So terrified of meat birds! :(

[Darin115]

The was nervous when I raised my first batch. But by the end of the 8 weeks I was ready for them to go. I butchered them myself and found it to be easy. I was kinda numb to what I was doing. I just did not give it much thought.

The last batch that I did I raised them until 7 weeks and than had to have them processed early. I paid a professional to do it. It was well worth the money.
I dropped them off and picked them up a couple of days later. They had limited processing dates available so they went early.

I have not had any problem getting attached to them. Maybe as chicks but they grow out of the chick stage in a hurry. I have did it both ways and prefer to pay someone to do it. The meat is inspected and in a vacuum sealed bag with a label.

I just got another batch 2 weeks ago this coming Thursday. I never name them. I do find myself talking to them and watching them wobble around.
But by the end the whole family knows that they will be sent to slaughter and be sittng on our table for dinner.

The chicks I get are hatched by local schools and the eggs were donated by commercial chicken growers. I like to think that I provided them a good home and made their short life easier that it would have been if they went to a commercial chicken house.

Darin

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Yes, the one thing I keep telling myself and my kids is that we are doing this because we DO love animals and want them to have a happy life before feeding us! *deep breath* I think I can I think I can!

 

[punk-a-doodle]

First, I will say that I have no issues with people killing their own livestock (for both food and euthanasia purposes). A good life and a good death is a gift many food animals don't receive.

Second, I will say that I have no problem with people eating meat that someone else killed if it was raised and killed humanely. I don't see it as being a moral deviation or as being hypocritical at all myself. I happen to like scavengers and other animals that make use of available, killed meat very much...people included. I also don't require that someone need kill their own dog when it is time in order to consider them a "real" pet owner in tune with life. A vet is perfectly acceptable to me. Same thing goes for meat animals.

If you do have a desire to kill your own food though, you'll get plenty of good and experienced advice here to guide you. You'll also find most people to be accepting of the fact that there is generally a learning process involved, so it won't always go smoothly the first time. It is a skill that generally has some acquiring to do, and is one that many people find deeply worthwhile. You just need to focus on whether it is one you wish to yield or not.

 

[M.sue]

First, I will say that I have no issues with people killing their own livestock (for both food and euthanasia purposes). A good life and a good death is a gift many food animals don't receive.
Second, I will say that I have no problem with people eating meat that someone else killed if it was raised and killed humanely. I don't see it as being a moral deviation or as being hypocritical at all myself. I happen to like scavengers and other animals that make use of available, killed meat very much...people included. I also don't require that someone need kill their own dog when it is time in order to consider them a "real" pet owner in tune with life. A vet is perfectly acceptable to me. Same thing goes for meat animals.
If you do have a desire to kill your own food though, you'll get plenty of good and experienced advice here to guide you. You'll also find most people to be accepting of the fact that there is generally a learning process involved, so it won't always go smoothly the first time. It is a skill that generally has some acquiring to do, and is one that many people find deeply worthwhile. You just need to focus on whether it is one you wish to yield or not.

 

[RaeRae2]

I do not eat animals so this is a non-issue for me. But I will say that I think everyone who eats meat should be the one at the chopping block doing the deed. If you want to eat it, you should be able to kill it. People today are so clueless as to the suffering and torture of factory farmed animals. I commend those who want to raise meat chickens in their back yard. Every person who removes themselves from the commercial food industry saves thousands of animals from torture, suffering, and terror. Backyard chickens who live a happy, peaceful existance basking in the sun, dirt bathing, and eating bugs and then are consumed for their meat, have a far better existance than factory farmed meat animals.

My husband does eat meat, and I have no problem paying 4x the cost for humanely raised and slaughtered bison meat from the local farm. I would rather pay the huge prices than to support the commercial beef industry. At least the bison live in pastures, they sleep in the sun, they raise their own babies in a herd situation, and they die quickly and humanely. They are not shipped in slaughter trucks across the country, raised in crowded pens, and mass slaughtered, often in a terrifying and an inhumane manner.

Personally I would need mental counseling and medication the rest of my life if I were to kill an animal in cold blood so I could eat it. To me that is barbaric and unthinkable. So I guess I'll be the only here who says think long and hard before you go through with this. But I think if a person is going to eat meat, they SHOULD kill the animals themselves instead of buying into the commercial factory farmed industry. Since I have zero inclination to do either, I don't eat meat or consume animal derived products.

