Official BYC Poll: What Is Your Perspective On Chickens For Meat

[cassie]

I don't have any meat chickens right now, but if I could come up with a good setup here in Missouri like I had when I lived in California, I would raise some Cornish X again. If I got a batch I would butcher some young ones for game hens, some later for fryers, and the rest for roasters. I really like big roasters and I butcher them when they will dress out at ten to twelve pounds. The biggest one I ever had dressed out at 16 pounds. I don't suggest anyone do that because of the risk of the Cornish X keeling over before they get to that weight but he was delicious. He was by far the best "turkey" I ever ate. I would eat my spent egg layers too. That said, I have had some pets that I kept until they died of old age. My rule with livestock is simple. I don't eat pets and I don't make pets out of food.

 

[Hep44]

We have specific birds we raise for meat. There is no emotional attachment to them, however we feel that they are raised better than the birds from the store. We have eaten some that were "pets", one that was an aggressive rooster we had to cull, and a couple young pullets that our dog unfortunately got a hold of (we were very sad about this, but also didn't want them completely going to waste)

 

[Aunt Angus]

I don't eat chickens. I don't eat any meat, and I'm leaning towards becoming vegan because I take umbrage with the way some commercial entities treat their animals.

HOWEVER, I don't judge people who choose to eat meat, and I have no issue with those who raise and eat their animals. I find BYCers are more likely those who pay attention to the health and well being of their animals. And if they do eat their animals, at least the animals aren't being mistreated and wasted, if that makes sense.

It's really a religious thing (I'm Buddhist).

 

[3KillerBs]

the moment of actually killing an animal is always a little solemn for me. But since I'm a carnivore, I think it's important to make that connection... eating meat means taking a life. It's too easy to ignore that in our society.

Indeed. We should recognize that being willing to eat meat comes with a responsibility to respect the animals we eat. I have no issues with either homegrown or commercially-raised meat, but I try to always treat it with respect and not waste anything.

Would you eat a chicken if you didn't know why it died - they will all eventually die naturally

Absolutely not! It could be diseased, infected with parasites, or poisoned.

Living in Latin America gives an interesting perspective.

Thank you for offering that perspective.

 

[FortCluck]

I don't eat chickens. I don't eat any meat, and I'm leaning towards becoming vegan because I take umbrage with the way some commercial entities treat their animals.

HOWEVER, I don't judge people who choose to eat meat, and I have no issue with those who raise and eat their animals. I find BYCers are more likely those who pay attention to the health and well being of their animals. And if they do eat their animals, at least the animals aren't being mistreated and wasted, if that makes sense.

It's really a religious thing (I'm Buddhist).

I’m plant based and it’s the best decision I ever made in my life

 

[FortCluck]

Living in Latin America gives an interesting perspective.

I live in a meat-eating society. I probably eat less meat than my neighbors do. There are very few vegans here, although there are some vegetarians.

Here, butchering chickens is a woman's job, and it's something that is familiar and common. Some women learn how to do it really early. A nearly-15-year-old neighbor girl already processes chickens to feed her family. (Men usually butcher much larger animals like cattle).

I've seen a woman butchering chickens right in the middle of a busy market. She and the chickens were amazingly quiet while doing it. She had lots of practice!

When I need to butcher a chicken, the chicken often goes principally to feed someone else. I also have sold several culls to the neighbors in the full knowledge that they will be the guest at someone's dinner table.

The widespread lack of squeamishness toward butchering chickens here makes things like selective breeding easier, and it also makes it possible to hatch plenty of chicks and not worry too much about cockerel hatch.

We were doing a construction project last month when Orange Fellow started mounting the hens. He had to go! (although I did like the feather feet).
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The old-timers in the 1910s-20s who improved dual-purpose breeds like Barred Plymouth Rocks and who trap-nested Anconas and Leghorns for egg production weren't squeamish about eating chickens that weren't producing. If a hen didn't show up enough times over a few months in a trap nest with her egg....she was history. The producers had to tend to the trap nests almost constantly to let the hens out and record data.

Long story short - the ability to process one's own chickens lets a lot more chickens have the opportunity to live normal chicken lives and hatch chicks here than if there were restrictions or unwillingness to sometimes process a chicken. I can let my hens go broody and not worry too much about how many cockerels there will be.

I believe the US is a bit privileged when it comes to food being provide on styrofoam. I like learning about countries that provide their own food and don’t have to rely on the grocery store. It’s a way of life and I wish the judgment in the US would stop because if I’m providing my families food then no one should care. Just like I don’t care if someone eats styrofoam chicken from the grocery store.

I like not buying from the store because it pollutes this world less. I hate having trash. I like picking food from the garden and chowing down with zero waste because the chickens eat what I don’t.

 

[FortCluck]

Right now I only have 4 hens, and they are for eggs. As someone above said, they were a pandemic project. I've been surprised by how much personality they have, and how much I enjoy watching them! I guess you could say they are "working pets." If I had the space, I would like to have a rooster and raise some chickens for meat, but I think I would avoid naming those.

I was raised in a hunting family, so the butchering process wouldn't bother me, except the moment of actually killing an animal is always a little solemn for me. But since I'm a carnivore, I think it's important to make that connection... eating meat means taking a life. It's too easy to ignore that in our society.

Yes!!! Regardless if you buy at the store or produce you’re own meat... you are killing a chicken or whatever animal. I believe we all turn a blind eye to the process of how the meat ends up in the grocery stores... those chickens usually have a horrible life and a horrible death. It’s not clean like it is with home butchering.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I LOVE chicken. Eggs, not as much. I don't feel weird eating it, necessarily, but I certainly do that the time now to tell myself this used to be a live bird, and with eggs (even store bought), I make my family wait to start scrambling until I look at them to see if there are bullseye and take a minute to think about that


I think it just helps to realize that these animals were or could have been alive before feeding us

 

[Shadrach]

Long story short - the ability to process one's own chickens lets a lot more chickens have the opportunity to live normal chicken lives and hatch chicks here than if there were restrictions or unwillingness to sometimes process a chicken. I can let my hens go broody and not worry too much about how many cockerels there will be.

An often overlooked point. I like that the hens here can sit and hatch. It is after all what they lay eggs for. However, most people can only house and feed a finite number of chickens. Here predation by other creatures and by me allows a more natural cycle to their lives.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I only have Silkies and they are pets. I think in some countries they do eat Silkie but its not a normal chicken meat?
Since owning chickens I always buy free range chicken to eat and if I have to buy eggs then free range too.