Re: meat birds

[Guest guest]

Lierre,

Knowing your background and mine too I know your sense all too well.

I'm not going to tell you a bunch of stuff to help you feel better,

I'm just going to say I know how you feel, you're right and it is the

most awesome exercise you are experiencing in really deeply living in

your world and being real about it. And quite frankly this part

doesn't feel good. I admire you and appreciate you and I wish more

men and women had the guts to sit with what you're feeling. We'd all

be better off.

All My Very Best As Always,

DMM

> Well, my first crop of meat birds is in the freezer. I've had

> laying hens for two years but never raised my own meat. I couldn't

> find any locally raised chicken that I was happy with. It wasn't

> really pastured, just " free-range " , i.e., in nice barns, not cages,

> but never outside. So I got 25 White Wyandotte roosters in May and

> now they've gone off to the big pasture in the sky, leaving their

> bodies in my freezer. I know that these birds had wonderful lives,

an

> acre and a half of woods and meadows to run around on, all the bugs

> they could eat etc. But it's been kind of intense. I'm haunted by

> their faces. I didn't do the butchering myself, but took them to a

> local guy who charges $1.20/bird to do the deed. I'm assuming this

> must get easier, or no one would do it. I know I've done the right

> thing by assuring they had good lives with the proper food and

> environment but it's still really hard. It's made me very conscious

> to give thanks before eating. Or to give thanks in general. My life

> depends on so much death, and the whole experience brings it home

in

> a pretty profound way.

> Any insights from those of you who've done this would be

> appreciated.

> The meat tastes really good, though there's not as much breast

> meat because these were an heirloom breed rather than the cornish x

> rock hybrids.

> I have a second batch which will be ready in October. They're

> still at the cute fluffball stage right now. The one thing I don't

> feel great about is having to take the birds to slaughter. I had to

> put them in crates and then drive them to the--what--butcher?

killer?

> Is there a nice word for this? I'd so much rather that their last

few

> hours weren't spent cooped up and scared. I know I should kill them

> myself but I just can't do it. So I'm trying to find someone who

> would do it, here at my place. Here's the deal: I'll raise them,

you

> kill them. We can split the cost of the organic feed. Meadow and

bugs

> are free thanks to mother earth. I have plenty of space for more

> chickens and if we do a few batches over the course of each summer

> we'd have enough meat for the year. Obviously you have to live

close

> enough to me (western Massachusetts) to be able to get here when D-

> Day arrives. I figured I'd ask on this list first, since you all

> understand the importance of pasture-fed meat. Email me privately

if

> you want to discuss it.

> Lierre

[Guest guest]

I can understand exactly what you are saying , feeling, I also had to

butcher my chickens, the very ones I raised from

little bitty chicks, the ones I fixed extra bread and cream for when

they were not well. All I can say is it gets better

the more you do it. I didn't have someone butcher for me, they knew what

is up after the first one, so be sure pen them first.

Also don't try to eat chicken that night....... at least a week needed

to recover. Get several people, and do an assembly

line going and do it as fast as possible. After awhile it will be easer.

I think the chicken years, about 7 were instrumental

in my leaning towards vegetarianism, I am not one, but I could be.

-ine in WA

-----Original Message-----

From: lierrekeith [mailto:lierrekeith@...]

Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 1:01 PM

Subject: meat birds

Well, my first crop of meat birds is in the freezer. I've had

laying hens for two years but never raised my own meat. I couldn't

find any locally raised chicken that I was happy with. It wasn't

really pastured, just " free-range " , i.e., in nice barns, not cages,

but never outside. So I got 25 White Wyandotte roosters in May and

now they've gone off to the big pasture in the sky, leaving their

bodies in my freezer. I know that these birds had wonderful lives, an

acre and a half of woods and meadows to run around on, all the bugs

they could eat etc. But it's been kind of intense. I'm haunted by

their faces. I didn't do the butchering myself, but took them to a

local guy who charges $1.20/bird to do the deed. I'm assuming this

must get easier, or no one would do it. I know I've done the right

thing by assuring they had good lives with the proper food and

environment but it's still really hard. It's made me very conscious

to give thanks before eating. Or to give thanks in general. My life

depends on so much death, and the whole experience brings it home in

a pretty profound way.

Any insights from those of you who've done this would be

appreciated.

The meat tastes really good, though there's not as much breast

meat because these were an heirloom breed rather than the cornish x

rock hybrids.

I have a second batch which will be ready in October. They're

still at the cute fluffball stage right now. The one thing I don't

feel great about is having to take the birds to slaughter. I had to

put them in crates and then drive them to the--what--butcher? killer?

