My chickens.....my friends???

[Beekissed]

Okay....don't know how appropriate this is to the joke section but this has happened time and again and I was wondering if it has happened to you.

Inevitably and quite often, when discussing raising chickens and....ahem....killing chickens, I get these exact words tossed my way....from many different people:

"But..but...they are your friends!!! How could you kill your friends????" This is said with an agonized and outraged look on their face as if I had just tortured and killed a small child.

I've always tried to assert that I view chickens as food and I don't feel attached to my food source. This never seems to get through, though I know these people eat chicken on a regular basis.

Today, I might have gotten through.....

It happened again today and I placed a deadpan, serious look on my mug and replied:

"You know? I used to think they were my friends but time and again I would visit them in their coop, tell them my troubles, share my struggles and try to have a conversation with them. They always ignore me, they never listen when I talk, and they expect me to get all excited every time THEY lay an egg??? Well, I'm tired of friends like that, so I decided to kill them whenever I need food for my family."

Absolute, stunned silence followed as the woman digested this......

I'm going to use this approach from now on!!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[chickeypeep101]

Lol

 

[Chickenfur]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Anyone else out there have this problem? Being ostracized for eating ostrach? Persecuted for pigging out on porkers? Henpecked for eating hens? Feeling sheepish for eating sheep?

 

[BeckyBird]

That is hilarious! Where do people think their chicken mcnuggets come from? Those chickens probably live horrilbe lives, while I bet your chickens live great lives right up until the end. But some folks never look at it that way!

 

[duckyfromoz]

that is so so so so funny...I can just imagine the look on her face....

 

[matthewschickens]

Quote:
x2!

 

[cuckoo_orpington13]

People must remember that chickens can be friends AND food. Not naming them helps. I never name my chickens because I don't know if they're Christmas dinner or whatever.

 

[sheaviance1]

People are disconnected from their food sources these days. I have friends who cannot stand the idea of me hunting deer. I have quit trying to explain my view of the world. I garden, I hunt, I fish, I am now raising chickens for eggs, getting ready to start raising meat birds and rabbits and recycle all the kitchen/garden/chicken waste in compost. Whenever there is a huge food recall and my friends are complaining, I just smile at them. When there was e. coli in the hamburger meat, I just grin up a storm while I make the comment, "I am so glad I don't have that problem. I know I washed my hands while processing my food."

I use a similar line when they find mice bodies in green beans, e. coli in spinach and salmonella in eggs.

My laying flock, they all have names. I will not have a problem with eating any of them when the time comes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me appreciating the life that will eventually sustain me and my family. I baby my vegetable garden for the same reason. I appreciate the food on my table, and am very thankful for it. I have been hungry before. It's not a pleasant feeling.

I recently asked a friend who is a vegan if she has ever seen the way a plant heals itself from the wound inflicted by harvesting fruits and vegetables. She had the most astonished look on her face, it was priceless. I have nothing against vegans, I just got tired of this particular one harping on the fact that I hunt.

 

[Telamon]

i name all my chickens, now my mom begs me to kill my first one.