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

[Punkybrewster]

I butcher in the fall to keep my flock population manageable.

Extra cockerels who didnt make the cut, aggressive birds, poor layers, etc.

I dont think of who im eating as long as they didnt have a name.
If they had a name, i have to let them sit in the freezer for a few weeks to allow me to forget which bird it is.

 

[iwltfum]

I totally understand the mental block. I have it as well, but I like the flavor of meat and have taught myself how to think while in the process of butchering or eating something I grew for the purpose of eating. Have you ever had a friend (or spouse in my case) make something like kombucha or sauerkraut for it to live its short life on the counter or in a cupboard never to be eaten because they are scared of it? I view it sort of like that.

I grow meat birds for my family to eat for the year and to sell and we process them all ourselves. We also cull about 50 or 60 layers per year to make bone broth so we always have the best stock to use. I decided long ago that if I was going to eat meat, I will have grown it or known the person who grew it, and ideally, I will have butchered or helped butcher the animal. And I have stuck to that for about 6 years now with the exception of a handful of restaurant meals.

The first couple times I helped butcher turkeys for thanksgiving, I couldn't eat turkey or chicken for weeks (including the bird we had for thanksgiving!) but as I started my own business, and started processing all of our own roosters and meat birds, I got callous to it and don't even think about it anymore. In fact, after a long day of chicken butchering, I will gladly go inside and eat chicken. I think getting callous to it is part of it, and an important part. Just like how many murders we all see on television in a lifetime makes us insensitive to that image - People used to grow up butchering animals with their parents, grandparents, and neighbors. The children of the house were taught very early on where their food comes from and likely were made to participate in butchering tasks and definitely participated in daily animal chores to feed those animals that they were soon to eat. I think that is how, historically, people used to become calloused to the fact that you have to take something's life to be able to nourish yourself. Obviously, you don't want to starve.

Now we have modern conveniences like pre-packaged foods, fast food, protein powders, ect. There is no need to butcher your own food in order to survive as long as you can afford to purchase protein with dollars. You certainly don't even have to think about where the animal came from or how it lived (most have probably heard about how there could potentially be hundreds of cows in your fast food burger), and the marketing companies help you to not think about those things by wrapping their products in colorful packaging and splashing bucolic sounding catch-phrases and buzz words on it and by peppering the packaging or dining space with images of free ranging farm animals lazing around in fields of green grass, rustic fencing, and red wooden barns - so we can be distracted from thought while we eat our food as not to have a chance to think about the true origin of it.

Just my 2 cents.

Wendel Berry's books will change ones perspective on food as they have mine.

 

[Erba]

I really don't eat any other chicken, if it's not my own. It's a bit like, why I won't buy eggs anymore, even if I don't have any. I think it is just my hang to self sufficiency. I'd rather go without than buy it somewhere else. If I have slaughtered young cockerels, and it's too many for me to eat, or I don't have the room in the freezer, then I will offer them to family frozen, so they don't go to waste. And other than the chickens I want to keep to breed with, none of them get a name, I just call them all girly or boy.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I will eat my own birds, but only extra roosters. I just can't seem to bring myself to eat a hen as she can still potentially produce eggs. Any older hens that I have, I usually will take to swaps and such and let people know their age, though most of them end up going to pet homes anyway.

As a huge animal lover my entire life, learning to process was one of the most difficult things I'd ever done. The first rooster we ever did came inside the night before and had a last supper of popcorn with the kids (I know it's a little strange). I cried the first few times we did it. Now, I can do the entire process on my own, usually without any tears because I know the good life they led up to that point. We do buy chicken occasionally but really, we don't need to often.

Now the turkeys are a different story... we started with them for a self sustaining meat flock but they have become big loveable pets. We do eat 1 tom every year for Thanksgiving but it's always a chore to try to distance ourselves from that bird so we don't become attached.

 

[RUNuts]

BONUS QUESTION: While eating chicken (or even eggs) do you ever feel weird thinking about what your eating in relation to your own chickens?

