4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[The Dogmother]

I know that other chicken keepers get asked this question.... but why do people always ask that? Here's what I've just blogged:

 

Isn't is funny how when new acquaintances hear that you keep chickens, they invariably ask whether you eat them? I'm always tempted to say 'yes' just to stop them in their tracks. I had this yesterday - the lovely couple next door had a visitor yesterday, who was admiring the chooks over the fence when she asked the inevitable question. I gave the well rehe"Ooops, word censored!"d answer explaining that they are egg layers, not meat birds, so don't have enough meat on them to be worth eating. 'But WOULD you eat them?'....would you eat your cat or dog? I didn't reply that, but pointed out that I might if I were starving (god, what a stirrer I am ), but as that's not likely to happen it's just a theoretical question anyway. Then came the statement I'd been waiitng for.. 'I'm a vegetarian'.. well, fine, so was I for quite some time until I was able to source meat that I was happy with the provenance of; I am an 'ethical meat eater'. If there's no meat available that I am happy to eat, then I just go veggie again, no fuss or statement or justification, it's just a way of life. I told her that a very good friend of mine is a very strict vegetarian, keeps ex-battery hens ... but doesn't eat them Couldn't resist it!

 

What are your anecdotes on this subject?

[Guest]

Was asked this question on MSN about 10 mins ago - by an old friend who has totally forgotten I'm vegetarian!

[crazygal]

The last time I was asked this question- which was only last week- I answered-

 

"I don't reckon my children would be too keen to come home from school, ask what's for tea, and be told its "chicken tonight", and then discover that there is one less chicken outside!!"

 

I'm always at pains to explain that our chickens are our pets, but my husband does make jokes that our biggest chicken is looking quite tasty these days....

 

To be honest I don't really mind the same old questions over again, at least people are showing an interest!

[Shirl]

I've never been asked if I'd eat them . I think people know me better than that.

[Guest]

i was even offered recipes when I got mine! I think he was joking though, the guy that said it is French, nuff said!

 

p.s. he's a friend and I'm not having a go at The French nation in general, just the sterotype!

[The Dogmother]

It just amuses me that the same question crops up time and again - does it show a lack of aforethought or imagination.... do they just say the first thing that come into their heads?

 

Thinking about it, I should have pointed to our big fluffy bunnies and said... 'no, but they're for dinner tomorrow'

 

Don't get me wrong, I;m not the slightest bit touchy about the thought of eating chicken, just curious about how the same query always pops up.

[Angels4]

I too get asked that question quite frequently. Usually I explain that as my pets I wouldn't think of eating them.

 

The second question I'm ALWAYS asked is about a Rooster. "How can you get eggs without having a rooster?"

[Helly Welly]

We always get asked if we eat them as well. I think people struggle to see chickens as pets because they are still fairly unusual. Maybe we should get them to pick up a chicken, then they'll feel that there is no meat on them. You'd use more calories preparing them than you'd get from eating them!!

[Egluntyne]

I get asked the "do you eat them" and the "rooster" question many times.

 

When I explain why they need a very gentle casseroling in a decent wine and herb sauce people then look shocked.

 

I give them the chat ( no opportunity wasted ) about the difference between meat birds and egg layers and I find that people are genuinely interested.

 

I once held a supermarket queue enthralled when the lady behind me asked why I was buying 12 tins of sweetcorn and the conversation developed along the lines mentioned.

 

People from the back started asking questions.

 

If only I'd had some Eglu brochures about my person.

[Yolky]

I have been asked about eating them too. I tell them, like you do, that they are layers not eaters. Every one of my neighbours on mentioning I have chooks have also asked the rooster question I tell them, I want eggs not chicks. I also get asked what I am going to do when they stop laying. I told one person that as soon as I get bored of my pets they are gone and that we are having cat stew tonight Some folk are a bit shocked we would keep a non laying chicken.

 

I also had someone post under a picture I had posted of my new girls 'lovely new girls, in the pot if they don't lay' (this was a statement not a question!) this same person got many hens a week after me and only one of them are laying so far, I am begining to worry for her chooks apparently it says in her chicken book that that is what you should do if they don't lay.

[Stevie]

lol-after reading all your posts i've come to the conclusion you lot should be on commission! Omlet could increase their sales considerably if they stuck you all on the payroll.

[The Dogmother]

Like Egluntine, I never lose a chance to get on my ethical meat/free range explanation. Our new neighbours have now been converted to shopping at the farmers' markets

 

The rooster one is another old chestnut - I explain that, like women who don't stop ovulating without a man around, hens continue to lay eggs just not fertilised ones. The thing is that I then have to explain that you can eat fertilised eggs, so long as they haven't been brooded.

