[kitkat]

I keep reading, and i dont mean on here , that by keeping chickens but not rearing for the table yet still eating chicken is hypocritical, is that the general opinion?
       I have no problem with anyone who rears meat at  all , as long as its had a good life, i think its fine, but i cant[wish i could] and i'll never be able to do it. I would buy other peoples though.
       All my chooks are just pets, is that so wrong?
  They are all spoiled and i love them as much as my cats and dogs, but i couldn't eat the cat either

        Does this make me a hypocrite?

[poultrygeist]

Plenty of people receive medical care but would not be willing to care for the sick.

Non-drivers take taxis instead of walking everywhere.

I doubt you could keep a few cows and pigs but you can happily eat beef or pork.
I don't think it's at all hypocritical and is a personal choice. It's good that you only eat chicken that's been well kept. Beyond that, enjoy your chickens and don't feel guilty

Rob

[iwantanallotment]

No kitkat, we're all just different  
Some of us need some distance between ourselves and the meat we eat, that's all.

I couldn't eat anything if I'd seen its face, watched it or fed it, I'd find it too hard to detach.

But I can understand that others are able to do that, and neither is right or wrong  

[craig1981]

since ive been kepping chickens (approximately 4 months ) i have changed the way i shop in regards to chickens at the supermarket . I wont go near a bird that isnt free range so now buy all my chooks from my local butcher who guarantees me they had a good life . Its alot more expensive but it makes me feel good . In my humble opinion we cant change the way the world works but if our little bit of it is ethically run then thats the best we can do . However im with you and i could never eat my birds as there pets but would never ever judge those that do as there birds have had a cracking life

[jo40]

I couldn't eat my hens.   :(We had a good laugh at our selves as we buried our slaughtered by the fox hens at the bottom of the garden with the cat, then paid over the odds for our ethically reared dinner from the supermarket.
Like has already been said, some of us need to create some distance between us and the meat we eat, I haven't been able to roast a whole chicken for ages and I must admit I'm beginning to struggle with fillets too. Good job the family like fish
Jo   
 

[Debz]

I am quite happy to eat chicken that I buy (usually free range) but I could never eat my girls.  I regard them as pets in the same way that I have had rabbits and guinea pigs in the past and wouldn't eat them either.

[nzdunn]

My hubby keeps joking with me that if Winnie doesnt lay soon she will be good for Christmas,  so i said to him seriously would you do the deed and eat winnie and he said "definately", i just couldnt do it, im so attached to my girls they became life long pets the moment they came into my life, i have to agree with others now my attitudes are changing to the way i shop, before i would have got a chicken from a certain big chain supermarket now i wont touch it, have you seen the price of them these days, theres more water in them than meat.   Nickyx

[chickenlady]

I couldnt eat any of my laying girls! but i would consider raising some meat chicks though!  sounds strange i know but others on here have pet chickens for eggs who they wouldnt eat if they died etc, (we buried our 2 girls that died earlier this year) and then they grow on some meat birds which are for eating!and as with my growers, any that im not keeping for my own flock i distance myself from as i know they will be going to new homes! everyone is different and has different views! the world would be a pretty boring place if we were all the same!

Debbie

[kitkat]

I'm pleased i'm not on my own then.
   I had a cockerel turn very aggressive on me earlier in the year, and we all know its never a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you! So OH culled him and i gave him to the neighbour to eat, he said it was the best chicken he'd ever eaten and i'm pleased my boy didn't die for nothing.
   It seems to be more over here that people have this attitude that you should eat your own and i read again last night that its hypocritical not to, this from other Brits It annoys me I dont have a problem with people rearing their own for the table, but i shouldn't be made to feel wrong for not doing it myself

[AmandaH]

No kitkat, it doesn't make you a hypocrite, it just makes you human!

If you keep chickens as pets, which my new ex-batts essentially are (eggs are a happy side effect), then you should no more want to eat them than you would your cat or dog.

I know some people see it as a bit "odd" if you are affectionate over your animals (I recently lost my cat of 15 years and some people were a bit "but it's only a CAT, why are you so upset?") but, in my experience, people who are kind to animals are also kind to humans - important in this nasty greedy world we live in...

And I wouldn't want to eat my cat either - all that fluff, ugh!    

[raeburg]

Personally I couldn't rear birds for the table, but that's my choice (and yours too).  I had no problem eating the lamb that we had bottle fed, when we were children.  I wouldn't want to eat my ex bats, if nothing else there's no meat on them and at 2.5 years old it would be rather tough

[Swing Swang]

Kitkat,

The way I see it is that we have different obligations towards the animals that surround us, and these differ depending on our relationships with them. I feel that the issue has more to do with us rather than the animal. So when it comes to eating the whole animal, or just its eggs, it’s our relationship with the animal that’s important. Opinions will therefore differ depending upon this relationship, which may explain the accusation levelled against you.

For example we have wild animals, semi-domesticated animals, and companion animals. Some animals do fall in between these groupings, for example a pheasant on a shooting estate isn’t truly wild but then it’s not really semi-domesticated either.
 
I consider that there are a couple of inversely proportional scales which operate in human-animal interactions. The first relates to our responsibilities to the species and the second to the individual animal.

With wild animals we have a lesser responsibility to the individual than to the species, by which I mean that whilst an individual act of cruelty is abhorrent and an individual death may be upsetting (for example when you see a fox run under the wheel of a car), it’s more important to maintain the correct environment/habitat in which the species can thrive.

At the other end of the scale with a companion animal it’s the individual that’s paramount, the species is less important. It’s still a consideration though, as, for example, I feel that it’s irresponsible of us to deliberately breed animals with debilitating defects for aesthetic reasons.

We would not normally eat a pet because of the way in which we have exalted its status to an honourary member of the household, although if a such a pet produced a by-product then you probably wouldn’t be adverse to using it either. I’m thinking here, say, of using the naturally shed feather of a pet parrot as a bookmark.

Your actions are quite logical as you treat your fowl more as pets, rather than as semi-domesticated animals. Other readers will have a different relationship with their chickens and consequently their behaviour towards them will be different.

A hypocrite does not practice what they preach, and this does not seem to apply in your case.

SS

[Aunt Sally]

I only have space for 2 hens - eat one of those and my egg production would drop by 50% 

[Casey76]

At the weekend I culled, plucked and dressed one of my cocks as I had received complaints from the neighbours about him being too noisy (living in rural France, I'd get laughed at for trying to rehome him).

I then give the "finished product" to a friend - though mainly because 8.4lbs of chicken is a lot for one person to eat, and I have no room in my freezer at the minute.

Next year I plan to raise some more chicks and, as a rule, don't have any problems culling the boys for the table.

I don't think I could eat my laying hens though.  For one thing they are far too skinny

[Ourveggiepatch]

When i was young our family had 8 hens just for their eggs, they were part of the family wandering all around the garden and even popped into the kitchen to pick crumbs off the floor (when mum and I were baking).

One day the hatch came down (nail gave way I think) and killed one outright.  Mum dressed it for the freezer - i didn't know this bit and when I was asked to get some bread out of the freezer mum was amazed I was able to recognise the hen.

When she cooked it I refused to eat it as to me it was as much a pet as a layer, when she tried carving it, it was like old boot leather - even the dogs couldn't eat through the meat.

Now though if I had hens or other animal stock i would have no issue with having it killed, I would be happy to gut and prepare it and eat it, however I couldn't do the actual killing though - too much of a softie.

OVP