My Chickens are not Pets!

[SkyWarrior]

I honestly enjoy watching my chickens and even have named a few, BUT I have butchered 5 meat birds and have little qualms about butchering the chickens.

Right now I wish the two RIR roos would gain a bit more weight so I can butcher them.

 

[CompostQueen]

Right on! I admire your philosophy.

 

[angelique_redhead]

Sure are. In fact a lot of recipes for Cog Au Vin (Chicken in Wine Sauce call for a mature (old) bird. My chickens are eggs, meat, work and entertainment. The bottom line is that while a few may be pets most are not.

: Angelique

Quote:

 

[patandchickens]

Mine are both I guess. They all have names, I enjoy watching them express their individual personalities, I talk to them, there are a few of them that get petted every now and then if they happen to be handy, and I've even taken one to the vet... but, they can also end up in the refrigerator.

Surplus individuals that are still perfectly useful chickens (as breeding stock or layers) I do try to find an upright-and-living home for, first, but if I can't, or if a roo is just too aggressive or a pullet/cockerel just not developing especially well, they're food. The freezer has bags in it with labels like "Peanut's Little Brother, 3.2 lbs" or "Larry breast, 20 lbs" (Larry was a turkey). I don't see anything at all wrong with that.

I seriously do not believe it is right to only, or preferentially, eat animals that I never knew... if I wasn't ok facing the reality that eating meat IS taking a life, then I do not feel it would be ethical to 'cheat' my way into it by means of turning my face away or hiring someone else to do the deed.

And Peanut's Little Brother, and Larry, and the rest, all had way way WAY WAY better lives (and faster less-stressful deaths) than anything you can buy at the supermarket or Popeyes.

JMO,

Pat

 

[SkyWarrior]

My sister is horrified at the thought that I would eat anything I raised. She's not a vegetarian, but because stores have meat in packages, somehow it makes it less personal than knowing that the meat one ate came from an animal.

She's also horrified that I hunt. Like that's a surprise.

I like knowing where my meat comes from. I like knowing that the animals I raise are humanely cared for and humanely butchered. (Or, in the case of deer, that the animal died humanely and not through starvation or killed and half-eaten by a pack of coyotes before it died). And the meat is awesome, IMO. Much better than anything I can buy at a store.

 

[kjmatson]

Quote:
Very true. I don't like the factory farms at all anymore. I have seen videos of large chicken hatchery's and production farms; if more people saw this there would be an even bigger turn around to local and/or self sufficient supplies of food.

 

[noodleroo]

Mine that are staying here at the house are pets; pets with benefits. The others are well treated utilitarian chickens. I think having both is OK.

 

[Jeeper1540]

I would like to chime in.

My current coop is full of ducks and chickens, that remain pets. my mother was raised that animals were food, so she keeps saying i should eat our cow, eat or pekin drake, etc. As i said they are pets, and as for the Pekin Drake, i want to find a place to re-home him, where he will not be eaten. even though he is only 3 months, i have raised him as a pet (giving him treats and petting him), not as food.

Im starting ideas on building another smaller coop, just for meat birds.

 

[NYREDS]

My sister is horrified at the thought that I would eat anything I raised. She's not a vegetarian, but because stores have meat in packages, somehow it makes it less personal than knowing that the meat one ate came from an animal.

Kind of like the difference between commiting murder & hiring a hit man. IMO if you're gonna eat meat you should be willing to kill it.​

 

[Finn's Mom]

IMO if you're gonna eat meat you should be willing to kill it.

You are right. Yet my emotionial mind and my logical mind do battle over this subject from time to time.

I am grateful for those that are able to do the deed for me.​