Well this is a loaded question and will bring anger to many many people so I applaud everyone on keeping it civil.
We also raise and hatch chicks for both replacements and for eating. We have friends who don't have the space and also give us many of their cockerals to grow out and eventually eat. When we order chicks (which mostly we hatch our own) but when we do we almost completely order straight run.
Like some other have said we believe in Ethical Meat (a good book on the subject is by Meredith Leigh). Basically the idea of ethical meat for those who don't know is just because an animal is meant for meat doesn't mean it shouldn't have a good fulfilling life treated with kindness and respect and a kind quick and as gentle of an end as possible.
Before chickens I had never processed or killed anything. Although as a child I did help my father scale fish. I was an extremely sensitive child despite growing up on a small farmette. I was familiar with loss from a young age but didn't handle the thought of processing animals we raised. My father and brothers were avid hunters and while I enjoyed venison I hated that something so beautiful died.
Fast forward I'm a young adult now. I know how commercial food is raised and to be frank I hate it. Humans have changed so much about each animal wevew come into contact with. I also must admit I dislike the massive dairies where cattle never get to feel the sun or the grass beneath their hooves.
Part of our answer to this is to raise our own chickens and eventually pork and beef. We have added quail and are also planning on ducks and lrobprob rabbits. We are also discussing doing some aquaponicw and raising our own trout.
Now back to the topic at hand.
First and foremost cockerals and roosters can be wonderful but they can also be awful aggressive creatures. Anyone who has ever been attacked by a bird they raised and trusted knows the feeling I'm sure. It makes it easier to think about processing them. It's also easier to think about processing a gang of cockerals when they're throttling pullets or forcefully mounting and flogging each other.
We hatch and raise cockerals. They free range with the flock until they become a problem or we have the time to process them(weather is often a factor). When/if they become a problem they are penned in a bachelor group and allowed to continue growing. These bachelor groups may be in a tractor coop for foraging or in a couple of other pens. If inside they of course have access to feed on demand. Our foragers we tend to feed less to encourage foraging but hey don't go hungry. We generally only have 1 bachelor group but may have 2.
Bachelor groups can be great and for some people are a permanent option but bachelors are quite feisty and will still fight over pecking order. We have had to pull a number of cockerals and even fully grown roosters from bachelor groups as the others had suddenly risen up and either tried to kill the one or keep them from food and water. It's never fun when your birds are bloody. This can also make it easier to think about culling. For us keeping 40-50 roosters permanently isn't an option. We can't afford the feed, don't have the space, and if let out the bachelors will pester and try to force breeding upon the hens.
I'm lucky enough to have a DH2B that does the killing part but it's something I want to learn and be able to do.
Killing them isn't easy I don't think it ever should be. There are jerks that it's easier but it's still taking a life. We know that. We are respectful of that and grateful to them. It gives them a purpose and it gives us pride. We know they had amazing lives and we know they had a quick calm loving end.
We process here on the farm and that also means they never get boxed up and shipped they never get moved and know that fear or panic. All of these things are not good for the bird but also translate to the meat we receive from them.
Many people find it very very difficult to even give away extra cockerals because there's just a surplus and so many people think they're not worth it. Not everyone can own roosters.
We have some neighbors that love our chickens etc and some friends that also raise birds. The neighbor found out we process out our extra birds and was appalled. She looked at us and said "How could you kill an animal you hatched and raised?" Our friend's child will eat a chicken but refuses the meat of the birds they raise. Yet both of those people willingly go to the store and buy/eat commercially farmed birds that live in a fully controlled environment for their 8 week lives. An environment that is only ever cleaned in between batches of thousands upon thousands of birds. An environment where they never get to feel a fresh breeze or the sun or grass beneath their feet. How can anyone think that it's better to have a nameless faceless bird live a horrible existence for them so they don't have to feel guilty because they killed something they raised.
So here's the simple truth, the simple answer. Its not always easy and sometimes it's surprisingly hard. We do have birds that have become pets and will never be eaten, if for any reason they are ever suffering their end will be quick and they will be buried as a pet. We call them our lifers because unless they are suffering they will live out their natural lives here. That being said most of our birds are not lifers. Eventually they will be processed not because we're cold or unfeeling but because everything has an end and everything has a purpose. A tree must die and fall in the dense forest to clear a spot on the ground for the sun to shine down and help a sapling to grow. By keeping the best and healthiest birds we do the same thing. On top of that if we kept every bird we raised we would very quickly not be able to keep up with feed and cleanliness. The birds could get injured by all the spare cockerals and there would be no peace from all the fighting over the pecking order. It would be total anarchy. On top of all of this we raise them so that we know they have wonderful lives and their ends are done with kindness. We know what we feed them what their days are like and we know in turn what goes into our bodies.
There are people in this world and you would be amazed at how many that believe their pretty packages of meat from the store are made in the back or in a factory somewhere and that it didn't come from an animal that died. It's sad but true people of all ages really believe that.
