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Farm Kitchen:  Speaking of chicken  |
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Cowgurl
Farmgirl in Training
34 Posts
Robin
middle Tennessee
34 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 28 2004 : 08:00:47 AM
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| We plan to raise chickens - primarily for eggs. I've thought about um...eating them, but I don't think I can do it. Growing up on a farm, we were pretty much forced to be involved with the butchering of chickens and I think it scarred me for life - lol. Any thoughts on this? I do eat meat and am not opposed to it morally, but I only buy organic because I can only eat an animal that I know has had a good life. Does this make any sense? I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this. Does anyone eat their own chickens? |
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Paula J.
True Blue Farmgirl
68 Posts
Paula
OK
USA
68 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2004 : 08:35:39 AM
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I've thought about the same thing. I just don't think I could eat something I raised and "knew." But that's just me. I guess we all do what we have to do, though, right?
pj
quote:
Originally posted by Cowgurl
We plan to raise chickens - primarily for eggs. I've thought about um...eating them, but I don't think I can do it. Growing up on a farm, we were pretty much forced to be involved with the butchering of chickens and I think it scarred me for life - lol. Any thoughts on this? I do eat meat and am not opposed to it morally, but I only buy organic because I can only eat an animal that I know has had a good life. Does this make any sense? I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this. Does anyone eat their own chickens?
Paula J.
Collinsville, OK
dragonflybodywork@earthlink.net |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Apr 28 2004 : 10:56:44 PM
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I raise meat chickens...have 15 of them about 3 or 4 weeks away from being butchered now. I keep them separate and don't name them or get attached. The type I get to raise for meat are Cornish roasters and they are not cute, pretty or nice once they get past the first week. They are eating machines and are pretty ugly and wierd looking. That helps some. I raise my hens for eggs and they are pets. I hate the day we butcher chickens (a couple times a year I raise a batch) they do taste better, and are organic. I just feel better about KNOWING what they really ate, and that they got to see sunshine and all...I could never eat my hens no matter how old they get. They either die of old age, or I give them away, no questions asked, when they get really old. I tried raising rabbits for meat...no go..I couldn't kill them no matter what, and neither could my husband. I sold those and got Angoras..much better for me to have fiber rabbits and raise meat chickens.
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
Edited by - Aunt Jenny on Apr 28 2004 10:58:20 PM |
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HiDez Gal
True Blue Farmgirl
122 Posts
Roberta
Joshua Tree,
CA
USA
122 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2004 : 08:09:11 AM
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I agree about how difficult it is to kill something i have raised. We tried it years ago, with the thought that if we were going to eat meat then perhaps we should be responsible for how it was raised and how it got to our dinner table. We found out how difficult it was for us to walk that talk! We had a bunch of roosters in the group of chicks we raised and with the help of a neighbor who was experienced in how to turn live chickens into table ready fare we tried to brave it. We wound up cooking one and then were barely able to eat it, most went to the dogs. The ones that were still left went to the neighbors who had a big barbecue and said it was some of the best chicken they had eaten in years.
We haven't had chickens in many years and now have a group of eight chicks who are seven weeks old. I look at them closely each morning trying to discern if any seem to be growing longer tail feathers than the others and/or waddles. I bought only pullets but that is no guarantee of course. If we have only one rooster in the batch i may keep it ,even though i would prefer to not have any, but more than one and i have already made arrangements to give them away.
I think this subject is one that people who are living in the city, hoping to move to the country and raise all of their own food need to think about. If you plan to eat meat can you kill and butcher it yourself, if you can't, will you have enough income to afford to have it butchered and made table ready (as in the case of a cow or a pig, etc.)? The other reality of raising animals, even if one doesn't plan to eat the meat...in other words for eggs or milk , is that sometimes bad stuff happens and there is a need to end that animal's life humanely, what then? Lots to think about, lots to learn, lots of responsibility in raising animals. |
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Juliekay
True Blue Farmgirl
237 Posts
237 Posts |
Posted - Apr 30 2004 : 06:58:18 AM
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My boyfriend and I were just talking about this issue last night. I said jokingly "We can trade chickens with someone else and eat theirs" that way we're not eating a chicken we know".
Maybe I'll become a vegetarian.
Julie |
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Kathy A.
True Blue Farmgirl
116 Posts
Kathy
Utah
USA
116 Posts |
Posted - Apr 30 2004 : 09:16:40 AM
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Hello Cowgurl, and Welcome to the forum! This is a subject I have been concerned about also, these are really great replies to your post. as HiDez Gal noted This is one of the tough realities of farm life whither you are butchering or you must put down an animal it is not easy. I had a really hard time with it growing up on a farm and I still do. I too plan on a few hens someday, put I know There will be a day when I have to take responsibility for ending a pets life. It's not like you can take an old terminally ill or injured chicken to a vet and ask them to do it, as you might a pet Dog. We are not vegetarian, we eat mostly chicken and wild caught salmon, so the other considerations are not a problem for us. I have alot of admiration for those who do take the responsibility for raising natural/organic meat for the family and do thier own butchering.
Kathy |
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Cowgurl
Farmgirl in Training
34 Posts
Robin
middle Tennessee
34 Posts |
Posted - Apr 30 2004 : 1:37:03 PM
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I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I was wondering if y'all we're going to think I was corny. My siblings and I were pretty much required to be involved with the butchering of chickens and rabbits when we were growing up. It was a pretty horrid experience because it was something we didn't really have a choice in. I'm hoping my husband will just "do the job" while I'm not home and not tell me about it. Just "Honey, we're having chicken for dinner tonight." He would be nice and not tell me which one it was.
I've also thought about the way some Native American tribes dealt with killing animals for food/clothing. They would take a moment before killing the animal and say a blessing, thanking the animal for providing sustanance for their family. I think that is a really nice touch. |
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Farm Kitchen: Speaking of chicken |
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Speaking of chicken
