Fresh chicken

We get a lot of grief about our raising chickens for meat. It does annoy me, but I try not to show it. Some of our friends do not raise chickens, or other animals, really. They seem to think it's just weird or "ick", especially the butchering part (well, that part IS quite "ick")

We often find ourselves around friends/acquaintences/new people we meet who raise chickens and have met a few, what shall I call them. . .chicken "snobs" ? I don't know. What I mean by this is people who love raising chickens (as we do) and favor either the heritage breeds or basically the slower-growing meat birds. Well, more than favor, more like think it's wrong to grow the Cornish rock crosses which we raise. I have even heard them call them those genetically modified birds.

Come on now. They are certainly their own thing. Not the pretty, hardy dual-purpose birds, just fast-growing, heavy eating birds, which are ugly when old enough to butcher. They are NOT genetically modified, just selectively bred. Think of all the other odd crosses you see in other species, such as dogs. . .peek-a-poo or whatever they all are. . .Selective breeding is not looked down upon in cases like that!

Anyhow, back to our meat birds. We butcher them at about 8 weeks. In the best of all worlds, if we had a barn, and lots of pasture land, more money, etc etc. . .I'd LOVE to raise the heritage or dual-purposes for meat. But that's not where we are right now. Right now, what is practical for us to raise for meat is the Cornish crosses. We raise them so we know where our food is coming from, and they taste good!

Honestly, what is my option? I could buy chicken from the supermarket or feed my kids with these that we are able to raise. And I'll tell you I am more satisfied with feeding us these than the alternative. Ah well, So I'll just paste a smile on and let those comments roll right off, and continue to feed my family food that I know where it came from.