why when i tell people i raiseandkillmyownchickenmeatdotheycallmecrazy

[Lordofchickens 86]

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i want good egg production after all that is the purpose of having chickens so you don't have to buy those abominations to the lord

store eggs . thank you for your advice but i know what im doing and what my goals are. i am using hatchery stock because 2 or3 dollars for a chick the breeders in my area want 6 or10 dollars for a 3 day old chick i dont care about the araucanas not being tailess they are probably Americaunas because the do look like a Americaunas. i bought them at the feed store this year. you have fun on your chicken adventure i know i do.

 

[PaulaSB12]

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Not just America I was told it was cruel to raise chickens for meat but buying it from Tesco's isn't?

 

[Avalon1984]

I said it once, and I will say it again. One of these days I will rent a big bus and take people on tours of large animal farms and then we’ll sit on the truck as they are being shipped to the slaughterhouse. Let's then watch their last moments and how the meat becomes neatly wrapped packages... That should cure a lot.

 

[Illia]

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They're not Ameraucanas either

They're Easter Egger mutts. Ameraucanas also are a breed commonly confused with Easter Eggers, but there are some big differences. And, feedstores don't sell real ones. They say they do though.



But I do hear ya, however I'd have to say your local breeders are either ripping people off or selling stuff you don't need. You don't need top quality birds or spiffy new expensive colors, just bigger stock. My Araucanas and Marans lay just as well as my hatchery birds though, in fact they lay better than the hatchery ones after the 2nd year and the nice thing is, I don't have to buy new chicks all the time. Even if I wanted new blood, hatching eggs are cheaper.

 

[Beekissed]

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It might....but then, it might not. I work with two people whose sister has battery hen houses and there are broiler houses all over this area. These people are more than well aware of the source of their grocery store chicken/eggs. Do you know what they say when they criticize me for raising and eating my own chickens and I point out the source of their food? They say, "That's different."

That's all.

That's different. They don't offer an explanation of how that is less cruel than my food plan...they just look sad and say they "could never do that" to something they raised from a chick and named, blah, blah, blah. As if it's perfectly okay for them to torture thousands of birds each year but a quick death of one of mine is somehow more cruel because it had a name??

I see this as a case of "there are none so blind as those who refuse to see". "Willful ignorance" is another term for it.

 

[Avalon1984]

@ Beekissed: Now that would be quite frustrating. Must be they think that anybody with a lower # of animals has such as pets and hence cannot eat them? Willful ignorance is a good way to put it. I too am having a hard time telling people that the birds running around in our yard are the same ones having to live in bad conditions in mass production areas. They may not be the same breed, but they could be just as cute and loveable as any other bird. Some people have the stigma that factory animals are brainless and have no emotions. They are unaware of their surroundings and hence there is nothing wrong with killing them for food. If that was what makes people sleep at night…

 

[Beekissed]

These are the same people who will often "adopt" a few of the retired, debeaked and worn out battery hens from their relatives for pets of their own. They have no idea how to care for chickens so they just feed them a lot and watch them come and go around their house and are amazed when the birds die from their own dogs, predators or reproductive issues. Then they adopt a few more....like play dollies..so they can show how kind they are to the poor factory chickens.

They know these factory birds are real, living and breathing animals, just like my own. They've just flipped a little switch in their minds so they won't think of or admit that these birds are what they are dipping into BBQ sauce at the local Mickey Dees.

Insanity is so much more accepted and prevalent now in the mainstream society....

 

[Avalon1984]

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*shakes her head* I sure hope that forums like this help people realize what is really going on and how chickens should be raised.

 

[Lordofchickens 86]

i look at it this way my chcickens get to live 6 months or so on grass for the D/P cockerals and the not good hens. that is defintly better than the 8 to 10 weeks that meat birds live in a run with2 or so feet per bird. i know the free range chicken i grow is took care of better and healthler for me and the chicken.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

We (or more to the point I) are also "different". I am still not great about the butchering process and have sissied out

but we have a freezer full of birds that I brought to the butchers. It isn't pretty.... The end of a life but I would rather know where my meat lived and that they were well loved and held a good life.

I am the crazy lady crying at the butchers.... But my birds are good food for the family and this is the deal I made with hubby to have the birds.

The real sadness is that I was giving family members my eggs and have a cousin that won't eat a brown egg, or an egg from the farm. She will eat the ones from the store though.