Butchering.

We killed a rooster yesterday. He was our only rooster.

Seth and I bought four more pullets yesterday on a whim while taking his uncle Ronnie to the feed store. We pulled into the parking lot and in a cage right in front of us were four young, beautiful Barred Rock ladies. I find these to be among the most beautiful of all chickens, even if they are fairly common, and I've wanted this breed since way back when my grandfather started his last flock about 10 years ago.

These four made our grand total 14 chickens-- 11 hens, 1 rooster and 2 unknowns. We have a small cage for the 4 chicks we have, the old hay ring cage and a larger more permanent coop that we've recently acquired.

Ronnie's hen and rooster were living in the hay ring separate from the fantastic four. We took a look at them yesterday and decided that the rooster was in such bad condition, physically and psychologically, from living for however long he did in that little cage at Ronnie's, that we were going to 'dispatch' him.

I ended up being the one to kill him. I've never done this before in my life. I've seen my uncles field dress deer and rabbits and squirrels, and I knew a chicken (an old rooster who attacked me) that was killed by my grandfather. Then there was the deer and the little bird last year, both shot by Seth, that I helped clean and cook.

This was new though. Although this rooster had a panicky temperament and was fearful and stressed, when the time came to kill him, calm passed over him and he submitted. Both Seth and I felt that we were doing the right thing for this poor old guy, and we believe that the rooster may have even felt that way.

People should not eat meat if they can't kill animals. They just shouldn't. After yesterday, I am horrified at the distance most Americans have from their food, especially their animal products. I've always been horrified, but now even moreso.

I was a vegetarian for 5 years because I absolutely detest factory farming, I detest the standard American diet, and I detest animal abuse. Last year I was horrified to hear a girl in my COLLEGE Biology class respond with horror when the teacher told her that meat came from the muscle of animals.

"Are you serious?!" She grimaced, "I'm never eating meat again!"
Good.

A friend of mine recently became a vegetarian. Curious, I asked her why, and she says "if you just think about what meat is... just think about it! It's kind of gross."
So she had never thought about it until she was 19 years old?

I'm sorry. Some people are just SO removed and clueless.
When you've actually killed an animal by your own hands with intention, the process is holy. You cannot watch something die like that without experiencing a great connection and reverence for that creature. Death comes so easy, and life is so fleeting, and this is what more Americans need to understand.

How sad it is that people pass the 'dirty work' on to someone else, but are still willing to mindlessly consume the product. Chicken doesn't arrive on this planet battered and fried.

How sad it is that to Americans today, death is something to be done and dealt with behind closed doors and never experienced as a course of daily life. This holds true with the death of our loved ones as well as the source of our food.

Death is here. We cannot deny it.

I will make another post soon on this topic. For now though, the chicken count is 13. We have 11 ladies and 2 unknowns. I'm hoping for a roo and hen pair.