Andrew and I finally did something we have always wondered if we could/would do. Our vegetarian friends might want to skip over this.

We love our backyard chickens and thanks to them, we have fresh eggs, a way to compost our produce, and general entertainment for us and the kids. The tricky thing about getting them as chicks is that you sometimes end up with a rooster or two. This last batch gave us one. We fed him for the past 5 months and last week, he started cockadoodledooing. Since we live in the city of St. Louis, and it’s illegal (for good reason!) to have roosters, he had to go. In the past, we’ve given them to others who would find another fate for them but Andrew and I decided that we were finally ready to do the dirty deed ourselves so we did what all good millennials do and YouTubed it. After watching a few videos more than a couple times, we set out to it. I decided that I would invite Lucy to watch if she wanted. It’s important to us that our children understand what it means to eat meat and this was the best way we could show it. If she decided not to eat chicken after this, I wanted her to have all the information to make that decision. She said she wanted to watch and I told her that if she got too sad or it got too scary, she could go in. Turns out, it really wasn’t all that bad. We killed the chicken in the most humane way possible, set out defeathering and gutting it and it was ready to roast in no time. Once we enjoyed the roast (which was incredibly delicious), I took all the bones, peeled the feet, and threw it all with the neck, gizzard, and heart into the crockpot for bone broth. The broth it made is the best I’ve ever tasted. I was able to pressure can it and am excited to drink it in the months ahead.

So that’s it. We saw the chicken from chick to rooster. We thanked it and God for its life and didn’t waste any part of it. It was important for us to be able to do that if we are going to eat chicken. After all is said and done, there’s a good chance we will probably raise more chickens specifically for their meat as we live more and more sustainably. It also definitely cemented our beliefs that we should be eating less meat. Each bird we eat is a death that occurred and to be face to face with it was not held lightly.

I hope you get the chance some day to have this experience as it is important for all of us who eat meat to be a part of. We are thankful for that rooster and we feel that we handled his body with respect and without waste.

That’s the best thing we can do when we take an animal’s life.