Sorry to ask, but do you eat your chickens?

[Cakehead]

We've been thinking about getting a few chickens for some time, mainly for eggs and because we've got a mini-orchard in the garden and I think they'd quite like picking off all the fruits and things that fall. But - and I don't want to sound mean - do any of you actually eat your chickens at any point? Or have I just said something unforgiveable - sorry if so!

No! Eggs only.

some people do, but not us

Yes. We hatched some eggs out last year and ate the cockerels.

I'm sure we'll all get too attached to them - particularly my two toddlers. Just curious if anyone else had done it.

My parents plan to eat theirs when they stop laying. My Dad gave us strict instructions not to name them when we visited, but DS names everything so before he could pick cute names I named them Casserole, Roast, Curry and Coq au Vin (later changed to Lemon by DS).

Laying and table birds are different - very broadly speaking, some breeds are best at um, laying and others are bred for the table and tend to be fleshier. Having said that, eventually your layers will reach an age when they are not productive enough any more and you need to decide whether to keep them as pets or send them to the big soup pot in the sky. There is a saying I've heard - "old birds make good soup" (applicable to life generally, I feel ).

It's a personal choice. We are soup makers. Others aren't. HTH

We have layers and then we do batches of meat birds. As W&P said they tend to be different breeds though you can get utility breeds that are suitable for both.

We do, we specifically breed them fo rthe table though. They are sassos X Indian Game.

We also have layers.

we don't, but I think it is quite usual that people do.

Most chicken keepers I have met in rl seem to be a bit that we're not planning on having any of ours for tea

I admit I did shed a tear when DH dispatched the first two last year and I was a complete wimp when it came to plucking them