Home kill, do you?

My dad's family came to America directly from the Azores and all settled in the same sleepy town. Every year, twice a year, the family came together and purchased a cow and a couple of pigs and slaughtered them, dividing the parts and selling the bits (like the leather) they didn't use.

It was a great experience watching the whole process growing up -- not a thing was wasted (and so I have a taste for things like blood pudding and offal like brains).

And nothing is quite as delicious as freshly killed poultry. The stuff they sell in the markets doesn't really taste like chicken (which might be why I prefer tofu these days).
 
madebyyouandi said:
My dad's family came to America directly from the Azores and all settled in the same sleepy town. Every year, twice a year, the family came together and purchased a cow and a couple of pigs and slaughtered them, dividing the parts and selling the bits (like the leather) they didn't use.

It was a great experience watching the whole process growing up -- not a thing was wasted (and so I have a taste for things like blood pudding and offal like brains).

And nothing is quite as delicious as freshly killed poultry. The stuff they sell in the markets doesn't really taste like chicken (which might be why I prefer tofu these days).
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I would have loved being your neighbour.

Russ
 
Hey guys, I'm new. Here in Canada, "Urban Chickens" are becoming quite popular. A lot of people are enjoying the home kill concept here. They know what is going in their food, how it was processed, but cost varies. A rotisserie chicken is 5.99 at most supermarkets, and people would be hard pressed to raise a chick for that. Anyone from urban areas in other parts have experience raising chickens in town? Is it worth the cost? Can you get that cost down? Do neighbours care?

Cities have amended bylaws to be able to allow homes to have a variety of numbers. Its up to a city to make that kind of law up here so there is no real commonality.

Urban Hen Keeping Procedures and Guidelines | City of Edmonton - The capital city of Edmonton allowing multiple hens on a property. This made for some hot topics at council chambers a few years ago. Some pople loved the idea, others hated the idea of smell and noise.

Fun Fact - In Vermilion, AB you can have "Racing Pigeons" but no chickens. Pigeon racing sounds delightful!
https://www.vermilion.ca/en/your-government/resources/Bylaws2015/BYLAW17.15.pdf (Down the page to 5.2.10)
 
Imsotiredofnuggets said:
Hey guys, I'm new. Here in Canada, "Urban Chickens" are becoming quite popular. A lot of people are enjoying the home kill concept here. They know what is going in their food, how it was processed, but cost varies. A rotisserie chicken is 5.99 at most supermarkets, and people would be hard pressed to raise a chick for that. Anyone from urban areas in other parts have experience raising chickens in town? Is it worth the cost? Can you get that cost down? Do neighbours care?

Cities have amended bylaws to be able to allow homes to have a variety of numbers. Its up to a city to make that kind of law up here so there is no real commonality.

Urban Hen Keeping Procedures and Guidelines | City of Edmonton - The capital city of Edmonton allowing multiple hens on a property. This made for some hot topics at council chambers a few years ago. Some pople loved the idea, others hated the idea of smell and noise.

Fun Fact - In Vermilion, AB you can have "Racing Pigeons" but no chickens. Pigeon racing sounds delightful!
https://www.vermilion.ca/en/your-government/resources/Bylaws2015/BYLAW17.15.pdf (Down the page to 5.2.10)
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Hi neighbor!

I live in NE Ohio now in a small city (Akron) in the suburbs. I don't know anyone who has chickens and I'm not sure about the laws in my area. However, when I lived in Florida 25 years ago in a small beach community, I had a neighbor who had chickens. They had a rooster who cockadoodle-dooed at all hours. He was a very annoying, time-challenged bird. Eventually something happened and no more chickens. I'm not sure if enough people complained or if the owner just got tired of them.

Many people have laying hens and don't eat their birds, just the eggs, like our site owner SatNavSaysStraightOn. There are a few forum members (well at least one) who raise a variety of birds, like Mountain Cat.

Welcome to the forum!
 
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Backyard suburban coops are very popular here (southwestern Ohio), have been for 10 years or more. The same crowd who championed hanging out clothes ("It's just so...natural!") suddenly started raising chickens...but only for the eggs (as JAS says) or as...GASP!...accessories to show their "I'm doing something for the environment, dontcha know..." credibility. Those people - they'd spend a thousand dollars or more on a newfangled space-age coop, and order exotic breeds of chickens, they'd all die in two weeks' time, and the coop would be up on eBay the following month.

We raised chickens for a while as kids, but we raised nearly all our meat. One brother still raises chickens for eggs, and has done so for years (and also has bees for honey), and another brother raised them for a month, just because everyone else was doing it, but yeah, for quite a while, it seemed like every third house had a coop in the back yard.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I know she is off the grid, but I don't think she is living under a rock :giggle:
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Julia is much better known in the US than here. Many UK folk wouldn't know who she is - I do, but its only relatively recently that I found out about her. Some here might have seen the film 'Julia and Julia' so would recognise her name from that. Maybe its like Delia Smith here... not sure if you know of her or whether most folk in the US would.

Edit: I should add that her TV shows have never been shown on UK TV.
 
Morning Glory said:
Julia is much better known in the US than here. Many UK folk wouldn't know who she is - I do, but its only relatively recently that I found out about her. Some here might have seen the film 'Julia and Julia' so would recognise her name from that. Maybe its like Delia Smith here... not sure if you know of her or whether most folk in the US would.

Edit: I should add that her TV shows have never been shown on UK TV.
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I just figured that with the movie and the amount of time she was around and the length of time since the publication of her cookbooks, most people would have heard of her by now. Delia is still living and not that old, correct?
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I just figured that with the movie and the amount of time she was around and the length of time since the publication of her cookbooks, most people would have heard of her by now. Delia is still living and not that old, correct?
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Yeah Delia is still going. As is Mary Berry and she is old!
 
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