The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[Noncentzter]

Bulldogma, I joined the site!

We store our eggs on the counter, unwashed, until we are able to fill a carton, then they go in the fridge.

It's been raining here on the coast and my birds haven't had much time out foraging, but I've noticed that they are gobbling up the FF! They are under my feet, they are in my way and they want their FF now! I have a troop of them following me down to the basement door waiting for their food. Most of them have finished their molts and are looking so good...now I'm just waiting for them to start laying again cuz some days we don't get any eggs and some days one or two. We have 30 hens that should be laying!

 

[Beekissed]

I was contacted via PM by a dear, sweet lady who wanted to know about how to get to the place where you can kill one of your chickens. I'll try to say this in a way that, I hope, doesn't offend but is just my personal belief on it and how I process it in my mind so that I have the resolve to do the deed. This might take just a bit because it's no easy thing to describe how one makes the transition from someone who has never killed to someone who feels like it is not only a good thing but it's necessary. I apologize in advance for my brutal honesty on this subject but it simply must be said.

When I first started out killing animals for food, I was 10 years old and my mother needed help. My other sisters "couldn't do it" and so I was the one that helped. I don't know why my parents didn't insist on their helping, though they did insist on them helping with the actual plucking and processing of the killed animal. I don't know why I didn't try to get out of the work like my sisters but I simply knew that Mom needed help and who would help her if I did not? Dad and brothers were off doing "man stuff" and killing small livestock was not in the realm of "man stuff" back in those days.

So, I guess that first killing of the animals was born out of compassion for my mother out there struggling to do it by herself. If you've ever tried to hold a chicken, duck or turkey's head down on a chopping block and then also swing the axe, you will know what an undertaking it can be...even with the nails positioned so as to hold the head. They have a way of squirming out of every devised way of holding them so that the axe hits the mark inaccurately. Not a good thing.

I felt very grown up and responsible because I was helping do this job and my older sisters were not capable of it. Maybe that's where it all begins..who knows? My sisters never did grow up in that respect and to this day will gladly eat the flesh of the animals they say they love too much to kill, but still claim they cannot do the killing. More on that concept a little farther down the page.

As an adult, I came to find out that life presents us with many opportunities to develop who we are on the inside and in private, when no one is looking. I was always one that wanted my outsides to match my insides...in other words, I prized honesty and hoped to strive for it. I found it to be an honorable characteristic to have, so there was very little that I hid or did in private that I wouldn't do out in public as well. Sometimes that was good, sometimes not so good!

When I had children this became even more important to me. Who was I? Really. Children see so much and I wanted them to see only the best in me, so I tried even harder to develop my character into something that I wouldn't have to hide or be ashamed of. It's been a long journey and I'm still working on it...who isn't? But the basic principles of honor, courage, fairness, wisdom, compassion, determination and resolve are things for which I have always held in high regard and wished for my children as well.

As I grew in my life I came to understand that the world view had shifted in some crazy way about the meaning of "compassion" and it somehow had gotten skewed. The same people who left their mother in a nursing home and rarely ever visited, even when they lived nearby, were the same people who bragged about how many animals they "rescued".

The same people who treated their kids like dogs seemed to be the same ones who treated their dogs like humans.

The same country that had no-kill animal shelters and big events to raise money for saving animals also had abortion clinics in which tiny babies were murdered. It's hard to wrap my mind around that kind of thinking but it is now commonplace and anyone who doesn't go along with it is harassed at work, by their neighbors, by the media, by people on forums and social media. There is big pressure to go along with this perverse way of viewing compassion and love in the world.

I've never been one to give into peer pressure or any other sort. I'm an individual with my own sense of right or wrong and I don't wait for the rest of the world to tell me what is right...I have a guide to that. God was the first to kill animals on this Earth and He did it merely to clothe the shame of Adam and Eve. How can I consider myself more "compassionate" even than God? I don't. God knew that man would need to eat and have clothing after his fall from grace..it was our own sin that necessitated that state of being. Sorry but there it is. Now it's necessary that something dies so that we may live. Deal with it.

Are we children, that we cannot accept the facts of life? We eat meat, eggs and dairy. We clothe ourselves with leather and wool. We raise animals for food, and animals do not live forever...nor do we. Along with becoming an adult with an adult mindset, should come the realization that, just because we do not see or do the actual killing, animals are being killed nonetheless. Do we imagine they are being treated humanely and killed humanely.... as we are eating their flesh with much gusto? They most often are not.

