Should we butcher our rooster?

[Svyetii]

Thanks everyone! Your advice is much appreciated. I think the next thing I need to do is learn how to butcher a bird and decide from there if I’m up for it. And then find some good recipes for the age and type of bird.

Our family is definitely attached to the roo. I think Id probably have to do it in secret and then not tell them that we ate him until years later, lol. But if the process is reasonable, I may consider it. If I can find him a happy home with a good flock of ladies to live out his years with though, I may sell him.

 

[CedarLane]

Our family is definitely attached to the roo. I think Id probably have to do it in secret and then not tell them that we ate him until years later, lol. But if the process is reasonable, I may consider it. If I can find him a happy home with a good flock of ladies to live out his years with though, I may sell him.

Brings back memories from my childhood and the first time my dad raised chickens to butcher. The first mistake he made was in only buying 4 (Guess he wanted to see how it would go before he got more. He was raised on a farm so I'm surprised he was so cautious about it.) We children made the next mistake by giving each of them names. I won't describe how badly butchering day went but all 4 did make it to the freezer. For a long time after that every time we had chicken for supper, my brother and I would wonder, "Is this ----- or is it -----?", etc. It wasn't until years later that my mom told me that we never ate those 4 chickens until looooooong after my brother and I stopped asking, "Is this -----" She couldn't bear to serve it while were were still wondering. The next year Dad bought 25 chickens...and took them to a poultry processor to butcher. With 25 they never got names and we never got attached.