My Chickens are not Pets!

[prairiepearls]

Agree. Treat them humanely, butcher them humanely, enjoy what they produce & don't waste it. But I'm also fine with people who do want to just keep them as pets or show birds.

 

[dichotomymom]

Egg and meat. Now, I will stoop down to pet them from time to time but I don't get attached to them.

 

[Cynthia12]

Quote:
Nope, won't eat my chickens.
My grandmother did.

 

[En Plein Air Farms]

I probably fall somewhere in the middle. I have 9 black sex-links and except for the smallest one who seems to have her feathers on wrong side out, they all look the same. So I treat them all the same. They aren't named, but when I'm blue I go out and sit with them and their stories cheer me up immensely.

I inherited these from my father in law. He had red sex-links before these and when they quit laying he had them butchered out, but they were scrawny meated and tough as shoe even simmered long and long. That was at 3 years when they were finished laying.

So I guess if I wanted true pets I'd get all different kinds and name them.
I love being around my girls and I'll keep them until they die naturally, but I know they are chickens. And I'll only get two to replace them as egg layers.

 

[crj]

I try to do everything you are doing but I get stopped at the culling without qualms.
I envy you for that ability. Thats what is holding me back right now. I have a roo that needs to be medically culled and a few that need to go to freezer camp. I just cant work up the guts to do it.
Any words of encouragement?

 

[Morgan7782]

My girls feel like pets, but if I had the property I would love to raise meat birds, and be able to make something useful out of extra cockerels. I believe that YOU know how the animal is raised, with food, water, room, ect (whether or not love) and I am sure that dinner made with your home raised animals would be wonderful! I learned a lot of what I know from older ranchers who believed animals should pull their weight and earn their keep. I like that idea and to keep it as alive as possible. (Wish I lived in the country!)

 

[Oven Ready]

CRJ.

For the rooster, only you will know if it's for the best.

For the ones booked on a one way trip to barbequesville, next time you are at the store and you buy some chicken, ask yourself why are you eating chickens that might've had a miserable life and be full of all sort of hormones/chemicals when you've got some of your own that you know have had a good life and been fed stuff that's good for them, not just for the bottom line.

Perhaps it's easier to get someone else to do the deed, but you're the one who has to make the decision and that's what you need guts for, once the decision is made the actual deed is not so difficult.

Good Luck

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
When you care for your livestock, you do what needs to be done. My wife can cook and eat our chickens, but can't do the "dirty deed" herself---she leaves that to me. That being said, if you eat meat and raise livestock, you need to face facts or raise pets. In these economic times, a whole lot of people are learning where their food comes from, the ground and walking animals. I had a cousin visiting once who wouldn't eat the fresh mulberries off the tree like the rest of us----"Ewwww... there might be bugs on it" I could never understand that viewpoint, after all, if the creator didn't intend for us to eat meat and fruit, why did he make it taste so good!!!!! I'm all for P.E.T.A.---People Eating Tasty Animals. Also, I should mention that the taste of a tree ripen apricot was worth the wait of growing the tree from seed.

 

[Lalaith]

My birds are both pets and food. I raise them using best management practices for optimum flock health and ecological sustainability of the farm. They are an endless source of joy to me and they also provide excellent nutrition. They all have names and they are all treated as family members. If one needs to be shuffled off this mortal coil, I do it with compassion. I see no conflict of emotion there.

 

[technodoll]

Me and my soft heart - all my chickens are PETS and will never be eaten.

They all have names (yes, all 55 of them), they all have unique personalities and we only cull when there is no other choice (extreme illness or disease). The old girls are left to live a spoiled life until old age takes them away. The eggs are a bonus!

For meat we buy from the grocery store, no way could we ever eat an animal we knew when it was alive