When does one finally get enough honesty about their own integrity and intelligence to realize that we are all taking part in the cycle of living and dying of the animals? It should be when we finally grow up and accept the truth in life. This is something we all need to examine about our own characters and what we know of ourselves...do you want to continue fooling yourself and others that you are more "compassionate" because you don't do the actual killing? For some reason you have this sense of feeling more soft-hearted and loving than those who can kill the animals...is it justified? Or an untruth you tell yourself so that you will not have to accept the facts of this life?

Turkeys do not appear like magic on Thanksgiving, all wrapped with their necks and organs tucked neatly inside them just for our eating pleasure. Bacon? It was once the cutest little pink piglet you ever saw...they truly are sweet to see when they are born! The chicken breasts under that cellophane in the store was raised in the most inhumane conditions one can imagine and so was that turkey and bacon...but if you don't think about it, it still tastes wonderful, doesn't it?

If you ever wonder how in the world others can kill their chickens and you cannot...please examine what goes on in your mind. Truthfully and honestly in the full, glaring light of day...are you lying to yourself because it feels better than seeing the truth? It's not a world divided into those who can kill an animal for food and those who simply cannot...it is a world divided into those who WILL and those who WILL NOT. The will is the important part to focus upon. Nothing is keeping you from the final act of growing up and facing the facts in this life except your own will.

In the end, both groups of people are eating the results of that killing~ but one group is showing strength and integrity in the innermost parts of their hearts and minds by taking responsibility for what they consume.


ETA: I just wanted to add something here and I don't know how to say it but I feel it must be said. I reread this post and it sounds so judgemental if you are standing on the opposite side of this viewpoint. I am sorry to sound that way and it was not my intention. I'm merely showing how my mind worked and how it got to this conclusion...how I moved from someone who cannot kill an animal into someone who can.

I don't mean it to be a statement or judgement on others but when someone asks me how they can move from one viewpoint into another, it is the only way I know to tell them.

Of course, in the end, we can only do what we feel is right in the eyes of God and within our own consciences in this life and that is sometimes different for all people. I am sorry if this sounded like I don't respect those who will not kill an animal for food. I'm not saying that..I'm merely saying how I had to examine my own mind to get to where I am today on this issue.

 

[armorfirelady]

I was contacted via PM by a dear, sweet lady who wanted to know about how to get to the place where you can kill one of your chickens. I'll try to say this in a way that, I hope, doesn't offend but is just my personal belief on it and how I process it in my mind so that I have the resolve to do the deed. This might take just a bit because it's no easy thing to describe how one makes the transition from someone who has never killed to someone who feels like it is not only a good thing but it's necessary. I apologize in advance for my brutal honesty on this subject but it simply must be said.

When I first started out killing animals for food, I was 10 years old and my mother needed help. My other sisters "couldn't do it" and so I was the one that helped. I don't know why my parents didn't insist on their helping, though they did insist on them helping with the actual plucking and processing of the killed animal. I don't know why I didn't try to get out of the work like my sisters but I simply knew that Mom needed help and who would help her if I did not? Dad and brothers were off doing "man stuff" and killing small livestock was not in the realm of "man stuff" back in those days.

So, I guess that first killing of the animals was born out of compassion for my mother out there struggling to do it by herself. If you've ever tried to hold a chicken, duck or turkey's head down on a chopping block and then also swing the axe, you will know what an undertaking it can be...even with the nails positioned so as to hold the head. They have a way of squirming out of every devised way of holding them so that the axe hits the mark inaccurately. Not a good thing.

I felt very grown up and responsible because I was helping do this job and my older sisters were not capable of it. Maybe that's where it all begins..who knows? My sisters never did grow up in that respect and to this day will gladly eat the flesh of the animals they say they love too much to kill, but still claim they cannot do the killing. More on that concept a little farther down the page.

As an adult, I came to find out that life presents us with many opportunities to develop who we are on the inside and in private, when no one is looking. I was always one that wanted my outsides to match my insides...in other words, I prized honesty and hoped to strive for it. I found it to be an honorable characteristic to have, so there was very little that I hid or did in private that I wouldn't do out in public as well. Sometimes that was good, sometimes not so good!

