Chicken killin' day...

I don't raise meat chickens, I only butcher my layers when they've come to the end of the road (2 1/2 years normally)... this year the coop is crowded and egg production has dropped sharply despite having 12 fresh layers that should be pumping out eggs... I think it's stress from the crowding of the old-birds that are no longer laying...

I dread this day... not that I've become particularly attached to the hens, although they have grown on my a little, just that I hate taking an animal's life in a manner that is so intimate (slitting the throat)... especially an animal that has lived in my back yard for 2 1/2 years...

Honestly, I wouldn't even do it if it wasn't for the fact that I HATE wasting anything... I can buy chicken that's already butchered and prepped for $1-2 per pound... I will spend at least 10 minutes per bird cleaning them up just to get a few lbs of meat each... and the meat is only soup pot quality... alas, I cannot waste it, so I do it... as much as a dread doing it...

Sorry if this seems like a complaining thread; just sharing my feelings hoping it will make it easier...

I thought about giving them all away... but my family LOVES my home-made chicken soup, and it's just not the same with store-bought stock... so chicken butchering time means I put up quite a bit of home-made chicken stock for chicken soup...

I tried finding somebody that would be willing to butcher them fairly reasonably but no luck...

We've always done both our old layers ourselves as well as 50 broilers every year.
The broilers do become a bit of a production, but not too bad if we all pitch in.

They found out most of their friends just drop their birds off with local Amish or Mennonites and get them back wrapped and ready for $2-3 apiece.
Wanted to know why we don't do that/
I tell them it builds character and they NEED to know how.

(But as soon as they're all out of the house, I'm farming it out to the Amish...

I found a local guy that does it on the side, he asked how much I would be willing to pay, I said no more than $5 each; he declined... $2-3 each and I'd be all in... bummer I can't find a deal like that...

That being said, first 3 gallon batch of chicken stock and chicken chunks is finished and cooling, 2nd batch starting now for an overnight simmer... the house smells delicious!!!!

There's something wrong with anybody who actually enjoys doing it.  To me it's dose of reality; an honest perspective of the true cost of feeding yourself.  Everyone should have to do it.

We have a conundrum, a 3rd world problem, in a 1st world setting. Strange.

Well put. I like my chickens even the stupid rooster.  They are a farm animal though not a pet.  I treat them well, feed them well, and look out for their welfare.  I feel the loss when I lost some to neighborhood dogs and then a fox.  I didn't want them to die under stress even though that is a natural part of life and the real food chain. Frankly a quick end at my hand is better way to go than being pulled through a broken fence by a dog.