Will you"Ever Kill AND Eat Your "CHICKENS" Pls tell your ideas to the world no - ARGUMENT pls

[rikithemonk]

I look at it like this. I purchased my girls and created a very good life for them. My chickens don't free range, but they have a life one thousand times better than those poor birds in the factory farms. I also take my responsibility for their care and protection very seriously. They will have three or four fabulously happy years of life, however like many previous posters have said, I cant afford to feed them and house them if they aren't productive. The local laws in my area don't allow for more than a small number of chickens. This means that since chickens can live seven years, I will be stuck without eggs for years. Three years with eggs, four year without, doesn't make financial sense.

Riki

 

[clucknpeck]

THis is how I see it- no matter how much you love your chickens, they are live stock. I have raised mine since chicks and I know all their personalities, given them all names, and spend a great deal of time with them. I plan on continuing to give them a happy free range life, where they are safe and spoiled. What better way for livestock to live out its life until their time has come? If I have a very poor layer yes I will probably eat it, we will eat the excess roosters, and in about 2-3 years when they don't lay so much anymore we will get new chicks and our hens will complete their circle of life. I don't have to feel bad. They will have had a great life and their role in life will have been respected.

 

[Supernatural]

I just had a discussion about this with my kids a couple of days ago. One of our "pullets" is starting to look like a rooster, and I said, "If that thing starts crowing, we're going to eat him."

I got chickens to produce food for me, in one way or another. If they won't lay eggs, they're going in the soup pot. Either I'm feeding them for egg production, or I'm fattening them up for the freezer. I don't feel this is any more selfish than planting a garden and then killing the plants (or removing the fruits - their method of reproduction) for food. I must eat, and things must die (plants or animals) for me to live. Like others have said, at least I know they've been fed things that will not hurt them (or me), that they had a relatively happy life, and that they were cared for (and killed) as humanely as possible (more than can be said for factory birds).

I DO enjoy my chickens, sure. They're entertaining to watch and interact with, and we do stroke them and talk to them. I also enjoy gardening, sewing, making my own soap and cleaners, etc. but I don't do these things because I enjoy them - I do them because they benefit my family. I consider the fact that I enjoy these things to be a bonus, not the purpose.

 

[Clay Mudd]

mine = yes

reason = cause they're yummy

 

[Habibs Hens]

Mine = Yes

Reason = Although they are like family to me i would as i feel what better way to say goodbye to them it beats buring them when they die [now thats hard to do]

 

[puglady]

I raised Cornish x last year and did. I didn't get them this year as they were very pathetic getting around at the end of their short lives. My very first dual purpose to lay an egg (barred rock) had a prolapse on her very first egg

. I tried all the "tricks" on this site but the second egg did the same. I culled her but my folks were the ones who ate her.

 

[texas75563]

Yes. They are wonderful entertainment. The extra roos will be yummy eating. Pets today, dinner tomorrow.

 

[speckledhen]

If memory serves, you've gone down this exact same road before on this forum, haven't you?

 

[Supernatural]

If memory serves, you've gone down this exact same road before on this forum, haven't you?

... and interesting that the first few responses are from a curious username (dddddd) who apparently joined today, and whose only posts are to this thread...

Good question, though. And valid for this forum, so long as the intent is to actually get others' opinions on the matter, and not some other personal reason (i.e. to prove a point, to raise post numbers, to troll up an argument, etc.)

 

[cubalaya]

mine = yes

reason = cause they're yummy

lol, yes and i am cooking one right now(the horror)lol.