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

[ackie]

clarification on my 'other' vote

I still eat chicken / all meat. I dont raise my chickens with the intention of eating them, but I am not opposed to selling them to people who eat them, and I am not opposed to eating my chickens if it's a problem chicken (we had one that howled instead of crowed) or it met an unfortunate demise (not illness obviously). I feel bad killing a perfectly good chicken (and get testy when my roommates suggest eating them!), but once it's dead I dont want to waste it. I also genuinely feel killing and cleaning a chicken is not worth it (to me, since I don't care about organic) over going to the grocery store ahha.

 

[ackie]

BONUS QUESTION:

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

Eggs definitely not. I dont mind seeing the fertilized spot though I know some people who do. I'd draw the line at any visible chick development.
I do regret eating some of my fancy eggs (cemani) instead of incubating them, but I definitely wasnt planning on something breaking into the pen and killing all the adults.
We also dont eat anything with a name, but SO started naming chickens willy nilly so idk how long thatll last. Haha.

 

[aliciaplus3]

I LOVE my chickens! I love everything about them, feeding them, watching them, hatching from them, even cleaning coops! I know sounds crazy but they are one of my favorite parts of life.
Several years ago I discovered the joys of hatching and when I hatch I seem to end up with at least half cockerels. Now because my customers are interested in buying eggs from me and cockerels do not lay any eggs, I have to do something with them.
I feel better about processing and eating our own chickens because I KNOW what they were fed and where they came from, also how they were handled.
Now the flip side of this is that I have started breeding my flock twords a True dual purpose bird... yes most of them are barnyard mutts but we have started to get some that have a better dressed weight at 14 to 16 weeks, without purchasing from a hatchery.
I think the label is self sustainability??? ok in our little world my chicken obsession far outpaces our ability to grow feed for them but its still SO MUCH FUN!

 

[BantyChooks]

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

Oh, you've read his books? I thoroughly enjoyed The Art of the Commonplace (a collection of some of his essays.)

 

[LaFleche]

I do eat chicken, but only my own organic ones.

La Flèche are famous for their delicate and juicy short fibred meat.

 

[iwltfum]

Oh, you've read his books? I thoroughly enjoyed The Art of the Commonplace (a collection of some of his essays.)

Yes! I've read a bunch of them, but not that one yet. I'll have to check it out. One of my top five favorite authors for sure. I learned about his books through Gene Lodgson's books, which are also incredible. My favorites so far from Berry are The Art of Loading Brush and The Unsettling of America. I'm reading The Gift of Good Land right now and it's proving to be a good read, albeit probably the most dense so far.

 

[HappyClucker7]

I try to avoid eating chicken as much as possible. I just feel really weird eating it, especially if it still has the bone inside and the skin on it.

 

[3KillerBs]

I am an omnivore on a low-carb diet.

I eat meat, quite a bit of it. I eat chicken. I ate my "packing peanuts" when they got old enough to be annoying. I ate the in-town flock when they got too old to be productive anymore (retired laying hens make the best possible chicken and dumplings).

I'm looking forward to raising at least one batch of Cornish X this coming year.

Once you've gotten a home-harvested chicken undressed it looks just like a grocery store chicken (though chickens other than Cornish X will be scrawny by comparison).

I've never felt weird about it.

Of course I embarked on the chicken-keeping experience knowing from the first that my chickens are livestock, not pets. Providing the family with food is what they are FOR. If I couldn't eat them I wouldn't have them because providing a retirement home for dozens of elderly laying hens is not feasible on the family budget.

 

[BantyChooks]

Yes! I've read a bunch of them, but not that one yet. I'll have to check it out. One of my top five favorite authors for sure. I learned about his books through Gene Lodgson's books, which are also incredible. My favorites so far from Berry are The Art of Loading Brush and The Unsettling of America. I'm reading The Gift of Good Land right now and it's proving to be a good read, albeit probably the most dense so far.

I ran across that book of his in my local library; whilst initially it was merely a passive read out of curiosity, it soon grabbed my interest more deeply and I ended up studying it at length and reading it once or twice more. I would say it is absolutely applicable to one's thought processes about their own backyard animals and food consumption.

 

[ladybrasa]

I only just processed two chickens I raised this year. I will process some extra roosters when they get older also. Not sure if I’m going to raise birds specifically for meat afterwards. I have not been able to bring myself to do the actual “deed”, but have learned after a quick ending I was able to process. I admire those who raise their own food and the critters that had a decent life (compared to poor factory farmed creatures), just wasn’t sure I could mentally do any of it myself! Totally understand those who aren’t able to also!!