I have no issues raising, caring and harvesting my meat since I am taking responsibility for the whole show. It teaches the kids what food looks like.

The weird feeling I get when eating a home raised animal is pride. I am proud I provided for my family. Proud of the eggs. Proud of the honor I bestow upon the animal. Proud of the care I provide to the animal.

When I eat store bought chicken, I wonder if the rest of the animal was shown the proper respect that I give the whole animal at harvest.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My perspective on chickens for meat.

I eat chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb, oysters, fish, shrimp, whatever. If I can raise it or catch it, good. If not I'll buy it. I eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables. If I can raise them, good. If not I'll buy them.

If I did not eat my chickens I would not raise them. My goals are mainly meat and to play with genetics. Eggs are a nice side benefit but most of mine are given away to friends, relatives, or a food bank. I eat pullets, cockerels, old roosters, and old hens. If I did not eat them they would never have been hatched. I do not keep individual chickens as pets, I keep a flock that has everchanging parts. I try to keep them as content as I can and give them the chance to be chickens. The goal is to give them a good life until they have one bad moment.

BONUS QUESTION: While eating chicken (or even eggs) do you ever feel weird thinking about what your eating in relation to your own chickens?

Not in the least. Chickens and their eggs are a part of the cycle of life. The veggies I grow and eat are part of that cycle. The fish I catch and eat are part of that cycle. I enjoy observing them and their antics but once they are butchered they are just meat. And I enjoy the antics of their replacements.

 

[PioneerChicks]

I have always eaten meat from stores, any type, but plan on raising birds for meat for the first time next year!
I might start going store-meat-free, unless I know the source is humane. I don't approve of many raising and butchering methods.

 

[WhatTheDuckingDuck]

I eat chicken. I’d rather eat only my own birds as I know they were treated with respect. From chick, to butcher, to table, to belly. I’m more conscientious about portion sizes and waste. A body gave their life to sustain my life, it’s disrespectful to take that for granted by consuming more than needed. I didn’t see it like that until I started eating a lot of wild game in my early 20s. Buying meat from a store people see it as just that, meat. When raising your own meat it becomes a life. A life that gave their’s to you. Respect that sacrifice.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

I prefer to raise my own meat, because when I was in college I learned just how messed up our animal husbandry is in the US. I'd heard a bit about it before, but the real eye opener was studying Animal Science (briefly, I couldn't handle how callous the department was with animal welfare). Everything was about improving profits...they didn't care at all about keeping the animals healthy or happy, just alive. If animals are stressed, you aren't taught to reduce the stress, you're taught to reduce their ability to express that stress (by trimming beaks/combs in poultry or cutting off tails/removing teeth in pigs) and to give them medication to keep them going until slaughter. It was horrifying.

I've reduced my consumption of meat greatly since then, but I still find it to be the most easily obtained and efficient form of protein, so I like to raise chickens for that because I know I will treat them well. I can't do more than that right now because of where I live, but one day I hope to raise all of the meat that I consume. It's very important that we understand the cost of our habits, and to respect what these animals do for us enough to give them a decent life.

 

[Punkybrewster]

I will eat my own birds, but only extra roosters. I just can't seem to bring myself to eat a hen as she can still potentially produce eggs. Any older hens that I have, I usually will take to swaps and such and let people know their age, though most of them end up going to pet homes anyway.

As a huge animal lover my entire life, learning to process was one of the most difficult things I'd ever done. The first rooster we ever did came inside the night before and had a last supper of popcorn with the kids (I know it's a little strange). I cried the first few times we did it. Now, I can do the entire process on my own, usually without any tears because I know the good life they led up to that point. We do buy chicken occasionally but really, we don't need to often.

Now the turkeys are a different story... we started with them for a self sustaining meat flock but they have become big loveable pets. We do eat 1 tom every year for Thanksgiving but it's always a chore to try to distance ourselves from that bird so we don't become attached.

Turkeys are the dogs of the poultry world.
I used to have a hard time culling them too.

How can you distance yourself when hes waiting at the end of the driveway every day for the kids to get off the school bus?!
True story.