# Do You Raise Any Animals For Food?



## ktownskier (Aug 22, 2018)

No, but I have wanted to raise chickens for quite awhile. And, yes I will build the pens myself. 

Just waiting on our next house. With a bit more yard. Like 5 acres.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I tried that with rabbits, built the cages and shed. Man I had rabbits coming out of my ears. When it came time to kill and dress the rabbits, I just couldn't bring myself to kill them cute little furry animals, gave them all away with the stipulation they wouldn't kill them. LOL

I would love to have a few chickens but living in the city... I really don't know if I could even kill one of those. I have in the past but it really bothered me.


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## ktownskier (Aug 22, 2018)

BigJim said:


> I tried that with rabbits, built the cages and shed. Man I had rabbits coming out of my ears. When it came time to kill and dress the rabbits, I just couldn't bring myself to kill them cute little furry animals, gave them all away with the stipulation they wouldn't kill them. LOL
> 
> I would love to have a few chickens but living in the city... I really don't know if I could even kill one of those. I have in the past but it really bothered me.


I understand your issues BigJim. It would be hard to do. Especially after naming them and rearing them. 

I used to go hunting for wild fowl and upland game and I have had to wring a few necks and it felt weird. Especially for a suburban white boy who got his meat from a grocery store. I swore that I would raise my kids knowing where the food came from. They are now both in their 20's and know that chickens from chicken farms, Beef comes from cattle (they have seen calves being born.) And Hot Dogs come from another world. 

If you live in an urban environment, take your kids to the state fair. Have them see eggs being laid, chickens being raised and the final products. It may give them a better idea of how the world works. 

Just my nickles worth.


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## Admin (Dec 8, 2003)

When I was growing up, we had a small hobby farm with ducks, geese, chicken, rabbits, pigs, 1 horse (mine) and a really mean rooster that I hated.

Our freezers were always full of meat but my daddy did pay someone to kill some of the animals, especially the pigs because he just couldn't do it. There really is no bacon out there like the bacon you raised. The flavor was incredible.

I cannot count how many times we were out chasing pigs that found a way out. My daddy would walk up shaking their food and they would follow him right back in. He built all of the fences, sheds, a small horse barn, and pens himself.


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## Admin (Dec 8, 2003)

BigJim said:


> I tried that with rabbits, built the cages and shed. Man I had rabbits coming out of my ears. When it came time to kill and dress the rabbits, I just couldn't bring myself to kill them cute little furry animals, gave them all away with the stipulation they wouldn't kill them. LOL
> 
> I would love to have a few chickens but living in the city... I really don't know if I could even kill one of those. I have in the past but it really bothered me.


Oh my gosh, that just brought back a memory of my daddy from many years ago when he tried to kill his first rabbit. He hit it over the head (like he was taught) then nailed it to a post to prepare to skin it. The rabbit suddenly reached up and bit him.


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## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

Raised, beef, pigs, chickens, and a few rabbits, and also processed deer and turkey I harvested from my acreage. Don't do it any more as it is just two of us and we are gaining in age every day. No qualms about butchering as I realize that is the way things work.
Last pig I had was a feral pig I confined and fed. Had it commercially processed, but it was just too fatty. (fed it a lot of corn) 

RR :smile::smile:


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I did in my other life.:biggrin2:


Beef- to slaughter / packing house. Chickens- home process. Hogs- some home process cure hams and bacon, some slaughter house / packing house. Milk- home process / non homogenized / non pasteurized. If the cow ate even one bite of Rag Weed, spit the milk out and feed the remainder to the pigs, dogs and cats, they didn't mind.


We still laugh at the wife's first attempt of home made cottage cheese. It was the best tasting little light green ball of mozzarella cheese you ever ate.:vs_laugh: Then my mother mentioned to the wife how to test it for temperature with her finger and the second batch actually looked like cottage cheese.

Our daughter will always remember the ram lamb and the rooster at chore time. Rams wanted a head on collision and the rooster, named Brooster ll , wanted to attack from the rear, and of course simultaneously. I think she may have finally talked her brothers in to doing her chores and I hope she doesn't discover I said that.


Then there was cattle heel flies ( Warbles ) to deal with, hogs with lice, chickens with both lice and mites and those were the good ole days.

One of our sons, that's an avid hunter, took one White Tail to a local commercial facility. Never again, although his hunts in CO and WY get processed in those states. He has been treated well in both states.


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

By all means, eat them while you can!

My wife talked me into getting pet ducks. Who knew they could live for 15 years?!?!

Yes, I built a house (coop) and a caged, covered pen, then an outdoor run with a pond.