When I had children this became even more important to me. Who was I? Really. Children see so much and I wanted them to see only the best in me, so I tried even harder to develop my character into something that I wouldn't have to hide or be ashamed of. It's been a long journey and I'm still working on it...who isn't? But the basic principles of honor, courage, fairness, wisdom, compassion, determination and resolve are things for which I have always held in high regard and wished for my children as well.

As I grew in my life I came to understand that the world view had shifted in some crazy way about the meaning of "compassion" and it somehow had gotten skewed. The same people who left their mother in a nursing home and rarely ever visited, even when they lived nearby, were the same people who bragged about how many animals they "rescued".

The same people who treated their kids like dogs seemed to be the same ones who treated their dogs like humans.

The same country that had no-kill animal shelters and big events to raise money for saving animals also had abortion clinics in which tiny babies were murdered. It's hard to wrap my mind around that kind of thinking but it is now commonplace and anyone who doesn't go along with it is harassed at work, by their neighbors, by the media, by people on forums and social media. There is big pressure to go along with this perverse way of viewing compassion and love in the world.

I've never been one to give into peer pressure or any other sort. I'm an individual with my own sense of right or wrong and I don't wait for the rest of the world to tell me what is right...I have a guide to that. God was the first to kill animals on this Earth and He did it merely to clothe the shame of Adam and Eve. How can I consider myself more "compassionate" even than God? I don't. God knew that man would need to eat and have clothing after his fall from grace..it was our own sin that necessitated that state of being. Sorry but there it is. Now it's necessary that something dies so that we may live. Deal with it.

Are we children, that we cannot accept the facts of life? We eat meat, eggs and dairy. We clothe ourselves with leather and wool. We raise animals for food, and animals do not live forever...nor do we. Along with becoming an adult with an adult mindset, should come the realization that, just because we do not see or do the actual killing, animals are being killed nonetheless. Do we imagine they are being treated humanely and killed humanely.... as we are eating their flesh with much gusto? They most often are not.

When does one finally get enough honesty about their own integrity and intelligence to realize that we are all taking part in the cycle of living and dying of the animals? It should be when we finally grow up and accept the truth in life. This is something we all need to examine about our own characters and what we know of ourselves...do you want to continue fooling yourself and others that you are more "compassionate" because you don't do the actual killing? For some reason you have this sense of feeling more soft-hearted and loving than those who can kill the animals...is it justified? Or an untruth you tell yourself so that you will not have to accept the facts of this life?

Turkeys do not appear like magic on Thanksgiving, all wrapped with their necks and organs tucked neatly inside them just for our eating pleasure. Bacon? It was once the cutest little pink piglet you ever saw...they truly are sweet to see when they are born! The chicken breasts under that cellophane in the store was raised in the most inhumane conditions one can imagine and so was that turkey and bacon...but if you don't think about it, it still tastes wonderful, doesn't it?

If you ever wonder how in the world others can kill their chickens and you cannot...please examine what goes on in your mind. Truthfully and honestly in the full, glaring light of day...are you lying to yourself because it feels better than seeing the truth? It's not a world divided into those who can kill an animal for food and those who simply cannot...it is a world divided into those who WILL and those who WILL NOT. The will is the important part to focus upon. Nothing is keeping you from the final act of growing up and facing the facts in this life except your own will.

In the end, both groups of people are eating the results of that killing~ but one group is showing strength and integrity in the innermost parts of their hearts and minds by taking responsibility for what they consume.

Very well said Bee. Thank you

 

[Beekissed]

Thank goodness someone said something! I was starting to think they were tying the ropes and heading up the posse to come over here and lynch me...

Truly, I don't often voice strong opinions unless someone asks or brings up the subject...so be careful what you ask me. I will tell it like I see it.

 

[jlynnet]

Great post Bee! We had a guinea pig that was sick a couple of years ago. I decided to take her to a vet. We found out she had tumors, I had the vet euthanize her. It wasn't fair to her to let her suffer. The best $20 I spent! The vet even mailed my boys a sympathy card. My husband thought I was nuts for taking her. He's not a real animal person.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thank goodness someone said something! I was starting to think they were tying the ropes and heading up the posse to come over here and lynch me...

Truly, I don't often voice strong opinions unless someone asks or brings up the subject...so be careful what you ask me. I will tell it like I see it.

Well I've been at work so can't do a lot of commenting in the mornings!

