Bert Is Going To Eat A Friend Tonight

[sproggie14]

I could kill an animal if needs be and have euthanased rather more than I care to remember. The difference being I killed them to end their suffering. I could do it for that reason but not for any other.

 

3 isn't old for a hen. Well in farming terms it is but hens can potentially live well into double figures depending on breed.

[Alison]

I don't even like composting entire plants, that's how wussy I am.

Sorry Cycas but

 

I have no issues with killing non-mammals (insect pests, sea creatures for eating) but feel that I ought to learn how to kill mammals properly. It's not happened yet but there may come a time when a wild animal needs help to end its suffering and I wouldn't like to think that I couldn't despatch it expertly.

 

I read National Velvet a few months ago, the first time since I was a kid and the contrast between the attitudes towards animals bred for food and those kept as pets shocked me. Quite why I don't know as when I came to reflect, my own attitudes are not so dissimilar.

 

Another paradox is my befriending of various local farm animals in the knowledge that at some point they may very well end up on my plate topped with a pastry crust. One of my friends is the daughter of a sheep farmer and I cringe when she says "how beautifully the last lot killed out". Hypocritical of me or what?

Edited December 11, 2007 by Alison

[cycas]

i chop them up with secateurs (the plants) so it will be over quickly and they won't suffer...

[tegk68]

Helen do what works for you, if you try to consider everyone's views you'll end up completely

i might be getting there mooandboo..

 

I don't know the first thing about chickens but I am intersted to know why she was killed. Is it because she was bought/reared specifically for food or was she ill?

I see other people have said she was fairly old at 3, I assume they're usually killed before then.

If thats the case how come she was kept for so much longer than is usual?

 

OK, here goes:

We keep a small number of hens, on average 10 -15 at anyone time. That increases when we have chicks in the spring and summer (we have a cockeral) and then goes back to 10 - 15 when we have culled some for eating purposes throughout the year. I don't eat them but my OH does, and to be honest I would far rather he ate our own above most chickens that are available commerically. We know how they have lived, what they ate, how they died and my conscience is clear on all of those points. We keep them because a) we both like hens and both of us grew up with hens in our families and b) for the occasional dinner (eggs and meat) - my OH sees chicken as a treat and not an every day meal.

 

Mrs Custard was neither ill nor old but it was decided that she was next, and I'm going straight to hell for saying this, she was a bad layer (of eggs) and always had been. So when we decided to stock the freezer for my OH's next meal coupled with the fact that we were running out of space, that was what swung it for her. Although of course she ended up as Bert's dinner, which to me was more of an honour than ending up on the OH's plate

 

3 is really getting too old to eat but in a stew perfectly fine. If you are after a roast then a younger bird is preferable. For those purposes a one to two year old bird is picked. We have found two years old perfectly acceptable (or at least my OH has)

 

Why did I keep her that long? well no real reason other than I was fond of her. She was one of our original hens of this breed.

 

I couldn't do it and think it's pretty awful. But that's just my perspective.

 

I couldn't kill a perfectly happy little hen that I'd looked after for years, but then I would look on it as a "pet" and I obviously couldn't/wouldn't kill a pet, unless it was for health reasons and on vet advice.

 

I can see where your friend is coming from when she said it was "sick." I agree up to a point, but can also see your point too. This hen was obviously livestock to be culled and eaten when the time was right, she was not a pet.

 

Who killed her?

 

My mother wouldn't kill hers either. She used to though. She has just the four and they know their own names and follow her everywhere. At some point early on when she got them she decided they were 100% pet and that is what they are. I totally respect that. However, she will very happilly eat ours.

 

I killed her Amanda with one swift movement.

 

3 isn't old for a hen. Well in farming terms it is but hens can potentially live well into double figures depending on breed.

 

No it's not. My Mother's are now 11 and still going strong. If i kill one of ours, the youngest it will be is 365 days, to be honest they are usually many weeks older than that. I like them to have at the very least one extremely happy, totally free range year with us. Compare this to 39 days for battery farming oven ready chickens, or 56 days for free range ones or even 81 days for organic free range....

 

i love my hens dearly but i don't see them purely as pets, I guess that's the difference I am coming to understand.

Edited December 11, 2007 by tegk68

[Maria]

As I personally don't eat flesh there is no way I could raise and kill any animal for food (or otherwise). I don't like to kill healthy plants either (hence still having some horrible houseplants).

However, if flesh is to be eaten, then I would agree that the way the animal has lived /is killed should be as 'natural' and painless as possible.

 

My cousin (in Ireland) often has to hand raise calves. When visiting once, she had one, called Molly. Molly was like a labrador freesian crossbreed, eg she would come when called from the other side of the field for her meals I made the mistake of asking what would happen to Molly (thinking she would forever be running free in that field), to be told she would be going to 'the factory' like the rest of the cows , and end up in their freezer. Even my OH (who eats meat) said there was no way he could have eaten Molly.

