The Pros and Cons of Raising Meat Chicken

[DogAndCat36]

Have you ever raised meat chickens yourself? I have and let me tell you, it is a true mentally unstable nightmare in my opinion. So it is time to pull out the old box of the pros and cons of raising meat chickens. This post is about the meat chickens that are specifically bred to be so big that horrible problems occur (I don't know how many times their size). Please also note that I am not ranting or attempting to harass meat chicken farmers, the point of this post is to inform, and warn newbie chicken owners of the problems of raising meat chickens.​

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(Please note that I am new here and I don't know if this is where I put this post)​

(Also my family has raised over three flocks of meat chicken so I know a bit of the hardship included and the all heartbreak in its wake)​

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The Pros​

• Fresh meat, doesn't anyone love that? (besides vegans and vegetarians sorry guys... fresh tofu, anyone?)
• You can actually know where your food comes from.
• If you like to eat the organs, well... you got em all now.
• You can raise your own organic meat.
• Quick source of meat. (quick if you compare it to the ones that are not bred for meat)
• You can try the weird and unusual parts like the feet and brain. (Kinda crazy, I know)

The Cons​

• Because meat chickens are obese, they are more desperate to wrap their beaks around any bit of food, because of this knawing constant hunger they tend to bond quickly to their owners and trust them with their lives.
• Chickens have feelings and can also feel betrayal, so when it is time for the chopping block, it is like their world is shattering right before their eyes. (Fun little messed up fact: The head of any creature, when detached from the rest of the body, is still alive for a few seconds, before dying from choking, blood loss, and other things, quick? NO! The head-chopping is as painful as any other day chicken put down method, maybe even more than most.)
• Meat chickens legs have a problem catching up will their weight, and where does that lead to? Twig legs and broken bones.
• Just because of these meat chicken's rapid growth, health issues increase greatly, the lungs strain, the chicken is constantly stressed, higher chance of becoming egg bound, this strange seizure-like problem that occurs because of basically all of the organs fail and the chicken dies on it's back, and many more things.
• You will have to kill the chicken when it is only 4 months old or so so that the meat is not tense.
• If you bond with the poor creature, it would still have to be killed young, it's for the best. (Trust me, I saw a 1-year-old meat chicken, all it did was cry in agony, limp, and desperately tried to breathe, it was also egg-bound, we had to put the poor girl down. ;-

These are only a few of the pros and cons of owning meat chickens. Please remember that the purpose of this is to inform and warn people of the hardships of meat chickens and when I say meat chickens, I mean the ones that don't look like their natural size. I've seen normal meat chickens before but I am not talking about them, though some of the pros and cons still include them.

-This is DogAndCat35 reporting out, stay funky and aware.

 

[Molpet]

Pro
They have a better life than the ones that the store sells

 

[DogAndCat36]

Pro
They have a better life than the ones that the store sells

Yep, definitely, they actually see the sun and are able to sunbathe and groom each other.

 

[Clearwater Chicken]

I have helped raise a lot of meat birds. I hate cornish cross which is now the go-to meat bird. we have always used freedom rangers which grow slower, and now we use the kill cones and we slit the throat of the chicken. and we have never had health problems because of their growth rate. The chickens were there for a reason too. I think you are thinking of cornish cross as your "meat Chicken"

My pros: no health problems do to choice of breed

My cons: shame to kill such a beautiful bird

 

[Mylied]

I've raised cornish cross. I'm vegetarian. I raise them for my family. I've not had one snap its legs or have breathing problems. I haven't raised them up to the point they are laying eggs. I don't bond with them because I know their purpose. And they sure don't feel betrayal. Where's the scientific proof to that?

My cons: It's hard to take a life. The end.