Please help me understand meat eaters not wanting to process a chicken!

[Ruthster55]

Also, there is less processed and disguised meat here. Fewer chicken tenders, nuggets etc. There are a few hamburgers, sure, but steaks are popular, too.

I just looked at the menu board of a local KFC yesterday. On offer is the selection of boxes, buckets of normal bone-in fried chicken etc. that I remember from KFC 35 years ago in the US. Strips or tenders are only offered as snacks, not as KFC's main promo. Didn't see nuggets.

 

[Lee Nelson]

I have a story for you. About 9 or so years ago we purchased piglets and raised them up for butchering at 6 months. We named them, fed them slop and scraps from my kitchen, made mud for them, and I would get in the pen and wrestle with them (it's actually quite fun and I am a bit of an, um, earthy woman). We took pictures of them, one was named lady and we have a very pretty profile of her Well, butchering day came and we had to borrow a cattle prod to get them into the trailer--they would not budge. Try getting a 300 pound pig to move when it does not want to! It was 6 a.m. and I was sooo glad the girls were still asleep; they were around 13 and 6 at the time. My husband and I were getting very teary-eyed having to be so mean to our pigs, but we finally got them into the trailer and off to be butchered and processed. We swore we would never do that again; it was just too emotional. Then we tried our first roast. It was absolutely the best pork I have ever eaten in my life. All our eyes got round as dollars at the dinner table that night, and my husband said, "Oh, yeah, we will do this again!" Word to the wise, do not name the animal you are going to eat, take pictures of it, or worse yet, get in the pen and wrestle with it like it's your family dog! LOL

 

[Lee Nelson]

Also, Beekissed, I wanted to reply on some of your points in your post. First off, if family members call you a murderer and they have their own factory processed broiler operations, it seems there is a conflict of interest there. Of course they would not want people to know how or be willing to butcher their own chickens because if everyone knew how, there goes their livelihood! Secondly if people are that in-your-face insulting, then why have anything to do with them? I don't mean to be chastising but these people do not like fundamentally "who you are." Some people have too much time on their hands and just are not happy. There are people like that all over the world. Avoid the negativity 'cuz there is aplenty of it out there! Find like-minded people who support you and let the rest go. I now subscribe to MorningCoach.com (free account) and it is a great shot in the arm every morning. You are living the life of your dreams; living a life most people only dream of. You are following your bliss. I know because I am living it also; hobby farm on 20 acres to X country ski on, 42 gorgeous hens that are sooo sweet, fresh eggs of all colors every morning, wild turkeys on the back of our property, fresh air, a rooster crowing in the morning (even if he is mean), a huge veggie garden, seeing Venus first thing at dusk, watching a harvest moon rise while my daughter and I are X country skiing around our outbuilding, and having good, honest work to do. Now all I need is a couple of horses--LOL!

 

[Beekissed]

Hard to "avoid" folks you work with or are kin to....it's a small world and these kinds of people are simply everywhere. But, yes, I do tend to avoid the idiotic type person who claims to have a "heart' for animals but still eats commercially grown meats and dairy. Clearly their hearts and their stomachs disagree and their minds are left somewhere lost in the middle, spouting words like soft hearted.

Quote:

I never advise that. I think those food animals deserve even more of our consideration than most...after all, they are going to be sacrificed for our food. I name, treat gently, bond with and interact with all the animals at my place, be they destined for food or just the family dog. I think that attempt to distance oneself from their eventual use is just a mind game but doesn't change the facts at all. A person can choose to lie to themselves about it or just treat them like any other animal. Since they are destined to live the shortest life, I try to make it as pleasant as possible...they are no different than the ones that will be staying around for awhile.

IMO, food must always have a face and even a name if we are to remain connected to it and have the correct compassion for it. Sure, it's easier to kill it if you've had no bonding with it..but should it be easy?

 

[Lee Nelson]

I meant that as a joke. I guess this is not the forum for me.

 

[Beekissed]

I meant that as a joke. I guess this is not the forum for me.

No, it's the forum for you....I'm just cranky and dealing with issues. Sorry if I sounded nasty....

Please forgive me.

 

[bestponymilo]

My answer is pretty simple. I enjoy eating meat, and believe it can be part of a healthy diet. However, I have neither the knowledge, the heart or the space to actually do the slaughtering. I have no problem paying the guy 20 minutes away to do the deed. My little contribution to stimulating the economy

 

[Lee Nelson]

Awwww, how sweet, Beekissed BTW, I have decided to do away with my roo since he has killed two of my hens. I have never butchered, but my daughter's friend has done it numerous times, so she's coming out tomorrow to do it for us while we watch, as long as she gets to keep the chicken. I am looking forward to acquiring the knowledge, but I am sure with it being the first time that we might get a little queazy . . . It is a killing, after all!

 

[Lee Nelson]

Well said. You have an understanding that it needs to be done, but you don't want to do it and are willing to pay someone else to do it. Similar to American soldiers or local police officers

 

[appps]

I've raised chickens and lots of other livestock over my 60+ years.  As an omnivore, I eat meat as I believe all people should.
I'm an organizer of a backyard chicken meetup group.
I also teach classes on backyard poultry.
The majority of people in classes want to learn about processing.
I have taught processing with tremendous turnout. 21 people are braving the ice and snow to help process chickens tomorrow.

All that said, there are people in our group, including other organizers that are extremely put out by this processng session.
I would understand if they were vegetarians but they eat chicken from grocers and at fast food places.
How can adults, that eat chicken be so disturbed about processing humanely raised birds by the label rouge standard, pastured freedom rangers, be so hypocritical that they will leave the event after believing they should attend because they can't wrap their heads around killing a chicken? Yet the same people, knowing how commercial cornish rocks are raised and processed will continue to eat them with impunity.

I don't get it.

Its one thing to know in that little spot in the back of your mind that you have been keeping hidden away since you were five years old and learned what meat really was that this is where your meat comes from. Its another thing entirely to stand and watch an animal being killed, especially if you have never before in your life seen unprocessed meat let alone the killing of it.

Don't think it makes us hypocrites, think it makes us people with different life experiences to you who have never had a chance to become desensitized to it

I accept it doesn't bother you to kill and dress an animal and I don't label you for it. Its surely not that hard to accept some people have zero experience with that at any point in their lives and so they find it hard to see.

I don't mean this to sound rude but I would imagine with that attitude towards them instead of one of trying to understand this is rightfully difficult first time and approaching it gently and slowly in the lead up to it rather than thinking of them as stupid hypocrites you will continue to have people drop out rather than have them learn to get past those feelings and go on to keep their own humanely kept and killed meat.

Perhaps you should work the cleaning and preparation of a killed out of sight carcass into the course a day or so earlier than the killing so that at least they have seen and handled a dead animal and crossed that hurdle at least once in their lives before you ask them to take the next step and watch you kill one. You need to desensitize them because life these days normally doesn't.