Monday, July 7, 2008

CHICKENS AND FARM FRESH EGGS


Aren't they beautiful? I have always wanted to raise chickens for fresh eggs but then I come up against the killing part when they are no longer laying eggs. I also think it would be nice to have them eat bugs in your garden. But to be honest, I know I want kill them and would keep feeding them until they died of old age. So I guess I will just have to let this idea go.

Right after we got married, his Grandmother, who had wonderful chickens, killed one and brought it to me to clean. I tried,,I really did. I got all the feathers off and cut it open and tried to get the insides out,,but when I reached up inside and found that still warm mess,,,,well, that was that. I did not accept any more chickens. I like my chickens cold and without faces and feet, the way they come from the grocery store.
I would not make a good farm wife, although the idea appeals to me immensely. I am just not cut out for killing things. Or apparently, even cleaning them after someone else does it. But if we were starving and I had to do it, I would. I am a realist. But Dear God, please don't let me have to clean a warm chicken again. I'll peel shrimp till my fingers bleed, I'll snap peas till my arm falls off, and I'll shuck corn until it cries Uncle, but please Lord, don't make me clean a warm chicken again.

10 comments:

Susie said...

Eve I can't even imagine trying to clean a chicken, especially if it was warm. If I owned chickens they would all turn gray before I would kill them.

Julie said...

Oh gosh...I would not be able to do it. I have always lived in the city. Ewwwwwwywwwwww!!!

Gail said...

So true Eve, I can't even begin to imagine having a pet be my dinner. It would of course become a pet with a name and identity! Funny you wrote about this; my sister wants chickens and I asked her what she would do to protect them from neighborhood cats and where they would live in the winter. Reality is tough on our fantasies!

Gail

tina said...

Was it a rite of passage for the grandson's new wife to have to butcher a chicken? I am with you-no thanks!

JunieRose2005 said...

Eve,

We had chickens until a few years ago...We moved here from Miami 20 years ago and went through all the farm stuff!

I LOVED having chickens but never wanted to kill any of them- (and we never DID more than maybe a couple, and I refused to have anything to do with the cleaning and preparing) LOL- how can you eat a chicken you've watched hatch and given a name to! I couldn't!

Well, it DID get out of hand and at one point we had around 20 roosters...:0 The crowing in the mornings was something fantastic to hear!!

I loved watching the chickens and became very attached to certain ones. I had a mixed flock- with all kinds. My favorites were the bantams and I had a little hen named Lovey-Dovey for a long time. She became a pet! (lol- I have written about her on my blog)

Hawks became a problem, though, and I finally gave up and now do not want any more chickens. Too often I saw my favorites get caught by hawks!


LOL_ sorry to go on so... You just brought back a lot of memories for me!


Junie

Skeeter said...

I am right there with ya Eve. No way could I kill an animal! Ants, yes, animal NO. I have moles digging highways in the garden but still cannot find it in my being to kill them! LOL.

Some neighbors once had chickens and we would get fresh eggs from them. I would never go look at their chickens as I did not like the idea of eating their young!

Our next door neighbors had chickens. They found their way into our yard and under our corn bucket where we feed the deer. We enjoyed watching them peck around and they never caused us any trouble. The ding a lings (people) did not have a pen for them and they slowly disappeared one by one. Fox and Coyote ate well that summer!

Friends in Texas once served us fresh chicken they plucked that morning. Everyone just ranted as to how wonderful it tasted. I took a few bites and just could not bring myself to eat it since I had been playing with its friends a few minutes earlier!

I think all meat comes from the grocery and as you say, without heads and feet... Wish I were a vegetarian but I like my hamburgers way too much to give them up! If I had to kill it, I would be a vegetarian! Heck, I don’t even like to thin out the veggie seedlings as I feel like I am killing something! LOL… Oh, how I need to grow up… LOL

DP Nguyen said...

Haha! What a funny post. I cannot imagine having to kill a chicken. Yikes. I cannot eat something that i've seen alive. I agree iwth you. I'd rather buy a chicken in the store than raise one and kill it. Yuck

Beth said...

Hi Eve:
Thanks for visiting my blog!
I am opposed to killing things too but I could never be a vegetarian - I love beef and poultry too much.

I've never been to Mississippi - I bet you can grown all kinds of things down there that you can't in the Midwest. But I suppose you have some limitations too with heat and humidity.

Melissa Stover said...

i've always wanted chickens. that's one thing my husband won't give in to.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.