The Cycles of my Life

I have now experienced the entire life cycle of a chicken bred purely for consumption. Arriving as fat yellow chicks with throbbing butts, watching several die from egg yolk disease, 2 from heart attacks because they are genetically bred to grow so fast, and having 10 come the 4H stock show to choose the best 3 from....all in a short 6 week span. That's right - the chicken we eat goes from hatched egg to table ready in 6 weeks! Isn't that amazing? My egg hens I raise take 6 months before they lay a single egg - and grow so much slower! I wonder if I should take pause at eating a bird that has been selectively bred to gain weight (especially in the breast) so fast - that it's organs and bones can't keep up. These chickens lumber and plop down by the feed and sit to eat. They are fragile and finicky and die easily....they have heart attacks!! And we eat them!! However - I must say - I much prefer eating our own - knowing exactly what they were fed, and how humanely they were raised for their brief existence on this earth. Fresh water and bedding and food - twice a day. Sunlight and air - not darkness and poop!

I must also say....having a neighbor butcher them - outside and not in a factory that sees thousands of birds a day and is cleaned with chemicals - and then prepared and baked the next day.....


Well - it was worth it. I am considering how many chickens we would eat in a 2-3 month period - and just cycling those through our ranch. Start a new batch and in 6 weeks - butcher and put up...have a few weeks off, then get another batch....


No chemicals, no hormones, no ill treatment = great tasting dinner!

If we do incorporate meat chickens to our menagerie....*we already have eggs, venison and beef) - that would leave the final frontier of PORK. I like sausage, bacon and pork chops. I love a good pork tenderloin...but I am not sure about raising our own....I think it is because they are sooo smart! I think it would be like raising a dog and then eating it.....

I truly believe that every meat eating person should be required to go through the process - at least once - of raising and slaughtering and processing their own food. There has been such a distance between people and where their food comes from. Then again - their are some total food snobs out there that put me to shame! I am just saying that I do what I can with what I have - and we can all reach a little higher.

Just sharing a thought.....