should I eat my kids pets?

[saddina]

Those are selectively bread to do 1 thing, overeat, pack on weight, and become food. If you don't butcher them they'll all just up and die on thier own. Now egg hens can last 3-5 years easy, but those don't eat themselves into oblivion like meat birds can. My suggestion, butcher and part them out (breasts, thight wings etc) and use the meat in something like tacos (a roast chicken in the middle of summer may make her wonder).

Raising meaties can be good for a kid, but she's attached so don't mention that henny penny makes good tacos, ever. Untill then make a huge fuss over the new birds, and she'll be ok.

 

[MagicNoodles88]

hhahaha when i read the title i was thinking of dog or some reason...phewwwwww!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

use the meat in something like tacos (a roast chicken in the middle of summer may make her wonder).

thats pretty good thinkin'!

we just stew are regular roosters down in the crock pot, shred the meat and put in serving size baggies for nachos and stuff. with our meaties i'm hoping that we'll have some nice roasts
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[Chicksdigit]

Hey, You know the right thing to do........ the whole Raccoon idea is just an idea of how to get out og cutting the pet chickies throats.
I would say give/sell them to someone on Craigslist, or take them to someone that will do the processing for you.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
If they were originally bought for pets and your daughter never prepared for processing them you should not slaughter them. She would resent you for a long time. Probably best to sell them to another, they will meet the same fate but she does not initially need to know that. With the new chickens you will have time to prepare her for the reality of keeping chickens. Even if you don't eat them there probably will come a time for the humane dispatching.

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
Why lie to the child. You'd be surprised how kids take it. IF you handle it properly. Explain where our food REALLY comes from and then let the kid help. They understand a lot more than we give them credit for sometimes.
BTW.......its easier when you don't give dinner a name.

 

[City Gardener]

When I was little we had backyard chickens, and after they were done with their egg-laying prime, my father would slaughter the whole flock.

The first time I was six, and I completely got off on the whole process. It was thrilling and exciting. I remember bragging to my teachers that the chicken I'd brought in my lunch was OUR chicken, and that it tasted better than store chicken.

When I was 9, I screamed out the window that my father was a murderer. In retrospect, I think that my parents should have let me keep 2 or 3 chickens as pets, but they really believed that chickens needed a big flock to be happy, and they thought it was cruel to keep such a small flock.

Anyway, as hard as it was, I grew up to be so interested in farming and food-production ... and here I am on BYC, a new backyard chicken keeper!

So, I think, especially with so many, that you should do it and you should be honest with your daughter. You can tell her that these chickens had such a fair and happy life, and that it should be like this for all chickens.

I think it's a bad idea to lie. I know people who were lied to as children about this kind of thing, and they suspected the truth, and it was a terrible feeling, worse I think than the truth.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
In Maine (and other states), there are laws which attempt to avert this type of boneheadedness by restricting the sale of individual chicks. But, you would have gotten around those laws by buying six instead of one.

 

[AHappychick]

find a local processor and let them do it if you dont want to be the "bad" guy. f you think it will hurt the kids too much tell them they went to the farm, although this is a good time to have the "where your food come from" talk