The Circle of Life - Butchering on the Farm part 1

Ask anyone, I am an animal lover. I like to start of this blog post by saying that.

Butchering is a very controversial thing, and as such, I was even a bit hesitant about posting this, but I feel that hobby farmers have become too embarrassed about this, and that consumers have become too harsh.

We have had several people tell me that, 'they can't believe we butcher our animals' or 'how can you stand to eat them', the list goes on. That being said, sometimes you just have to eat them.

Let me tell you the problems with letting the roosters and drakes run around your farm for the rest of their lives:

1 - Roosters fight! I have had to break up numerous rooster fights and let me tell you, it's scary! There is very little that will break it up, and then they are very likely to come after you. Let me give you an example. When we got Tennessee, him and the easter egger were going at each other through the fence and they were tearing each other up. I was throwing buckets at them, whacking them with sticks and even spraying them with water and nothing was separating them! I spent about an hour on rooster patrol just breaking up fights. Even my chicken-killer dog Oppi was scared of them!

2 - They pull out my hen's feathers.

My poor little hens

will start to lose all their feathers from the excessive mating. Not to mention they will run the ragged chasing them around trying to catch them. My poor hens are already under enough stress, they don't need that.

3 - Feed costs. Feed is expensive! And rooster's eat a lot.

Most of the time, you are not going to break even when rearing poultry, all the extra mouths to feed makes it even harder.

It is possible to raise fowl and butcher them responsibly. Read some of my other blog posts about butchering to find a humane way to butcher.

I like the fact that my chickens have a much happier life than those in the store. My chickens are free-range, they have plenty of exercise and fresh air. We try to let our chickens have a happy life before we butcher. They get treats and have a pretty easy life.

I hope I have expressed some good reasons for the circle of life on a farm. Butchering is not for everyone, but I hope that those that do feel comfortable in their decision.