I hope this post isn't taken the wrong way, and I'm not trying to fight or stalk the meat bird forum. LOL.

I find it very admirable that you would want to be responsible for raising and killing your own meat. I wish every meat eater did this. But I'm just saying that for me personally, it would haunt me the rest of my life. But then I'm the type that will not use lethal mouse traps or bug sprays. I use live traps and deterrants instead.

 

[nickie]

The first time is the hardest, at least it was for me. I had a rooster that decided one day that all humans were evil, and with toddlers around u can't have that. I tried to reform him. I tried penning him, that resulted in him terrorizing the hens. He had to go. I spent two days getting myself ready mentally for it. I spent two days wondering if it was the best decision knowing it was. I spent two days struggling with knowing I was going to take a life of a perfectly healthy animal.

I botched the first cut. I was so upset with doing the deed I wasn't focused on doing and I botched it. I had to cut him again. My rookie mistake. I have a troupe of young boys just hatched knowing from the day they popped out of the egg they were food. This time my only fear is getting them all done a bit faster that the first one. My rookie mistake was a learning experience for me and I did cry for the loss of a crazy chicken.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

RaeRae, your post was not taken wrong at all. In fact, I see myself in your description of yourself. I could never use a lethal mousetrap! Goodness no! They are precious, thinking creatures. I am the one who catches and removes the spiders, beetles, etc. From the house and throws a fit if my husband even contemplates spraying a wasp nest by the house.

My husband is military and while we were living separate I made the choice for myself and our children to go vegetarian. We were for almost a year. I was happy. I had no issues at all. The kids wanted meat but hey...they are my kids and eat MY cooking! However, we are back in the same house and I am cooking for a family of 6. 5 of those people are male and love meat. I will admit that I, too, enjoy the taste. So I am far outnumbered. Do I LIKE the idea of killing? Not even close. I can't even guarantee I can handle it. I just know that, in order to please my family AND to ease my conscience (I loathe the commercial meat industry for what they have done to animals) this seems like the ONLY choice. That's why I say I am almost as afraid I might me able to do it. It is not how I have ever viewed myself, I just feel I need to change.

I have even had an evil roo in the past. He was a stunningly beautiful Silver Spangled ummmm.....goodness I have forgotten what he was! LOL I ended up giving him to someone who wanted him for their breeder program. So yes, I plan to do more thinking and deciding. But I think this is the road I have to travel...

 

[RaeRae2]

Well, I give you SO much credit for wanting to do what is humanely and ecologically responsible! Raising your own animals and butchering them yourself is wonderful compared to the commercial food industry.

I do the same as you - if I see a little bug stuck in the bath tub, I'll scoop him out with a piece of paper and take him outside. If it's the middle of winter, I'll take him to the basement. LOL.

Washing him down the drain never enters my mind.

Deciding to take the life of another living creature is not something to take lightly, but you have done your research and made the best decision for your family. Maybe to start with, you can work with an experienced person, have them do the killing, and then you help with the plucking and butchering part. Maybe when you get comfortable with that part of the process, you can move on to the actual killing yourself? You know, sort of ease your way into it?

 

[Seronac]

It seems to me that you would have to consider the purpose of the animals. I have no problem killing pests that are in my house; it's my house, my territory, they trespassed. I am hesitant to kill anything outside of my house, even in my yard, but if it's a pest, I can do it. To kill to eat is just a part of life, and the purpose of the chickens is to help feed you and they fulfill their purpose. Fortunately, humans can kill more efficiently than predator animals can, so the food animal doesn't suffer as much as it would if it were attacked by a dog or something that would start eating it before it was even completely dead--that's what I find terrible.

 

[ButchGood]

Sunny Side hit a home run with his comments. Exactly how I feel. All my animals are treated with great kindness and the utmost respect all the way through their lives as well as the butchering process. I use a very sharp scalpel and the killing cone for chickens. It was explained to me that death by loss of blood is much like falling asleep. So I talk to the animal and be as calming as possible before I make the incision. I always use tools as sharp as possible so they don't even feel it. They just fall asleep.