They Don't Want to Be Eaten!

[jnntefend]

So, I am introducing my six year old to the chicks, and explaining that some will be for laying eggs and some will be for meat.

"So, are you going to be OK with eating these chickens when they grow up?" (just testing the waters here)
"Ummmm... I don't think so..."
"OK. Why not?"
"Well, I don't think they want to be eaten." (he looks at me like I am stupid)

Blink blink....

OK, this is going to take some time, I can tell



*Added Later* I said this a little further down, when the idea hit me, but does anyone else have a cute story about their kids interacting with their chickens or with the food chain? I think it would make a fun thread.

 

[swift4me]

I'm amazed at the need to jump through hoops about an issue like this.

I'm not saying you should drag your child and his favorite hen out to the shed and have at it, but you can talk to your child on a serious basis about eating and things living or dying. If you can't talk about something as simple as that to a child, how can you really talk to them about serious issues like sex, drugs, drinking, debt, personal responsibility when they are older.

If you teach them when they are young, they will be miles ahead of the rest of the mindless "anything goes" kids they grow up around these days who do little but look at their smartphones waiting for the next redeeming text from a "friend".

When I trap here, and I get a fox that had been killing chickens at a local farm, the kids come out and clap and yell. When a pig or a lamb gets slaughtered, they aren't forced to be there, but they hang out for a while to watch... no big deal. They know where their food comes from.

Dare to be different.

Pete

 

[QuietPony]

I'm afraid my 6 year old daughter would react the same way. lol
We are starting our flock this year with layers, as she loves omnomnomlettes.
I say, give him time to process the thought of eating them and have another talk in awhile which you remind him that these kind of birds just don't live very long. That it's almost like their job to get fat quick and sacrifice themselves for our dinner table.

Then when the time is right, cook those suckers up and dine on them with or without the kid. lol
Good luck

 

[jnntefend]

I'm afraid my 6 year old daughter would react the same way. lol
We are starting our flock this year with layers, as she loves omnomnomlettes.
I say, give him time to process the thought of eating them and have another talk in awhile which you remind him that these kind of birds just don't live very long. That it's almost like their job to get fat quick and sacrifice themselves for our dinner table.

Then when the time is right, cook those suckers up and dine on them with or without the kid. lol
Good luck

Yes, My son can't wait to eat the eggs from the RIRs we got for laying birds. omnomnomlettes is amazing. Such a fun word.

 

[ellie32526]

So, I am introducing my six year old to the chicks, and explaining that some will be for laying eggs and some will be for meat.

"So, are you going to be OK with eating these chickens when they grow up?" (just testing the waters here)
"Ummmm... I don't think so..."
"OK. Why not?"
"Well, I don't think they want to be eaten." (he looks at me like I am stupid)

Blink blink....

OK, this is going to take some time, I can tell

LOL, how cute! He does have a point, but...

 

[roostersandhens]

I agree with ure 6 year old! Your 6 year old is really smart. THEY DONT WANT TO BE EATEN! Sorry to say it but he is kinda right

 

[roostersandhens]

I am sure I am not helping the issue but YOUR 6 YEAR OLD IS RIGHT!
GO VEGAN!

 

[jnntefend]

LOL. thanks. But then, what the heck would we do with these useless Cornish Rocks?

 

[jnntefend]

Darn it all to... am I allowed to say heck?

 

[cassie]

I am sure I am not helping the issue but YOUR 6 YEAR OLD IS RIGHT!
GO VEGAN!

If I did that, I wouldn't be able to afford to keep any chickens or other livestock. Extending the rules necessary to exist in our society to your animals is a little like communism. You know, from each acccording to his ability and to each according to his need. Both ideas sound great. They just don't work. In nature, some critters (most actually) end up as somebody's dinner. At my place it is the same. I feed and care for my chickens and livestock, and, of necessity, some of them end up on my dinner table. That pays for the feed and housing for the rest of them. What would you suggest the OP do with her meat chickens? Make compost out of them? That might help her to raise more and bigger vegetables, but it wouldn't help either her budget or the chickens at all.