Unofficial poll: Do you name birds you plan to eat someday?

[Quail 66]

Well odd or not, we get it. There’s a special sense (of joy? respect? I don’t know) in seeing tribute paid to an animal well raised and cared for that goes on to be a good meal.

My mother used to name their chickens. She said that my grandmother exchanged chickens every Sunday with the neighbors so she wouldn't cry. Who knows if it's true. So pity I don't have a picture of my grandmother at her garden. You get nostalgic the more you get older. She survived 2 wars and the German occupation. She knew how to make something out of nothing.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

She knew how to make something out of nothing.

She was making friends out of neighbors with that trade.

 

[MarkJr]

My pride is the fact that all my animals live the healthiest, best life I can possibly give them.
Their end is abrupt and stress free as possible. The cattle are dispatched over their favorite bucket of grain. Chickens are typically taken off the roost before daylight, or dispatched with a clean head shot, etc etc.

Life has a cycle. The quality of protein these animals provide me makes me want to improve on what I can do for future generations.

 

[Ringcraft]

I don't need to name my birds to recognize them as individuals and care about their wellbeing. Seems like an unnecessary step.

 

[svh]

Unfortunately there’s more than a few city adults who seem to think the meat they buy was born under plastic wrap.

That reminds me of this .....

 

[OmnipotentOrpington]

I mean, maybe this will change if I ever get more chickens, but I dote upon all of our chickens. They have names, nicknames, recognizable personalities and everything in between. Again, maybe it's because we only have three of them, but we love those ladies as much as we loved our old dog.

 

[SBFChickenGirl]

We have broilers for meat. They get a food-related group name. Or a nickname.
- C-monsters
- Dinos
- Frankenchickens
- Drumstick
- Etc.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

We never name our meat birds... well except Stumpy. He walked on the joint of his leg with the foot out behind him. He wasn't suffering and never seemed to be in any pain, just a sweet little happy Cornish x. I've never culled or killed any animal. We named him more to take away our pain of seeing him like that...anyways...

I used to 'call' my cockerels Stu, also for myself because I planned to process them and eat them... yah that didn't happen. The real Stu is living a happy life with lots of space to free range with a handful of girls to take care of, and on Tuesday I brought the other Stu's to a poultry farmer who will process them and enjoy them.

 

[Sally PB]

Since this is my first foray into having chickens, I couldn't not name them. Yes, I had to cull two excess cockerels, and realize I'll probably have to cull more in the future. I didn't eat them, though I might eat some of my birds in the future. And I probably will continue to name them.

 

[Morrigan]

I try not to name my chickens. Sometimes it happens anyway as a descriptive way of referring to a chicken morphs into a true name. Hence we have Gimpy, Big Red, Mean Whitey and Pumpkin Rock. Once they've acquired a name, I tend to start finding reasons not to butcher them and most eventually wiggle their way into something closer to pet status then livestock status.