My chickens.....my friends??? Pics of my meat friends on pg. 13

[Farmfresh]

Iam blessed to be able to keep my chooks as my pets. I buy what we want /need to eat and my chooks remain happy and well cared for and they will live their life as such until it is time for their natural death. I fail to see the humor in alot of what I see on the blog because I value their life..
Consider yourselves lucky that we are highest on the food chain or we could become a Friday night joke on the way to the stew pot.

My sis has a huge flock of guineas and some ducks. She feels exactly as you do. They are her pets and she will NEVER eat a single one of them. She will not sell them to anyone that wants to eat them. Heck she doesn't even eat their eggs! Her pets are fed and cared for for their whole lives until they die of natural causes, which in the case of a free ranging guinea is most likely a predator. This is her choice. She is also blessed to be able to do this and I do not hassle her about it. (Well.. I DO hassle her about not using the eggs since she usually just throws them away :/ ). She does like I said before, still eat a little meat, but only a few days a week.

I do wonder however if things in the world change for the worse how long it would be before she started considering her flock a food source.

I do have one question about the food you buy, and I am honestly NOT trying to start a fight - just curious. Now that you have had your chooks, what kind of meat and eggs do you buy to eat? Do you ONLY consume free range eggs and meat or do you still (and I do this too) occasionally eat chicken sandwiches from fast food or processed foods containing eggs?

Personally since I am gluten free I can only VERY seldom find commercially prepared poultry meat items that are safe for me to eat, so this has gone way down. I know however that LOTS of commercially prepared foods (like mayo for instance) contain eggs and without a doubt "prison" eggs (from battery hens) is what is used in the preparation of them. I find that knowledge bothers me more and more all of the time.

I DO eat my chickens, but I am very concerned about the welfare of the chickens that produce the commercially prepared meat and eggs for us as well. They have never had the privilege to live the life my animals always have.

 

[freemotion]

When I was a kid we were told by my father that this and this animal were for breeding so make friends with them, and that one and that one were for food, so don't get attached and don't name them. Well, they were named, but names like Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Lamb Chop, etc, as reminders. I was 13 when we moved to the farm from the suburbs. It was a jolt to my system, but I got my horse, so I took it in stride.

The ones that were for breeding were later sold, not eaten, as promised.

When I got my first chickens, I wanted meat chickens because of the cruelty in the industry. DH adamantly refused to eat anything he saw the face of, and didn't want me to eat them either. I respected that and got laying hens. We gave the first batch of layers away when I wanted new ones.

Gradually he has come around, first allowing me to get turkeys for meat. Those first two were difficult for him, but he ate them. Then recently it was the white rooster. He ate plenty of my dad's older laying hens and cockerels, though, so knew they could be delicious.

Then he said a big YES to pigs.

My point is, given time, people can come around to accepting something they were brought up and brainwashed not to think about. But in their own time and at their own pace. Meanwhile, if one is not there yet or doesn't ever want to get to that point, maybe not reading this particular thread might be the best idea.

 

[Dace]

Iam blessed to be able to keep my chooks as my pets. I buy what we want /need to eat and my chooks remain happy and well cared for and they will live their life as such until it is time for their natural death. I fail to see the humor in alot of what I see on the blog because I value their life..
Consider yourselves lucky that we are highest on the food chain or we could become a Friday night joke on the way to the stew pot.

First I would like to say that I do not raise my own meat birds, but if I had the space I certainly would. I only have a few hens for eggs.

I say that you value their lives and yet, you buy meat at the store and support the torturous conditions in which these meat animals are raised? I would much rather raise my own chickens, give them a healthy happy natural life of foraging for bugs and dust bathing in the sun than the alternative.

Even if you are buying organic....you are eating meat that lived an unnatural and quite unhappy life so that you could have meat on your plate.

You should really give this some thought. I understand that it really is a difficult concept, but those that are raising and killing thier own birds actually have more compassion for thier animals than the vast majority of the world.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Maybe it's just the company I keep, but I have never been made to feel bad about raising and eating my chickens. Most of what i have received, is a bit of awe and respect, since most don;'t think they would be able to do it. There are some who just say "really". The only ones who have ever seemed upset, or had a a negative comment were children, and then i saw it as a teaching moment.

I can see where the joking around might upset someone who might not eat their chickens. Like many here, I raise all my animals so that they can live a happy life, but they are food. My animals live well, and die well, it's a respect issue.

Maybe we can show other people the same respect.

 

[dianer29]

by no means do I want to keep the fight going I am stating how I feel and really do not need to or want to step on anyones toes as life is too short. We do not buy meat. I am guilty of buying MCDonalds as I stated in earlier blog. I am not one of the masses who question how you tend to your flock. I meet people of all walks of life and as I said to each his own. A friend is a friend , some of mine have feathers ,it does not make them anymore valuable or less valuable. I am sensitive to causes and will never find humor in how anyone treats a human being or an animal less than what they deserve. E veryone can coexist and there is really alot more things in life to joke about than how we tend to our flocks. We can quietly go about our business and not make light of what we need to do. I gather their eggs everyday to eat them and I know for a fact that there are people who question" how can you do such a horrible thing?" We can all see things differently,go about our tasks and life goes on...........

 

[country freedom]

We had rabbits for a few months, about 1 1/2 - 2 yrs ago.
They had babies that I wanted to eat, I even asked the rent office, if it was allowable.
I got the AOK from them, they told me to have it done discreetly, so my children or others wouldn't know about it.