Good news is someone paid me $100 for the coop when the last little bugger finally died. They thought it was a bargain. Said they're going elsewhere for $500 and up. They even took the pen. Sure is nice to see grass growing there again! Who knew a 15-year-old shed I built for like $200 would return $100? I'm in the wrong business!


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

CaptTom said:


> By all means, eat them while you can!
> 
> My wife talked me into getting pet ducks. Who knew they could live for 15 years?!?!
> 
> ...


 OH that's hilarious.

My parents raised Mallards for sale at thanksgiving time. Was my job as a kid to feed them. We couldn't stand to eat the stinken things but people came from town and paid top dollar.


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## gthomson (Nov 13, 2016)

I did want a couple chickens, but my city doesn't allow them on lots under 10,000sqft, and mine is 7400sqft. Many still have them and nobody complains. I could never kill the chickens, though - after they were done with laying eggs, they'd just be pets.
But while waiting for the city to approve them on smaller lots, I switched to being vegan.
So now I don't even need them for the eggs - if I had them, they'd just be pets 
But Chipper my pooch - he'd not want them in his back yard space - he goes crazy protective (barking/traumatizing) when another animal starts to encroach on his space. So his instincts are just too strong to have chickens running around anyway.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Cricket said:


> Oh my gosh, that just brought back a memory of my daddy from many years ago when he tried to kill his first rabbit. He hit it over the head (like he was taught) then nailed it to a post to prepare to skin it. The rabbit suddenly reached up and bit him.


This reminded me of a neighbor when I lived out in the sticks years back. I knew these folks who had never lived in the country and were still learning things. They raised a turkey named Charley. The fellow heard if you opened the turkey's mouth and stuck a knife upward in it, it would kill the turkey instantly with no pain.

Well his wife did, they were out in this shack boiling water and cleaning ole Charlie, after the knife deal. She had almost all of ole Charlie's feather pulled and he came back around, jumped up and ran out the door. That was a strange sight. lol

The fellow was killing chickens to dress. He told me hey check this out, I have a better way than wringing their necks. He was holding them against his chest and pulling their neck hard and it did kill the chicken. I told him to check out his shirt, every time he killed a chicken like that, it would poop on his shirt. He had chicken stuff all over his blame shirt.

One more the guy did. We were bush hogging a field with his tractor. He told me to come with him, he had found a bunch of Turkey Hawks up a tree. I turned the bend and looked up, they were buzzards.

Back when I was a kid when it came time to kill hogs, I would go as far as I could back in the woods, I just couldn't stand to hear the hogs squealing when they killed them. Most times they would just drop but some times the bullet would glance and the hogs would go crazy, I couldn't stand that. Call me a wimp or what ever, I just can't stand to see anything killed.

Now after it is dead, I can hang in there with the best of them cleaning, as long as I can clean, then get away, get a breath and go back to cleaning. I hate the smell with a passion. I didn't make a good country boy. lol


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Used to raise Ducks and Geese.

Ever have a mean old Gander grab you by the pants leg, trying to fight you for his girls?

Hilarious.

All I was doing was feeding them. 

Built the Duck house, added a See-Mint pond for them .

Sold the Ducks to a local Chinese restaurant, the Geese went to Some Church Christmas dinners. 

That See-mint pond is still there, I have plans to use it as a water feature, coy pond thing, but it probably won't happen. 

I've told this before, as a kid we had Chickens, and once when Mom was Wringing some necks, one Chicken hit the ground running spurting blood, it ran under the clothesline with fresh laundry drying.

Well that laundry was re-washed, and Mom never Wrung another neck on laundry day.

ED


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

We used to raise goats and pigs. There is nothing like fresh killed mutton stew or pork that was slow roasted on a spit.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

> It would be hard to do. Especially after naming them and rearing them.


Do not ever name (or allow your kids to name) any animal that you intend to eat.

Names tend to move them from food to pet.


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## 1995droptopz (Sep 14, 2010)

Back when we lived on 10 acres we started with a half dozen egg layers. I built an 8x8 shed kit for the coop, then attached a 10x20 chicken wire pen to the back of it. Eventually we added turkeys and Cornish rocks for meat. 

I killed and dressed my first turkey, but it wasn’t really a good time. I found a place nearby that would do it for $3 per chicken and $8 per turkey. I dropped them off live in the morning and picked them up in bags in the afternoon.

We never let the kids name them or get attached. The only acceptable names were BBQ, parmesan, soup, Alfredo....


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## woodypecker (Aug 6, 2016)

I was trying to see if I could raise chickens for eggs, since my household eats a lot of eggs. but my small little village in the country won't let me, saying that it would disturb the neighbors. but yet my brother, who lives in NYC can raise chickens. go figure.


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