Will I be able to eat my chickens?

Hmmm, that's a good question. I have 11 chickens, 1 of them is a rooster so we'll eventually have more chickens. One of the reasons we got them is so we could eat their meat. We eat more chicken than any other meat and like the idea of knowing where our food comes from. Now, this whole idea of killing them, well, I don't know how we're going to do it, but we plan to. I haven't named any of them and really can't even tell them apart except for the rooster, so I can't say that one of them is my favorite or anything. I have 3 different varieties, Buff Orpington, Barred Rock and Australorp, which is what my rooster is. I'm learning how dumb chickens are. Okay, they're smart enough to come running when I bring them their food in the morning or when I bring them a special treat like watermelon rinds. They also know to go in their pen at night when the sun sets. Aside from that I'm not sure there's much going on inside those funny little chicken heads. Sometimes they get out of their fence or I let them out to explore. Unlike goats or dogs, who know exactly how to get back to where they came from, chickens can't figure out how to go around a gate that's open and find the entrance again. They'll walk up and down, up and down a fenceline trying to get in instead of walking all the way back around the way they came. I have to go catch them and throw them over their fence or have them follow me. Today I felt like the pied piper when I went to rescue one wayward chicken and the goats and all my feathered friends followed me to go get her. I have to wonder if they'll even know if one of them is missing the night I'm serving her for dinner. Harsh, I know.

We still have another month and a half till they'll be ready to eat anyway so I guess there's time to think more on it. If they're smart, which isn't very likely, they'll lay lots of eggs and save themselves from the knife. Why are eggs high in cholesterol and chicken isn't?

A friend asked me last night if we'll be selling the baby goats for meat. I can tell you right now there's no way I can eat one of my goats. If the chickens showed me some affection I might say the same about them.