We also raise and hatch chicks for both replacements and for eating. We have friends who don't have the space and also give us many of their cockerals to grow out and eventually eat. When we order chicks (which mostly we hatch our own) but when we do we almost completely order straight run.
Like some other have said we believe in Ethical Meat (a good book on the subject is by Meredith Leigh). Basically the idea of ethical meat for those who don't know is just because an animal is meant for meat doesn't mean it shouldn't have a good fulfilling life treated with kindness and respect and a kind quick and as gentle of an end as possible.
Before chickens I had never processed or killed anything. Although as a child I did help my father scale fish. I was an extremely sensitive child despite growing up on a small farmette. I was familiar with loss from a young age but didn't handle the thought of processing animals we raised. My father and brothers were avid hunters and while I enjoyed venison I hated that something so beautiful died.
Fast forward I'm a young adult now. I know how commercial food is raised and to be frank I hate it. Humans have changed so much about each animal wevew come into contact with. I also must admit I dislike the massive dairies where cattle never get to feel the sun or the grass beneath their hooves.
Part of our answer to this is to raise our own chickens and eventually pork and beef. We have added quail and are also planning on ducks and lrobprob rabbits. We are also discussing doing some aquaponicw and raising our own trout.
Now back to the topic at hand.
First and foremost cockerals and roosters can be wonderful but they can also be awful aggressive creatures. Anyone who has ever been attacked by a bird they raised and trusted knows the feeling I'm sure. It makes it easier to think about processing them. It's also easier to think about processing a gang of cockerals when they're throttling pullets or forcefully mounting and flogging each other.
We hatch and raise cockerals. They free range with the flock until they become a problem or we have the time to process them(weather is often a factor). When/if they become a problem they are penned in a bachelor group and allowed to continue growing. These bachelor groups may be in a tractor coop for foraging or in a couple of other pens. If inside they of course have access to feed on demand. Our foragers we tend to feed less to encourage foraging but hey don't go hungry. We generally only have 1 bachelor group but may have 2.
Bachelor groups can be great and for some people are a permanent option but bachelors are quite feisty and will still fight over pecking order. We have had to pull a number of cockerals and even fully grown roosters from bachelor groups as the others had suddenly risen up and either tried to kill the one or keep them from food and water. It's never fun when your birds are bloody. This can also make it easier to think about culling. For us keeping 40-50 roosters permanently isn't an option. We can't afford the feed, don't have the space, and if let out the bachelors will pester and try to force breeding upon the hens.
I'm lucky enough to have a DH2B that does the killing part but it's something I want to learn and be able to do.
Killing them isn't easy I don't think it ever should be. There are jerks that it's easier but it's still taking a life. We know that. We are respectful of that and grateful to them. It gives them a purpose and it gives us pride. We know they had amazing lives and we know they had a quick calm loving end.
We process here on the farm and that also means they never get boxed up and shipped they never get moved and know that fear or panic. All of these things are not good for the bird but also translate to the meat we receive from them.
Many people find it very very difficult to even give away extra cockerals because there's just a surplus and so many people think they're not worth it. Not everyone can own roosters.
We have some neighbors that love our chickens etc and some friends that also raise birds. The neighbor found out we process out our extra birds and was appalled. She looked at us and said "How could you kill an animal you hatched and raised?" Our friend's child will eat a chicken but refuses the meat of the birds they raise. Yet both of those people willingly go to the store and buy/eat commercially farmed birds that live in a fully controlled environment for their 8 week lives. An environment that is only ever cleaned in between batches of thousands upon thousands of birds. An environment where they never get to feel a fresh breeze or the sun or grass beneath their feet. How can anyone think that it's better to have a nameless faceless bird live a horrible existence for them so they don't have to feel guilty because they killed something they raised.
So here's the simple truth, the simple answer. Its not always easy and sometimes it's surprisingly hard. We do have birds that have become pets and will never be eaten, if for any reason they are ever suffering their end will be quick and they will be buried as a pet. We call them our lifers because unless they are suffering they will live out their natural lives here. That being said most of our birds are not lifers. Eventually they will be processed not because we're cold or unfeeling but because everything has an end and everything has a purpose. A tree must die and fall in the dense forest to clear a spot on the ground for the sun to shine down and help a sapling to grow. By keeping the best and healthiest birds we do the same thing. On top of that if we kept every bird we raised we would very quickly not be able to keep up with feed and cleanliness. The birds could get injured by all the spare cockerals and there would be no peace from all the fighting over the pecking order. It would be total anarchy. On top of all of this we raise them so that we know they have wonderful lives and their ends are done with kindness. We know what we feed them what their days are like and we know in turn what goes into our bodies.
There are people in this world and you would be amazed at how many that believe their pretty packages of meat from the store are made in the back or in a factory somewhere and that it didn't come from an animal that died. It's sad but true people of all ages really believe that.
