Rant: DBF posted meatie pic on FB, now there are haters

[BigSkyChickens]

I'm barely on Facebook, because I'm shy....

DBF, however, is not shy. He posted a picture of me plucking one of our first meat birds (because he's so proud and excited about our first meaties), and a family member was disturbed by it. This is no surprise.

EDIT: Picture added to post #37

It has inspired us to open up conversations about where meat comes from, what goes into it, and how it is treated. I know some people will put their fingers in their ears and chant "LALALALA-I-can't-hear-you", and that's OK.

I used to take meat for granted. Seriously, until a few months ago, if you handed me a whole supermarket chicken, I could not have told you which end was the head and which was the tail.

I know y'all have hear this one before, so thanks, kindly for listening to my rant.

DBF has since taken the picture down and posted this:

“That’s Disgusting” was one of the messages I received about our meat chickens. While this message may be very appropriate for vegetarians, it would be a questionable statement from those who may eat chicken.

I was also asked: “Why did we do this”
Simple, because we love chickens and we also eat chicken.

So chicken eaters, here’s a few questions you may want to ask yourself:
• When was the last time you ate chicken?
• Where did the chicken come from?
• How happy was the chicken during its life?
• Was the chicken housed with hundreds or thousands of other chickens?
• Was the chicken medicated during its life?
• If your chicken was labeled as “Free Range” do you know what that means or how the chicken actually lived?
• How was the chicken dispatched – was it relatively humane?
• What were the conditions of the processing center?
• How long was the chicken stored before its use?
• What was the storage process?
• How far did the processed chicken have to travel before it reached your plate?
Here’s my answers:
• Our chickens were purchased as 1 day old chicks from our local feed store (the hatchery is out of New Mexico)
• Our chickens lived very happy lives!!
• Our chickens were raised organically with the freshest local feed available
• Our chickens were allowed to range the yard often, although they were pretty lazy and just sat around a lot
• Our chickens received lots of love and care – they really liked pets on their chests
• Our chickens were processed close to their natural expiration date
• Our chickens were dispatched in the most humane way we could find
• Our chickens were immediately chilled and stored in a very clean environment

 

[CowgirlJules]

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not at all quiet on Facebook about my hobby of raising my own meat. Chickens aren't my only project. And I've had nothing but support for it. Some of the most surprising accolades have actually come from vegetarian friends, who do care where their food comes from and respect my choice to do the same.

And then, I'm pretty free with deleting people, so there's that too.

 

[Helen29]

Don't let anyone make you feel bad, it's natural, a lot of people claim to support farming but don't actually realize that it means killing. They're quick to go to the supermarket to buy meat without even a though where it has come from and that it was even living once. I always make sure my children know where there meat is coming from. If we all had to kill our own to be able to eat meat there would be a lot less waste in the world, happier birds and more vegetarians. Good for you.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I think you both handled it very well by using it as an excellent opportunity to talk to others about where our food comes from.

 

[rivers2011]

I echo the above poster's sentiments. You responded with good points about the actual issue instead of reacting angrily. A class act!

 

[Denninmi]

Well, my opinion is, unless they're vegans and live in leather free environs, they're being hypocrites. A lot of people just don't want to "think about it".

But you made some great points -- the chickens you raised and processed had about a millions times the quality of life of factory farmed birds.

 

[ngamtnman]

I get the same reaction from people I know. Pay them no mind, I figured when they almost die from a deadly staph infection or some other deadly bacteria from that nasty store chicken they bought, they will start listening. Also, it came out recently facebook creator and ceo mark zuckerburg now only eats the meat he kills hisself. He has killed chicken, goat, lobster and some other things I think.

ETA: Here is a link to the Zuckerburg story: http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn....ergs-new-challenge-eating-only-what-he-kills/

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

What a great post. I wonder if it will make them think about it a little more? I also love my fat little stinky cornish x's and therefore......I will eat them.

 

[itsy]

Good for you!!!!!

 

[chickenfeverforever]

My mother in law refused to allow me to video the butchering of our own hogs because she feared someone on facebook would report us for cruilty or get a lot of bad feedback. I just dont understand why people want to be so blind about where there meat comes from. Its okay as long as its already in a package at the store.