Yes I did it. I had to kill about 100 chickens so that we could process them. I was really nervous to first do it, but after about 50 of them and once i finally got the technique down it became easier. For all of you people who are thinking, "Oh my god, how could you do that? You're such a terrible person." My response to that is that it would have had to be done sometime, and as a meat and chicken eater, I feel that for me to continue to eat those types of foods I should also be able to kill them. I should be able to handle the complete circle of life.
So the actual process of killing the chickens is pretty easy, yet really weird. You have to put them in this thing that holds them upside down with their head just sticking out. You cut 2 of their arteries so that they bleed out, and they bleed a lot. After about 20-30 seconds or so they start to notice that they are about to die, so they start to spasm. Yes, the chickens dont notice that i have just cut them open and they are bleeding out. When they are spasming they also poop so there is crap flying all over and the chicken is going crazy. The final part for the chicken is just it dies. It lies there lifeless and is a pretty odd view to see, and then you go to process them, which i havent done yet. Ill keep you posted on how it goes.
I find your post very interesting. I too agree that if you are going to eat an animal you have to be able to face killing it because you are in essence killing it by eating it. I am very surprised that they had you kill 100 though, that seems like a lot, but I can imagine that as time carries on it seems like just another task at hand. I think I would have a very similar mindset to you if I was stuck doing the same task. You have to realize that eating something is condoning the killing of it, however many people just couldn't stand the act of killing apart from the actual death of the chicken.
ReplyDeleteI find your description of the killing almost comical. Yes, it is killing, but the action seems like a show of shorts. I can almost picture you there standing around as the chicken gives its last gust of life in a hilarious fashion. I can imagine how serious the last portion of the chicken lying limp is though. Your tone in the paragraph changes completely, and I can imagine it is a hard sight to see at first. I hope to hear more about your chicken adventures to come.
I totally agree with your philosophy about being able to kill a chicken if you are going to eat it... Luckily I am a newfound vegetarian! Phew. I guess I always imagined chopping off a chicken's head to kill it as being THE way you kill a chicken. At least you didn't have to see a chicken running around headless. Your project sounds awesome, Noah. Have fun!
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