Is there a nice word for this? I'd so much rather that their last few

hours weren't spent cooped up and scared. I know I should kill them

myself but I just can't do it. So I'm trying to find someone who

would do it, here at my place. Here's the deal: I'll raise them, you

kill them. We can split the cost of the organic feed. Meadow and bugs

are free thanks to mother earth. I have plenty of space for more

chickens and if we do a few batches over the course of each summer

we'd have enough meat for the year. Obviously you have to live close

enough to me (western Massachusetts) to be able to get here when D-

Day arrives. I figured I'd ask on this list first, since you all

understand the importance of pasture-fed meat. Email me privately if

you want to discuss it.

Lierre

[Guest guest]

Lierre, we've raised our own meat in the past, too, and you're

right, it is an intense experience. I think everyone would benefit

from raising their own meat animals at some point, it drives

home that we are living off others (not that it's wrong or bad, but it

is a fact of life everyone should be intimately familiar with - plants

lose their lives to us, as well). My husband did all the butchering

himself, and not being experienced it was somewhat of an

ordeal. I was too much of a sissy to do it. I'm not sure the

chickens see it the same way we do, the laying hens were loose

when he did it and they were crowding around to eat the entrails

of their recently-deceased brothers. Right now, we've chickened

out (pun intended) of raising our own, partially because we don't

have the chicken housing facilities built to keep more than our

laying flock safe at night from the local predators. We intend to

do it again, but will probably take the road of having someone

else do the " processing " (that makes it sound so clean, I really

don't like euphamisms). I think it's more humane if it's done

quickly by a practiced hand.

We made a point of not getting to know the birds that were

destined for the freezer, but of course we made sure they had a

good life. Did you read the article in the last Wise Traditions

about the ethics of eating meat? I thought the author made

some good points.

The meat from ours was also delicious, much more flavorful

than grocery-store chicken, which seems pale, tasteless and

flaccid in comparison. The smaller quantity of breast meat didn't

bother us, but it does look odd after being used to seeing the

metabolic freak broiler breeds wrapped in plastic in the stores

(ours were Black Australorps and Buff Orpingtons).

I can't help you with finding someone to help you with the killing

part, I'm on the other side of the country, just wanted to let you

know your feelings about the process are shared.

Aubin

[Guest guest]

Being a suburbanite I've never come close to experiencing

butchering. I think, though, that there is one advantage in hunting

wild game: You wouldn't have the emotional connection to the animal

(i.e., you're not killing something you've cared for), although you'd

still be aware that you were taking a life.

I can imagine, though, that either would bring about a much deeper

sense of gratitude and humility than just buying your meat nicely

prepackaged from the store.

Switching to whole foods and recently to raw milk has increased both

of those attributes in me. The fact that the milk is " raw " has

brought a keener sense of its connection to a living animal. I find

myself very grateful to the animal and the farmer for providing the

milk for me.

(BTW, I'm the same as L123M123)

[Guest guest]

I have also raised meat birds a few times and butchering them doesn't

get easier - even having to take them to the butcher. At least not

for me. I still remember the last glance I took at one particular

cock that I was fond of as I left him at the butchers. Luckily I

didn't know which one he was in the freezer.

I don't think that butchering animals should be easy. If it were

easy, then there would be too much waste. As it is in the general

public today there is too much passivity about what we owe to others

for the life that we have. Having to do this makes us more connected

spiritually to the earth and how we live. Everyone and everything

lives off of other lives. We exist today because there were people

who sacrificed their life for us, whether it be in war or just in

giving birth or providing for us.

I love my animals and I always make sure they have a good life before

they meet their destiny. I try to look at it philosophically. They

have a purpose in life and today they are meeting that purpose. If it

wasn't for this specific purpose they would probably not exist at all.

> Well, my first crop of meat birds is in the freezer.

[Guest guest]

--- In @y..., Heidi Schuppenhauer <heidis@t...>

wrote:

>

> Life really never has a " good " ending,

That depends on how you view what happens after death. None

of us will get out of here alive, but when you don't view death as

the ultimate disaster or end of the road, that fact doesn't seem

scary.

Aubin

[Guest guest]

--- is everyone going to get a fair shot at this new

technology or perhaps only the wealthy? Dennis

In @y..., Berg <bberg@c...> wrote:

> Quoting aubinparrish <aubinparrish@y...>:

> >

> > > Life really never has a " good " ending,

> >

> > That depends on how you view what happens after death.

>

> It depends on what happens or does not happen. How one views it is

> irrelevant.

>

> > None

> > of us will get out of here alive, but when you don't view death

as

> > the ultimate disaster or end of the road, that fact doesn't seem

> > scary.

>

> That's why belief in an afterlife is so dangerous. Death should be

very,

> very scary, especially in this day and age, when there's no good

reason why

> we couldn't develop technology to extend human life indefinitely

within a

> few decades. Belief in an afterlife serves to reduce demand for

this

> technology and in some cases even causes people to promote

regulation that

> stifles technological development in these areas--just one step

short of

> murder.

>

> --

> Berg

> bberg@c...