Vegetarian?

[lauralou]

No, not vegetarian. I love meat. I even eat my extra roosters. I do try to rehome them, unless they are aggressive.

However, I can't imagine eating one of my hens.

Roosters are food, hens are pets.

 

[dwp]

I've been a vegetarian for 30 years. My family are not so I do cook for them but it must be store bought and it is very hard for me. Gradually I have gotten them to about 50/50 veggie. I can't kill one of my chickens and I know I will never be able to do so. I remember growing up and seeing my aunt kill chickens and I have never gotten over it. I was 5 years old. I have been called a bleeding heart liberal and several other derogatory terms, but after looking into the eyes of one of my special chickens, or the big brown eyes of one of the calves, I know I will never change. Don't feel bad because you are just relating to these special creatures.

I am not unrealistic and understand man's carnivorous base, but it just isn't for me. Maybe if everyone kept chickens......

 

[JENx]

Thanks everyone, the views are really interesting!!

There's no way i could eat our chickens and yet i would rather eat a chicken i know has had a good life, it's tricky! I only buy free range but even that's not what i'd call free range.

We don't eat that much meat since the kids are veggie. I hope i get my head round it!!

 

[The Zoo]

The day I brought home my first girls last year is the day I went vegetarian (true veg, no meat at all). It was about the same time when there was all the press about the slaughter houses killing ill animals and how they used cattle prods to get them to slaughter, even the animals that couldn't walk. Was one of the easiest decisions I've made. Even an animal that's been raised on pasture still has to go to a slaughter house - I have no desire to be part of that.

I've been veg for over a year now and I've had no cravings at all. I used to love bacon - now I just think about how most pigs are kept in little cages where they can't move, bred and slaughtered and the thought makes me ill.

I won't buy meat and I won't cook it and so my husband usually ends up ordering meat at a restaurant when he wants something BUT he won't eat chicken or anything made with chicken

That said we will be deep frying 2 turkeys this Thanksgiving in front of the chicken coop, people ask me what the chickens will think of that and my response is that they'll probably ask for a bite.

 

[Warfrost]

We have some of our girls set aside for eggs and breeding, and since they are dual purpose birds(Ameraucanas) their offspring will eventually be our broilers. I have always been omnivorous, and I really think that an animal you raise and care for yourself is far better for you than any factory raised animal. You know where that animal has been, how happy a life it had, and what it ate...what could be better? As long as it is not made to suffer, even at the end, I see nothing wrong with eating what you grow.

 

[SproutGirl]

I guess I did the opposite of what you asked. I was a vegetarian for 12 years. Then, I started keeping chickens and working at a farmer's market selling produce. I met a lot of ranchers. Now, I eat meat. But I only eat animals if I knew them or if I knew who raised them. I won't eat an anonymous hamburger at a fast food restaurant or a piece of grocery store chicken.