I've never had to kill an animal yet. I'm reading about it, watching videos about it, and preparing for it. I don't think I'll like it...but I do think I'll do it. I think that when I do, I'll have a much greater awareness of being thankful for what I'm eating in a different way. I even think that if I shipped my birds off to someone else to do the deed I'd still have a much greater appreciation for the food - and more of a connection if you will. I'm kind-of grasping at words to express what I mean there.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Very eloquently said Bee. I think a majority of us on here are carnivores, and as carnivores I think it is a heady lesson to understand the process in which that meat is brought to the table. Because many only see the overly large chicken breasts in the cellophane, we have been removed so far from that process that we don't respect that this animal was a breathing viable creature.

I am an animal lover. I probably dole on my chickens more than I should. I have a labrador that sleeps on her back on the family couch every night just like she's a human sometimes I swear!

Sometimes my kids are so naughty that they do get yelled at more than the dog or treated as such. (My daughter has came right out and accused me of this! LOL) But in those moments when your kids correct you, listen to what they say. Re-examine your priorities. I loved reading your post because you put it out there for people to examine what they value.

I'm new to chicken keeping this year. I lived on a farm my very early years...moving away when I was 8 years old. I have flashes of images of a chicken butchering day there. My impression was made early I guess. And it was just, that these are the facts of life. I think My grandparents that were present, My Mom and Dad-- they showed those animals so much care and respect while they lived and gave them respectful deaths...that the butchering part was not.....horrible, ya know?

So when I had too many roosters in my backyard flock of 9. I steeled myself and knew which one it had to be: The one that chased the hens beyond their tolerances and didn't watch out for predators. The one that had them up on the coop roof on 80-90 degree day all day when they needed to be down eating and drinking water. The one that had himself so alienated that the others would just sneak away from him and he'd be left by himself a good part of the day...this was not good for him either. It's been my first and only culling. I didn't care for the job, although I knew it had to be done. I think the next one will be easier when I do it. I didn't want to sell or give him to somebody who might not take care of him the way I did. I didn't want somebody else to cull him and screw up. That's where I had "to go" to be able to do this ...as a newbie anyways.

And then there was this feeling afterward. That as a person eating meat, I fully understood what it is that I ingest, it was a life not to be taken lightly, but should be respected at all phases life and death. It can be alot to wrap your head around...but as a carnivore you owe those animals that.

Pretty breathy here I know but Just had to share my experience.

 

[Mumsy]

I share many of the same views about butchering. Raise animals humanely and when it's time to kill them, do it so that they do not realize it's happening. That's how I was raised on the farm and that's how I raise my animals. They are animals. They are not people, no matter if they live with you in your house or out in the barn with cutesy names. They are animals. They deserve humane treatment. Whether you plan to eat them or keep them as pets.


~~~~~
Update on the mite and anemia situation with Johnny! I held him up to the light, put on my strongest reading glasses and examined him stem to stern. NO MITES! Not one! I am so thrilled.

I gave him another dusting of wood ash and applied the Nu stock to the bare skin and feathers around his vent for good measure.
His whole body is coming in with new pin feathers. He is going to be filled out soon. The Production pullets will be brought home next weekend.
The mites are gone! Thanks to the advice learned from Bee here on this thread. He is still loving his FF and Johnny Cakes too.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Exactly this! We are charged with stewardship over these animals. I take it seriously and all the way to their deaths. I strive that they have as normal a life as possible while they are here. That they are comfortable, sheltered, fed appropriately and enjoy natural good health. Then that they die quickly and are purposed for what they are here for...as food.

 

[Beekissed]

I share many of the same views about butchering. Raise animals humanely and when it's time to kill them, do it so that they do not realize it's happening. That's how I was raised on the farm and that's how I raise my animals. They are animals. They are not people, no matter if they live with you in your house or out in the barn with cutesy names. They are animals. They deserve humane treatment. Whether you plan to eat them or keep them as pets.


~~~~~
Update on the mite and anemia situation with Johnny! I held him up to the light, put on my strongest reading glasses and examined him stem to stern. NO MITES! Not one! I am so thrilled.

I gave him another dusting of wood ash and applied the Nu stock to the bare skin and feathers around his vent for good measure.
His whole body is coming in with new pin feathers. He is going to be filled out soon. The Production pullets will be brought home next weekend.
The mites are gone! Thanks to the advice learned from Bee here on this thread. He is still loving his FF and Johnny Cakes too.

Another victory over the blood suckers of the world! YaY!!! Of course, we will be expecting pics as he starts to bloom into his former self....