Two late hatchers...when to help?

[AmyLynn2374]

Amy, I know you were not talking to me...I am just going to state my position.

Just because I raise my birds for commercial purposes doesn't mean I devalue their lives, I probably respect them more than many people who raise them for pets.

While their lives are in my hands, they are treated humanely and if euthanizing is necessary, it's done. I had to put down my beautiful, hand raised, son of Porter's Narragansett tom, my firstborn and all time favorite turkey, by putting a pellet into his head after a dog mauled him. When my layer hens are laid out (production reds lay well for about a year and a half) I sell them. If I can find backyard chicken keepers to buy them, that has a "warm and fuzzy" feeling...yet if I sell them to someone who wants to butcher them for soup, that is also a responsible option as though their lives may be shortened, they will still be useful.

It's hard to cull a crippled chick, but sometimes it's the right thing to do. I've also gone through extreme measures trying to save birds with no chance of survival. I have kept "useless" birds around because I liked them, like a couple of six year old Ameraucana hens that were past laying, but they were the flock grandmothers and instructed many new batches of youngsters on how to use nest boxes.

I may be inconsistent, but even with my commercial poultry aspect, I still have my soft side.

I totaly agree when it comes to an animal suffering, the most humane thing is to put them down. And I wasn't implying that all people in the business aspect devalue animals, but that I understand to be successful you have to seperate your emotion with logic and reason, however many of us are not in the chicken raising for the aspect of business and to us, they have more value than the aspect of what can be made off from them, and are willing to take on an animal solely so that they may live. I had to come to terms with the fact that a good share of the "unwanted" roos would become someone's supper, (sure as heck not mine), if I was going to hatch and raise chicks. I just don't want to know. I want to be left in my blind naive world where the meat I eat came from the supermarket, and didn't have a face...lol

 

[WalnutHill]

I totaly agree when it comes to an animal suffering, the most humane thing is to put them down. And I wasn't implying that all people in the business aspect devalue animals, but that I understand to be successful you have to seperate your emotion with logic and reason, however many of us are not in the chicken raising for the aspect of business and to us, they have more value than the aspect of what can be made off from them, and are willing to take on an animal solely so that they may live. I had to come to terms with the fact that a good share of the "unwanted" roos would become someone's supper, (sure as heck not mine), if I was going to hatch and raise chicks. I just don't want to know. I want to be left in my blind naive world where the meat I eat came from the supermarket, and didn't have a face...lol

Ah...well...I DO raise birds specifically for meat. I do sell surplus cockerels AND hens for meat. But I am trying to wean myself off of homegrown Cornish X walking bags of meat and maybe adopt Midget White turkeys as my Sunday dinner bird. It won't take quite as many wings to make a nice snack, either!

That has nothing at all to do with the commercial aspect, it's that I do like to know where my food came from and how it was raised. DIY food is the best.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Ah...well...I DO raise birds specifically for meat. I do sell surplus cockerels AND hens for meat. But I am trying to wean myself off of homegrown Cornish X walking bags of meat and maybe adopt Midget White turkeys as my Sunday dinner bird. It won't take quite as many wings to make a nice snack, either!

That has nothing at all to do with the commercial aspect, it's that I do like to know where my food came from and how it was raised. DIY food is the best.

I don't want to know. I'm one of those people if I get lost in the woods and there is no fruit trees or berries, I'm a goner!! I'm not a big meat eater and can not eat anything off a bone. IF I've met it, I'm not eating it...lol And I have had farm fresh meat and do not like it. I grew up on commercial store bought with all that extra crap that is going to kill ya in it and nothing else tastes right. Now farm fresh eggs I do prefer...lol

 

[WalnutHill]

I don't want to know. I'm one of those people if I get lost in the woods and there is no fruit trees or berries, I'm a goner!! I'm not a big meat eater and can not eat anything off a bone. IF I've met it, I'm not eating it...lol And I have had farm fresh meat and do not like it. I grew up on commercial store bought with all that extra crap that is going to kill ya in it and nothing else tastes right. Now farm fresh eggs I do prefer...lol

I respect that. But I won't promise to try to understand it!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I respect that. But I won't promise to try to understand it!

LOL

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I was one of those kids that tried to save every hurt animal that came across my path and then cried for two hours after they died. (I did manage to save a couple.) Every year I rescued the tadpoles in the creek behind my house when it started drying out and raised them in an aquarium until they grew into frogs and the creek had water in it again and I could let them go. I even had a frog friend in the creek...lol I kid you not. (I was raised like an only child by parents that were older, can you tell??? lol) There's not an animal I wouldn't pick up or was afraid of. (Not counting insects and arachnids....lol) Not the easiest person to be understood...lol

 

[WalnutHill]

I was one of those kids that tried to save every hurt animal that came across my path and then cried for two hours after they died. (I did manage to save a couple.) Every year I rescued the tadpoles in the creek behind my house when it started drying out and raised them in an aquarium until they grew into frogs and the creek had water in it again and I could let them go. I even had a frog friend in the creek...lol I kid you not. (I was raised like an only child by parents that were older, can you tell??? lol) There's not an animal I wouldn't pick up or was afraid of. (Not counting insects and arachnids....lol) Not the easiest person to be understood...lol

I grew up the same way, roaming the fields and woods learning about how things live. But I also learned how things died, and what made them tick. And I really like the way many of them taste...

I always had pet frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, fish, horses, ponies, cattle, and chickens, a wolf spider, and endless praying mantises and walking sticks. The beef was to eat...the chickens for eggs and meat. All part of the circle of life, I stand in the middle and harvest a bit.

 

[Titanpaul726]

...

I grew up the same way, roaming the fields and woods learning about how things live.  But I also learned how things died, and what made them tick.  And I really like the way many of them taste...

I always had pet frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, fish, horses, ponies, cattle, and chickens, a wolf spider, and endless praying mantises and walking sticks.  The beef was to eat...the chickens for eggs and meat.  All part of the circle of life, I stand in the middle and harvest a bit.
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Same here. Knowing where my food comes from is important to me nowadays. Wild game, chickens, hogs and beef raised on my own place are a healthier way to eat in my opinion. Kind of a self reliance thing that's appealing to me.

 

[WalnutHill]

I wish I could raise beef. I wouldn't mind buying the hogs. There's something about a hog that just doesn't appeal to me until it's meat.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh there's no question it's healthier.