"Why we have Chickens" Poll comment

[Olive Hill]

I would also suspect it's only a small part of the BYC community that has voted -- I didn't even know a poll existed.

We have raised meat birds for years and I can think of about 100 reasons people would not raise them. In a nutshell, they're repulsive. They're lazy, stinky, stupid, PITAs. We started out raising them for us. And then for us and family. And then for us and family and friends. And then for us, family, friends and friends of friends. And then suddenly we have people from an hour away in the city who don't even know us through the grape vine calling for chickens. And we NEVER advertised one bit beyond sending an email to family and friends to take orders each spring.

Even when I was raising a lesser number just for us, I never enjoyed the meat chickens. But as it got bigger and bigger it also became more and more a chore that I absolutely dreaded. We will probably raise the meat birds one more year as we transition, but have plans in place to do away with the breed entirely and move to one dual purpose flock rather than two separate flocks. We'll also no longer be taking orders for meat, what is available from the birds we have, is available -- and that's it. First come, first serve.


I also think a lot of people with children shy away from raising their own meat for the loss issue. Personally, I see no better place to prepare kids for death than on the farm. All our birds and livestock are named and loved and cared for by all family members, but we also know they're intended for the table and when the butchering time comes... so be it. Kids can learn a lot of valuable life lessons raising their own food if given the chance, I see no point in sheltering them. I've seen parents run to the big box store at midnight to replace a gold fish before a kid was to awake the next morning.

Are you kidding me? What happens when that kid goes to school and finds out one of his friends passed away the night before?

 

[Amethyste]

I would LOVE to have my own meat chickens. I plan on doing that one day. Howver convincing my husband of it is a different matter.

ATM where we are we just dont have space to put a good 15-30 meat chickens. I envy the people who can

One of these days we will be doing that. I already am planning to do a garden next year....maybe when we move to a bigger place we can do the meat chickens. Till then I have to be satisfied with the eggs.

I think its important for us to know where our meat comes from, and how it is treated personally. People today seem to shy away fomr knowing where our food comes from other than from the store, and its a bit sad in my eyes. At least I can say that my hens are a good bunch...well treated and happy, and they show that in having great tasting eggs

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
For those with limited space a small - medium dual purpose flock is a great option. It takes a couple of years to build a good one and get meat out of it, but it can be done and in a small area. They lay eggs for you and when they get older and production wanes, make a nice dinner. You simply keep chickens at all ages/stages coming up the ranks to replace those you butcher.

 

[fowltemptress]

It costs too much. I can not honestly say the satisfaction of knowing where my food came from and how it was raised can compare to my satisfaction in knowing I've saved enough to do something I've been looking forward to. If I didn't love chickens so much, I wouldn't keep them for eggs, either. That type of food is just too cheap to compete with.
I do eat spent hens and extra roosters, though.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

my dh keeps griping that it looks like it would cost to much to make it worth it to raise meaties.

so far i've only had 4 young cockerels processed by a local for me. but they were a dual purpose breed so they were around longer than the Cornish X or other meat breeds would be. these boys were getting very skittish and aggressive so i didn't want to re home them with anyone.

so far i would only do it on the aggressive birds and cockerels. though i keep saying i may just get a few next year to try them.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I am just wondering why someone is nuts because they do something different than you (and by the way I do not diaper my chickens)? And how are the results skewed if this is a poll on BYC? It seems to be an accurate representation of the BYC community, which is who the poll was created for, so you couldn't get a truer sample of the population.

Wow, I didn't think I posted anything controversial- a little sensetive are we? It's skewed because the original poster referenced the fact that on percent of AMERICANS keep chickens for meat, not speaking only about the BYC community. My point is that BYC doesn't necessarily represent ALL chicken owners on this subject when a MAJORITY of BYC'ers are keeping their birds as pets. And do we really need to be that PC? Do a poll on any street in America (not on BYC,) about a person who gives chickens the run of their house wearing diapers, and I'll bet the word "nuts" comes up a couple of times. Just like if I ran around in my yard naked, rubbing myself in poo, I would expect people NOT to just dismiss it as me expressing my individuality and freedom of choice.

 

[Amethyste]

Quote:
For those with limited space a small - medium dual purpose flock is a great option. It takes a couple of years to build a good one and get meat out of it, but it can be done and in a small area. They lay eggs for you and when they get older and production wanes, make a nice dinner. You simply keep chickens at all ages/stages coming up the ranks to replace those you butcher.

LOL oh i have that idea down... its just that we dont have much space. We ahve enough room for our 9 girls...more than that and the neighbours would complain, and my husband! I am slowly getting him used to the idea of "pets" vs "food", so I think in a few years he will be ok with it.

Ideally, one day we will live on a big lot where we can have more birds, then i get to do it. We already kind of were leaning towards the dual-purpose birds anyway. The cornish X seem a bit, well, freaky. I cant see that its a good life to stuff yourself senseless, to the point of not having a normal chicken life. I am idealistic I know, but personally, would rather have birds that got to have a good life with good food and sunshine, and doing normal bird activities. At least with the dual purpose ones, I can have ones that give us eggs as well and so on.

 

[moonlyghtegirl]

Quote:
Ditto (except I don't live in Cape Cod, and there are processors here)

 

[lauralou]

I voted in the poll. I don't raise meat birds. We do process and eat the odd extra cockerel from time to time. I always enjoy the meat, but the task is unpleasant. Highly unpleasant. The killing part, anyway. I can butcher anything once it's already dead. Been around hunting all my life...

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
For those with limited space a small - medium dual purpose flock is a great option. It takes a couple of years to build a good one and get meat out of it, but it can be done and in a small area. They lay eggs for you and when they get older and production wanes, make a nice dinner. You simply keep chickens at all ages/stages coming up the ranks to replace those you butcher.

LOL oh i have that idea down... its just that we dont have much space. We ahve enough room for our 9 girls...more than that and the neighbours would complain, and my husband! I am slowly getting him used to the idea of "pets" vs "food", so I think in a few years he will be ok with it.

Ideally, one day we will live on a big lot where we can have more birds, then i get to do it. We already kind of were leaning towards the dual-purpose birds anyway. The cornish X seem a bit, well, freaky. I cant see that its a good life to stuff yourself senseless, to the point of not having a normal chicken life. I am idealistic I know, but personally, would rather have birds that got to have a good life with good food and sunshine, and doing normal bird activities. At least with the dual purpose ones, I can have ones that give us eggs as well and so on.

Coming from someone with a lot of experience with the "meaties" from a variety of different sources --- they ARE freaky. It's not idealistic. And it's the reason we've decided to move away from them. They are not chickens as most BYCers think of chickens. They have little to no desire to forage even when presented with the opportunity. Instinct has been bred out of them to a very great extent. They are repulsive animals. Tasty when dead, but repulsive when alive.