People ever give you a hard time about...

[kees]

killing a bird to eat? I just processed my first BR turkey (11 lbs. 4 oz) and you cannot believe how much grief I got from neighbors and friends. "You're going to eat it?" "But that's a pet!" No matter how much I explained to people that I was an omnivore who wanted to make sure that the birds that I ate were raised and killed humanely, those around me just didn't get it. I processsed my bird anyway but am wondering if any one else has ever had the same experience.

P.S.- The critics were the same people who stated that they'd rather buy birds from the supermarket because they were raised to be eaten.

Suzy

 

[gumpsgirl]

People just don't get it. In today's society, everything is viewed as a pet. There are so many people who have never even been around farm animals, let alone thought about eating one unless it's from the grocery store.

It will be a sad day for them when their family is hungry and the grocery store is empty, won't it?

 

[hinkjc]

Some people have no common sense. Tell them those ones from the supermarket once ran on the ground and had feathers too. The only difference is your bird had a good life before he went to the table. Good for you for providing good food for your family.

 

[canada-goose]

I would choose a bird raised happily on a small farm over a bird raised in a giant building any day.

 

[kees]

I couldn't believe how horrified people were. One friend offered to buy a bird because she wanted to "save a life". I asked her to explain to me how one bird's life was worth more than another's life.

Suzy

 

[doubled]

i constantly get in arguments with folks who aren't willing to kill their own meat. or thin its bad to raise animals to eat but aren't vegitarians. i don't get it. if you are willing to stop eating comercial chicken from a slaughter house that gives their birds a quarter of a square foot to live it's whole life, THEN you can talk to me about my free rangers that get fed my table scraps. i.e. the same things I eat and not some chemically enhansed poison

 

[Imp]

When I was young, my brother and I got 4 rabbits as pets. It took about 3 days for the novelty to wear off and we both hated cleaning up after them. Parents made us take care of them for several months, then dad butchered them in our wooded backyard. Another neighbor kid saw what happened and for a few weeks my brother and I were pariahs for eating our pets.
I remember that they tasted pretty good, but was really happy that they were gone. We tried to tan the skins, but our dog went into heat and got locked up in the garage with the skins on stretchers. Dog ate well that night. Lol.

Imp

 

[Beekissed]

Yep! All the time and mostly on this forum.

I live in a rural, farm plenty place and I STILL get this speech, "How could you??? After you raised them and cared for them?" and "I could NEVER do that!!!".

One such bucket of drivel was spewed from the secretary in my office....whose sister owns a commercial laying operation!

Hypocrites abound out there, folks!

 

[cw]

believe it or not, no they dont give me a hard time, but i live in rural ky

 

[Matt A NC]

Every bird I raise is treated as a pet, but no standard bird ever goes to waste. He ate Baby hefty a few weeks ago. She had a good life and lived here from hatch in May of 2004. She hadn't laid an egg in several months and was going done with arthritis in her hips. She was always too fat for her own good. Her life went full circle here and she will be remembered for her contributions to the family.

Most of the bantams are the same way, but there are a select few of those that are strictly pets and will be never be for used for meat.

I have exactly 100 birds and all, except a handful of this years hatchlings, have names. I can't remember people's names at all, but I know the name of every bird that walks past. Several I know by voice when they walk past the window 'singing' or talking.

Matt