FYI article:
What raising and harvesting chickens taught me about killing in the service of living.
modernfarmer.com
Caution: RANT
I have raised/"slaughtered" chickens.
The worst thing that happened to my chickens was a weasel chasing/killing them in their enclosure.
When I butcher, I thank my bird and I make it quick so the pain is brief.
I have been proud of how I have kept birds in a clean coop, with clean water and plenty of food, often leftovers like tomato and other vegetable pieces we didn't want to eat.
I don't have any chickens at the moment bc that creepy weasel might come back, and I need to put in some time and effort on my setup. Next year, again, for Sure.
Sometimes I will drive by where others keep livestock...badly. Cattle in small enclosures on dirt, yes, with hay, but cramped. Pigs crowded in together, falling apart chicken coops/runs, one time I saw horses in a smallish turnout that had a farming disc stored in the middle, an accident waiting to happen.
Not to make anybody uncomfortable, but sometimes livestock owners gamble that winter weather without a run in building won't kill their cattle. Those are the stories we hear every winter when herds are wiped out by severe cold.
Cattle can tolerate manure on the floor, the extreme cold and wind can do them in. That is cruel, IMHO.
I often wonder about the customers that my hay man delivers to in the winter that do NOT have hay storage.
If any of them "show" their horses, and took only one season Off, they could afford a morton metal building to store hay. Not great for stalls, bc Cold in the winter, hot in the summer, but hay doesn't care, as long as it stays dry.
Same building could stop the wind for cattle, and often that is all that they need.
If butchering hens makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. Sell your old hens to somebody who wants them, and then wonder how They "slaughter" them.
If the idea of killing your food makes your uncomfortable, join the large number of vegetarians.
Btw, purchased eggs were Never fertilized, so you can still eat them.
I make no apologies for criticizing "bleeding hearts virtue signalling."
