For reasons of ethics we're working towards supplying our own meat so that we know how it was raised. When we went dual purpose with the poultry it was like a missing piece of the puzzle was set in place. In the wild, extra roosters would be dealt with through predators, disease or injuries from fighting. In a safe domestic environment, who does it? I don't have to worry about what to do with extra roosters anymore. Now there is an established need for them, so no more worry on how many in a hatch are male. In being dual purpose I have to hatch even more, which then in turns allows for a greater number of options for when selecting for the next generation.
I tried to be vegetarian but my hormones didn't like it one bit and I had to supplement with Iron. So we raise happy chicken and turkeys and get our pork/beef where we can. My brother raised 2 pigs last year and the difference between them and store bought was incredible. We're likely to raise 2 pigs next year.
Every once in awhile a cockerel goes out of his way to be friendly. I have one right now who has learned tricks... coming when called, flying onto my arm or anything I pat my hand on and he helps herd the young Turkeys to bed and he sleeps with them. In the wild he'd be one of those survivor sneaky types who figures it out, so I won't rain on his parade with a dinner invite. He'll finish out to be a pretty good rooster, so he can hang out with the Turkeys until I find him a new flock.
We could get faster chicken with the Cornish X but then I wouldn't have the luxury of keeping the good ones around, since they're born with a very singular and brief purpose. Instead I can work on purebred dual purpose chicken breeds, looking at their type, their width and how they fill a baking pan. How they lay, how healthy they are and how much vigor they have. Keep the good ones going and eat the rest, for the over all improvement of the breed/line.
but honestly I like not fitting in a box that people try to put me in.