 

Having another think about the original question, perhaps these people are just confused/ignorant about the differences between meat and egg birds It is our duty to educate them! *raises torch and rallies Omleteers*

[Egg Lou]

I get asked "the question" at least once a week so far! and the rooster one comes up to.. I'm also the butt of most jokes around the office as called the Mad Chicken One when anyone refers to me

 

Had a corker this week..received an internal email from someone I used to work alongside who also lives very close to my house.. they were concerned as heard I kept chickens,, wanted to know why I would do such a thing, was I eating them? (i'm a vege! ) what about the noise..and they were very concerned I have them with the current risk of bird flu??

 

took a very long email thread to cover all these points

[The Dogmother]

Don't get me started on bird flu Egg Lou The last outbreak was just 8 miles away, and we were in the outer exclusion zone. I had to do LOTS of 'educating' during that time

[Olly]

Thank you for this thread ... I love the 'cat stew' and 'bunnies for tea', and in future that's what I'm going to say when I'm asked this irritating question!

 

When Pepper died a few months ago I was absolutely appalled at the number of people who said 'Did you eat it (sic)?' These were people who know me, and know that I keep chickens as productive pets. I got really angry with a friend's husband who thought this was a good 'joke'.

 

I went to a party yesterday afternoon and I was admiring their five chickens. There were two couples there who are also about to start keeping chooks, and were asking me about Eglus and Cubes. Step up the humourless, strict vegetarian animal-mad nutbar (I've met her before! ) - 'I hope you have an extension on your Eglu run, those aren't big enough to keep chickens in'. Needless to say, she has never SEEN an Eglu in real life, but she's 'heard' about them. I wanted to deck her!

[Fizzle Knit]

Yes, I seem to get asked "woud I eat them" as a matter of course. It seems that when people hear you keep chickens they assume you've become a farmer, rather than an owner of pets which happen to lay eggs, (hence the free-cycler who told me not to bother with a vet because it wouldn't be cost effective. )

[The Dogmother]

'I hope you have an extension on your Eglu run, those aren't big enough to keep chickens in'. Needless to say, she has never SEEN an Eglu in real life, but she's 'heard' about them. I wanted to deck her!

 

That one comes up regularly on 'another poultry forum' .. always posted by people wh've never seen one, but always have an opinion

[keyhole kate]

So far I have never been asked about eating them only the rooster one

[rachel19]

Well I can kind of see why people ask seeing as chickens are used for both meat and eggs - if you're keeping them for one purpose you might keep them for the other also. Cats and dogs aren't supermarket food so no-one asks about those as they are obviously pets but chickens are generally thought of as farm animals not pets therefore they ask............although they do make excellent pets

[bronze]

I just say 'yes but only the white ones' though the way Nells going its tempting

[Looney]

I usually say "yes of course I eat them, I LOVE chicken....but I love mine so much I couldn't possibly eat them all at once. I think it's amazing how quickly a one-legged chicken adapts!"

[Olly]

oh great one, Looney ... must try that!

[Lydia]

Yep been asked both the eating and rooster questions many times and the one about "do you need a licence?" too.

 

My grandmother was absolutely adamant that we wouldn't get any eggs without a cockerel - "I lived through World War 2 and lived in the country so I know about chickens" said she. She was not convinced when we showed her the eggs they'd laid and said we'd bought them (yeah, because we just love to spend our evenings rubbing off the lion mark and use by dates just to fool people )

 

Then she came to stay with us for a few days and come the morning one of the hens started her post egg laying celebration noise. I will never forget the look on her face when she opened the egg port

 

(I was so tempted to ask her to suck the egg as well......may as well disprove that theory too )

[AmandaR]

We have had the rooster one too on many an occasion. I never realised just how many people don't know the general basics of how chickens lay eggs - it's quite worrying really.

 

However, the eating one is a bone of contention between Dh and myself. We 'inherited' two extra hens earlier this year from a small holder as they were laying softies and she was going to despatch them. Despite our best efforts of limestone powder, grit, worming etc, dear Arti is continuing to lay constant softies. It's not my intention to upset anyone but Dh has been insistant of late that he should despatch of her himself as if that isn't bad enough...he then would like me to cook her up afterwards

 

I'm hoping that the longer I can keep him away from the garden (I'll mow the grass dear, trim the wisteria, clean the windows and turn the compost) the more chance there is that he will eventually forget all about Arti and get this daft idea out of his head.

 

Or maybe he has been playing me so I will do all the jobs in the garden...hmmm

[Hen Watch]

I've had mostly the "rooster" question, followed by "eating" with the occasional aren't you worried about "bird flu".

 

Best one to date when giving a friend some eggs...... "Do you cook them the same as normal eggs???"