Rearing chickens to eat

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Meanqueen
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Rearing chickens to eat

Post by Meanqueen »

IF THE IDEA OF EATING CHICKENS UPSETS YOU DO NOT WATCH THIS, BUT YOU ONLY SEE THE BEFORE AND AFTER, NOT THE DEED.

For anyone interested in rearing chickens for meat, there is a programme on iplayer about this. Simon Wright who is a highly regarded food critic, decides to rear his own chicks, it ends with him eating them. There are no pictures of the slaughter, just a description of how it was done. I am a veggie and I watched it out of curiosity, I understand that people do eat meat, but I couldn't. I did feel sad though that they all ended up on the plate +cry+

If you want to watch
the programme is here

Ilona
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jo68
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Post by jo68 »

hi ilona (f+ (f+ (f+

a while ago i think i could have done it but now after having my girls and getting to know them i dont know if i could.

maybe if i got them knowing that they were for eating i may be able to confused>


jo x
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Noodle
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Post by Noodle »

I definately couldn't eat my girls! But I think I could if I raised tehm for that purpose, knowing they'd had a good life and nt getting so attached to them.
I would have to send them of to slaughter though. :?
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mudshark
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Post by mudshark »

I'm hoping to give it a go. My neighbour has offered to do head chopping but I'd like to see if I can do the neck breaking trick as looks the best way. Not sure if I'll be able to do it when it comes to it - I need to toughen up!
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Richard
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Post by Richard »

I've only done it two or three times to 'help them on their way' when there was no hope and they'd obviously had enough and it isn't easy even for that reason.

The most important thing is to get it right, it has to be done effectively and efficiently.
When I was a wee lad, the neighbour came around to do ours and I watched quite a few times. He did it well.

Others may find this hard to read, but better this way than the production line which puts them through a long torturess procedure.

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wendy
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Post by wendy »

Very true Richard. I do not eat chickens at all now. But simply because of the way they are slaughtered. If the chicken were free range and killed in that fashion I would eat it.
Could I eat my girls....of course not LOL
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saint-spoon
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Post by saint-spoon »

very brave of you to post this MQ, well said richard and wendy. The difference in taste is unimaginable, even from so called free range birds from the butcher. In Kenya a few years ago all the hotel sourced all of it’s produce locally (probably because it was far cheaper then importing it). The chicken was about as free range as you can get and tasted so differently because it wasn’t living on a time scale for profit.
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bluebell
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Post by bluebell »

I do not eat meat ( I eat fish, however, so am NOT vegetarian). I think it is good to discuss such items like this, not to everyone's liking I know, but far better if you are a meat eater that you eat meat which has been given a decent quality of life and a humane ending which does not involve travelling miles in a frightened state to end up at some horrible large commercial processor.

I believe in compassion, at the end of the day.
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Meanqueen
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Post by Meanqueen »

Even if you don't eat chickens, it is worth a look, and to stop it when it comes to the eating bit. That's what I like about iplayer, skip the bits you don't want to see.

Ilona
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Post by misty »

My Daghter's hen house and run are nearly finished and I will post a pic when I go round in daylight! Eggs make me really ill so I am buying some chickens and they are going to keep them, we will then eat them (thank you for a thread I put up some months ago about the type of chicken to have). I ate game in Africa and it was delicious. Daughter's o/h is fine at disposal and they are going over our field to pop off some rabbits, which he can skin and gut and I can cook. I've told them not to bother with the pheasants as they have been very bland. We have a lot of deer round here and it is being in the right place at the right time, ie road kill.
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Post by hippichick »

I was brought up on meat, My dad was a slaughterman/butcher for thirty years. I did become a vegetarian for a short time as a teenager, but I missed my bacon butties. No. I couldn't eat my chickens or rabbit they are my pets. I have nothing against people if they choose to eat animals they have raised, at least they have been well looked after.
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cluckyclaire
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Post by cluckyclaire »

I started keeping chickens in the summer and have had 8 that i raised from day old chicks and have now eaten or given away the meat from them (have somhow ended up with a lot of girls too who are not for the table!!). Although we got them specifically for the tabke it is still very dfficult to go through with the end result but to be honest because they had been bred to eat and get big quick it was actually kinder to kill them thn to let them carry on living in the end.
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Post by 4 french hens »

Misty, freshly killed pheasent can be bland, so it should be hung for about a week to improve the flavour and texture of the meat.

Mike
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