting there is not something he's ready for. At first my 6 year old girl, whos the boldest of the bunch, stated she wanted to be here, now she says she doesn't. And if the other two aren't going to be here to help take care of the little one while DH and I are busy than I guess all 3 will be spending a couple of mornings and afternoons at Grammas while DH and I take care of filling the freezer, which we still have to buy LOL

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I also think it depends on the girl--I grew up on a dairy farm, so we didn't eat any of our animals, but our dinner conversations used to make my mother run out of the room.

I'm really good at gross-out contests!

Of course, as I said, we didn't eat our animals. They were exceptionally well cared for, kept as happy and healthy and stress-free as possible for as many years as possible, and then sadly shipped to market. We're butchering extra roos this weekend. I think I can do it. Let you know on Saturday evening.

Oh, and Jonathan Swift had nothing on you people! You'll have to start a Soylent Green forum for your new enterprise.

 

[blue90292]

mine's a banty just like his momma. i doubt there's much meat on him.

 

[chickypoo]

I think it would be interesting to raise meat birds someday. Right now we just have layers

.

My two brothers, sister and I were brought up knowing where food comes from and that yes something has to die. We were all brought on hunting trips and we were too loud to get anything but the point is we were there.

Knowing how things go full circle helps bring life into perspective.

A few years back we were butchering a cow elk in our garage in suburbia (

) before we moved to the rural area. When my dad pulled up with this massive dead thing in the back of the truck the neighborhood kids all came over. One of them who is a very sweet soul stood in the truck and saw the carcass tag and said, "look, it still has the tag from the store!"

We all had a good laugh and then explained it all to her she said okay, hung around for a little bit to poke at it and went home. No tears or hurt feelings, sometimes a simple but good explanation goes a long way.

We are also all animal lovers, but more than that we understand it. You can love nature all you want but if you don't understand how it works you will have troubles. Having respect for the animal, providing a good life, and a clean quick death is the best way to go. I think that helps with kids a lot, simply explaining that this is how things work and it's okay

.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

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I love that!

-Kim

 

[SandraMort]

Oooh, this is a good place to start (my first post!)

I don't have chickens yet, but this was definitely one of my concerns. My older children are all vegetarian and how they will react is definitely a concern of mine. I don't agree with the across the board boy/girl comment about girls needing more sensitivity, though. I know my older boy is far more sensitive than my older girl. Of course, he's also confused enough so that I have had to explain that I won't eat human flesh on more than one occasion.

 

[jfarm]

We just had this conversation with the 8 year old. We raise beef. We don't do any on-site processing so we've always said the cattle are going to "harvest". Now that we are going to raise meat birds in addition to our layers I started talking to the kids about the process early. The little ones don't get it yet, but the 8 year old's wheels are turning so I explained to him that the chicken we eat for dinner is an actual chicken that comes from a factory-farm. They are different from our pet/layers because they are a special type of chicken that is born/hatched just for becoming dinner and that they have a very short life-span. I also told him that we have decided to raise our own so that we can give these special birds a good life, fresh air, sunshine, green grass, and love - something that the store bought ones don't get. He thought for a moment and then was okay with that. He did have the typical kid questions like how do they get from the pen to the plate. I just told him that we would gather them up and deliver them to the processor to be "harvested". His only comment then was, we should take them all at once because if we take one and it doesn't come back, the others will be suspicious!!

Your kids are still quite young so you can probably be pretty vague on the process.
Good luck to you!!

 

[Bossroo]

I have talked to several Vegetarians ( including our new daughter in law), I always ask them why they became one. They usually say that they can't stand the thaught of killing a living thing. Well, I reply, how can you kill a tomato, lettuce, or an apple, after all they are all a living, breathing organism. If you don't kill something to eat, then you must eat dirt or a rock or water only. When they come to realize what they are actually doing they come around and eat everything. Now our daughter in law ( and several others), now eats all types of meat.

 

[SandraMort]

Tomatoes, lettuce and apples are not self aware, feel pain or have nervous systems. No comparison.

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[dacjohns]

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I talked to a person once that claimed she only ate fruit that had fallen from the tree so she didn't kill or harm any living thing. I don't know what she did about the still living cells though. I don't agree with her philosphy but there are folks like that out there.



As to the main topic. Kids will react differently. I wouldn't force them into watching or participating. I'm not sure I would even try to talk them into it. Sometimes they react by becoming even more resistant. Sometimes curiosity takes over and they want an anatomy lesson.