[mooandboo]

O/T but on the subject of plants - try eating just sprouted alfalfa. I mourned the loss of their potential to become adults (and haven't sprouted any since. I'll be living on fresh air soon )

[wickychoo]

If i kill one of ours, the youngest it will be is 365 days, to be honest they are usually many weeks older than that. I like them to have at the very least one extremely happy, totally free range year with us. Compare this to 39 days for battery farming oven ready chickens, or 56 days for free range ones or even 81 days for organic free range....

 

i love my hens dearly but i don't see them purely as pets, I guess that's the difference I am coming to understand.

 

I think thats how I understand it: you make the distinction that these hens are potentially food and you care for them until it is their time to go. And the hen has had a happy free-range life then a quick and humane death is a given. The hen should literally be pecking about one minute and dead the next, its not been frightened or taken miles to slaughter, thats much better for her welfare if she's destined for the pot. I think regardless of how people stand on eating meat/animal products, we can all agree that that's a better way to go than most other farming methods

I'm a meat eater and I would much rather do that than eat factory-farmed stuff, we only have a teeny-tiny garden though, so the flock of hens will have to wait

[Trallwm farm]

As I personally don't eat flesh there is no way I could raise and kill any animal for food (or otherwise). I don't like to kill healthy plants either (hence still having some horrible houseplants).

However, if flesh is to be eaten, then I would agree that the way the animal has lived /is killed should be as 'natural' and painless as possible.

 

My cousin (in Ireland) often has to hand raise calves. When visiting once, she had one, called Molly. Molly was like a labrador freesian crossbreed, eg she would come when called from the other side of the field for her meals I made the mistake of asking what would happen to Molly (thinking she would forever be running free in that field), to be told she would be going to 'the factory' like the rest of the cows , and end up in their freezer. Even my OH (who eats meat) said there was no way he could have eaten Molly.

 

I hand rear calves and have a herd of Jerseys all made up of rescues.

I make the distinction that this is thier home for as long as I am able to keep it all going and everyone here is safe from the freezer.

I can only control what goes on inside the gate and I dont worry about outside the gate because inside is enough responsibility.Im not a vegetarian but no one here gets eaten by humans.

If we have to have anything killed its usually done here so they are "at home" and happy.

[Melp]

I think H that Mrs Custard had the very best life and death that any hen could have.

[redditchlady]

Ok sorry, if the hen was suffering ok. But I still couldn't do it. It may be like me suffocating Max and feeding him to Korky.

 

Sorry Helen hun nothing personal.

 

I am vegetarian, but even if I was a meat eater I still couldn't kill one of my babies.

 

I hope I haven't offended you, you asked for opinions.

 

Kazz xx

[Tobleronie]

I was married to a farmer in my past life and I lived the life, not only did we kill our own chickens for our own comsumption, we did the same with our pigs, sheep and cows. It was the way of life we led and I too know how to kill a chicken in a humane way, not the way the foxes killed them by taking their heads off for the sake of it when they stuck their heads out of the coop, but then thats another subject entirely.

 

 

Whilst I was allways fond of the animals and agonised at the time, to me it was a natural way of life and I would do no different now.

[redditchlady]

 

I understand where you are coming from Mindy.

 

 

 

I still couldn't kill though The only way I would kill is if Mandy half killed a rabbit or a hare down the field and it was suffering.

 

Each to their own though.

 

Kazz xx

[Caz]

I was actually going to voice my concern that you were planning to eat a hen that had died unexpectedly - those go straight in the wheelie bin for me - just don't chance it as you don't know what it had.

 

I was more relieved to hear that you had killed it.

 

I started keeping chickens in March this year and so far have raised and eaten three cockerels and six guinea fowl (although some of them are in the freezer for Christmas). It was a steep learning curve but we bought a dispatcher so their necks are broken instantly and properly and I taught myself to gut and pluck (isn't google a wonderous thing). My mum and gran have done it but I live too far for them to show me.

 

We intended to get a few chickens for eggs but some of the youngsters we bought turned out to be cockerels and started to fight as they reached maturity, no one takes on unwanted cross bred bantam cockerels there are always hundreds going in free ads etc so rather than kill them and let them go to waste we ate them. They were roughly six months old so pretty much full grown but still tender. Older ones are usually stewed or turned into soup according to my gran as they can be a bit tough. We then deliberately raised some guinea fowl for food (horrible birds now we have kept them we decided they will never be pets). Next year I think we'll do goose for Christmas.

 

I like the River Cottage philosophy - if it has had a good happy life (ours are all free range), being fed excellent quality food (organic is just a bit too expensive for us at the moment but we plan to swap soon) then eating them is a privilege and certainly much better than supporting Tesco cr*p. Our other meat comes from our local home kill butcher (buys from small local farms that raise for them and are killed and processed at the butcher's family abbatoir).

 

We are getting 3-4 eggs a day from our youngsters over winter but they still don't cover their own costs in feed and bedding/housing etc but we are happy to pay out extra to ensure we are eating top quality, thoughtfully produced food! I compost all their poo and bedding and will use it to raise the vegetables that go with them at dinner.

 

Caz

[Melp]

OT again sorry. Does cockerel taste any different to hens?

[Gemstone]

I think alot more peeps would be vegetarians if they had to kill their own animals or if they would know them *personally*.

 

 

Yes I would