Saturday, January 17, 2009

Waste Not, Want Not

It's been a while since I've done a farm-themed post. So here's one. When was the last time you thought about where your food comes from? I had a little refresher just this afternoon.

We've had four leghorn hens out in our chicken coop. But I've noticed that one of them is an inconsistent layer. We named her Quasimodo because of her misshapen feet back when we weren't sure if she was male or female. It's those same feet that probably keep her from proper scratching, which likely affects her laying. Long story short, I got tired of feeding a chicken that's not producing.

We've eaten old layers in the past, and even though this one wasn't that old, we opted to donate her to a local Chinese restaurant. I called them up to see if they'd like her. (Our neighbors have donated their old layers there, which is how we found out about them.) I explained that it would be a lot easier for me to wring her neck here and bring her in freshly dead. That was fine with them, they just asked that I bring her in a box.

All went well. I have to say that it felt good knowing that she wouldn't be wasted and that someone was going to get a nice bit of tiny spicy chicken from her. But every time I have to "harvest" a chicken it makes me think a bit more about those boneless, skinless ones I buy from the store. My convenience is someone else's gore.

4 comments:

Flashlight Girl said...

I had never thought of finding a home for our no-longer-producing hens. . . We actually inherited a couple more layers from my sister-in-law recently. They are great layers! I know we have one of the six that isn't laying every day, but I don't know which one it is. . . I guess I'll just continue to provide a happy home.

Shauna said...

Hope you have a beautiful weekend! ♥ Hugs :)

Suko said...

Great photo!

Allie's Antics said...

I want to stay in the happy place of buying my chicken at Sam's. I cannot believe you "take care of them" yourself! What a woman! I am very impressed. I will think twice before eating any tiny spicy!