Philosophical Questions

[NYREDS]

Quote:
I am deeply offended by your minimization of the horror that was the Holocaust. To equate the murder of 6 million human beings with some dead chickens is beyond appalling.

 

[SpottedCrow]

It's not just broilers either...
My crowing hen Slifer came from a farm just 5 minutes away from me...they sold the eggs.
She saw the baby cockerels going into 5 gallon buckets...

 

[BlueMoon]

Spotted Crow, you got me thinking.

Suppose that the farm/hatchery had 90% accuracy - it would be fabulous if someone could raise those chicks (let's say 100 of them) instead of the bucket. Ideally, you would end up with about 10 hens, 90 cockerels. So, then you could harvest the majority of the cockerels after they had enjoyed a few months on this good earth. Sounds like a Fireman's fundraiser to me.

Point is there are more creative ways than a bucket to utilize an unmarketable creatures. I don't think the feed costs for 6 months would be huge and you could probably get the chicks for free.

ps - there is no rule you can't eat a layer breed. They're not poisonous. I like the CSA idea - eat food from places you know. I'm with your son - no CAFO eggs. The ones from my girls are delicious.

 

[d.k]

* We had an interesting, if slightly . . .different discussion about the possibilities of using roos chicks as a food source a week or so ago. You might find it using the site search function. Be warned, it's kinda. . . . graphic???

 

[chickhamm]

Its very sad that the american consumer has been trained to want white, plump tastlest chicken in the stores. These birds could be put to good use, fatened up and slaughtered for consumption. It doesnt matter to us if its a meat bird, dual purpose or just a skrawny game type chicken, if it crows........it has a special flock in the freezer to join. My daughter is 8 yrs old, i'm not sure if its because of the way we have delt with it around her or if its just her nature, but she has accepted this very mater-of-factly.

Beekissed wrote:
MM hatchery sells a caponizing kit, not sure of the price. I would like to learn how to do this if I get broilers. No different than turning bulls into steers, really.
I know a turkey hatchery breeder who AI all their hens....THAT must be a job! It is a commercial poultry grower. You throw a rock around here and you hit one. A person would be surprised at the cruel things that go on at these places. People don't really like to talk about that here and are proud that they are raising poultry for Perdue or Pilgrims Pride. Like to think of chickens as pink meat in a tight wrapper. Every time I pass one of those places I think of Nazi death camps.....noone likes to acknowledge what goes on in that building but it sure does smell like death! Ick!

I am deeply offended by your minimization of the horror that was the Holocaust. To equate the murder of 6 million human beings with some dead chickens is beyond appalling.

NYREDS please, i really do not think she is minimizing the horror that was the Holocaust. I do understand that for some this is a much more closer subject than for others. Myself i have some friends that lived threw it, I have grandfathers that fought in the war and were there helping to release these poor tortured people from those hell holes. It is just a comparrison, it is not meant to minimize or make light of what happened during the holocaust.


chickhamm
Theressa
GA​

 

[Beekissed]

I was most decidedly NOT minimizing that historic tragedy. Though not Jewish, I have educated my children thoroughly on what happened during that era because I think it has been painted mildly by the media and history. I was merely comparing people's attitudes of indifference to how their food appears on the shelves without caring about the process that preceeds the purchase. I feel deeply about what happened to the Jewish people and I would never make light of it. I'm sorry you misconstrued my meaning.

 

[ivan3]

I posted the following link in a recent thread on egg price. It is a pretty detailed history of how the system in this country developed into what it is (along with lots of other American chicken history). Being adequately `backgrounded' never hurts. `Disposing' of cockerels (like Kstaven observed) lowers the feed cost as the conversion of feed into saleable product is more efficient in hens, and it's all about efficiency because the margins are so very narrow.

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1996/5/1996_5_52.shtml

Now, there is no excuse for not providing adequate Carbon Dioxide to spent hens being disposed of (flopping around terrified). I harvest considerable chicken eating vermin, but I do my best to make it quick and final.

As an aside: Those of you who are interested might hunt down a copy of Fred Wiseman's documentary: Meat. It makes no judgments (Wiseman never provides narration or commentary in his documentaries - he just shoots - and you get to do the thinking). I saw this when it first came out back in the `70's, the section showing the belled judas goat leading the sheep up the ramp to the slaughter house, and then pausing outside the flaps, as the sheep marched past to their final bleat - is most instructive... a visual metaphor.

 

[hooligan]

Incase anyone has forgotten the ORIGINAL meaning of holocaust:

#1: A massive slaughter

#2: A sacrificial offering that is consumed entirely by flames.

So technically the slaughter in ANY factory farmed facility could be a holocaust.

I want to mention www.localharvest.com and if you are in the market for eggs, meat, fresh foods, dairy, cheese etc try to locate someone in your area to get some REAL food

.
I have my eggs posted on there and have had many happy customers. I have also contacted a farm (via Local Harvest) near here that sells REAL milk. And I don't care how much I have to pay for it, its worth not contributing to the mistreatment of animals in places that don't have the right to call themselves "farms".