My DFiance', turned around and told me not to.....they were too cute!
We had to give them away.
I thought to myself - all that money down the drain, and we didn't get anything out of it!

I was going to make something out of their fur pelts, and meat for the family.




Now!
We are just a few months away from actually moving to the country - Finally!

I have actually convinced the youngest 2 children (teens), and DFiance' - after going thru much of a hard year of being off of gov. help, and buying only what we can afford on 7$hr job - and showing them pics and forums, ideas, and magazines/books, ect........

1.) We will have rabbits, chickens, for food, other livestock if I can convince my DFiance'.
2.) Some will be for breeding, but, will be used for the family, once the first purpose is done.
3.) Name livestock at risk of knowing what will eventually become of them.
4.) Doing this is what farming is made of - surviving, helping others survive, also.
5.) Without farming, people cannot stay alive.

Numbers 4,5 was remembered during the severe winter of ice/snow - people with food they've grown/raised themselves were richer, than those who couldn't get to stores, or, had no money to buy food for their families, or the stores run out of food themselves.

Asked my family - would they rather be Citified, or, Countryfried?
Asked my family - live in Public Housing, or, have land in the country?

Answer was "We want to move!"

My oldest daughter, even wants her very young daughter to be raised the country way!
She, her daughter, and the other set of Grandparents went thru a hungry spell, when Nana wasn't able to get enough work, to help with buying food, but, her husband still made too much for them to be on gov. help. They have her 2 grown sons and themselves living in the expensive side of Louisville, without either sons help.

Other set of Grandparents are still saying EEEWWW to animals, dirt and EVERTHING country!
Happily - our Granddaughter LOVES to sit on my lap and look/listen to livestock on webcams and youtube!

Granddaughter even shocked other set of Grandparents when my oldest daughter told them, she petted cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits.....and cried/hissy fit, when she was told she couldn't bring none home with us.

I cannot convince people around me, that the animal they are enjoying, lived a prisoned life while being fed unhealthy feed, given hormones to force their bodies to over-perform natural duties, and antibiotics to control the sicknesses they were forced to live around daily, then ,stressing them even more, inhumanely killing them slowly, while not making sure to keep the meat clean after skinning them, just hours after feeding them the above!

Right now, I do buy from the store.
I cannot wait for the time when we will not be able to, in a few months!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

great post country freedom!

especially this:

Numbers 4,5 was remembered during the severe winter of ice/snow - people with food they've grown/raised themselves were richer, than those who couldn't get to stores, or, had no money to buy food for their families, or the stores run out of food themselves.

being 'farm poor' isnt that bad at all. our grandma never felt the poverty during the Great Depression b/c they farmed - meanwhile in the city people were eating pigeons and were grateful. we eat better than most folks and the only way we've been able to make the past year work is b/c we grow our own food.

we helped a buddy butcher turkeys and lambs once and he suddenly turned to me and said "dontcha feel RICH when your freezer is full!?!!" and you sure do. being 'farm poor' is waaaaaay better than wondering where your next meal is coming from.

and i think you HAVE to have a sense of humor. it breaks the tension and keeps you from being overwhelmed (for new people). i remember being very judgmental when reading a BYC post about a method of skinning (using a hose) and the OP said that the meat chix blew up like creepy balloons and how funny they thought it was. i was horrified and scandalized.

until we did it

we laughed our butts off all day.....and they were like creepy little balloons and it was a great method to get the job done.

i tell all the newbies that are starting in butchering to try and have a laugh and its ok to find some humor. to a person they've all said it wasnt what they thought it is and are sold on the process... i keep thinking that folks who dont get it just havent done it.

we have a great time when we butcher - its a wonderful feeling to be part of the circle of life, to know you can feed your family, and that your animals have had a great life.

 

[meriruka]

I am vegetarian and I get just the opposite type of questions......
You don't eat your chickens & turkeys? Why not? Why keep them then?
A friend visited and looked around and said "Food, food everywhere and not a bite to eat."

I never give anyone grief about processing their own animals, it is far, far better than what you buy from stores and the animals have almost always had a better life than those at the 'factory farms'.

My animals are pets but I have no illusions....they would all eat me in a heartbeat if I dropped dead in the pen. Even the cats would. Actually, I have one cat that may just settle for me in a sound sleep....

 

[bibliophile birds]

meanwhile in the city people were eating pigeons and were grateful.

pigeons are YUMMY! well, i wouldn't eat city pigeon, but country pigeons are sooooo good. we have an infestation in our barn and every few weeks my cousins get to go and do some "clearing up." they are really nice roasted....

 

[dianer29]

My chooks will remain with me in a safer situation than free range,if they do not I will not have anyone to blame but myself ,this too is MY choice. They will live out their lives content ,pampered and loved.There is no changing of my values as I can look at myself in the mirror most days and have no regrets. I probably will continue to eat factory processed McDonalds as I am as imperfect as any other human being and am aware it is a wrong thing and a bad thing. I can only hope I will be forgiven when it is time for me to see if heaven will take me. I will either be strong enough to break the habit of eating at the big M or I will wait in line with everyone else and see who gets in..............
I will not respond any further to any further comments as I am not entertained in the least with any"black humor" or whatever it needs to be labeled. Tread softly, leave little negative impact ,make a positive mark on our already taxed world.