Killing chickens at home .........

[steelsy]

River Cottage :: View topic - Are we all breaking the law?

Interesting conversation going on over on the river cottage forum about is it legal to kill chickns at home - I'd be interested to hear what people here think/know.

[lynda66]

i knew the law about picking up roadkill, but i never imagined it covered home produced meat birds, all i can say is ..... if it's true and theres a big kafuffle over killing your excess cockerels, then there may start to be a big problem with chickens released into the countryside....... so how does that figure when out shooting duck or geese, a quick kill at the animals home in pleasant surroundings has to be better than a half killed bird hitting the ground ........ the world appears to be going barmy.

[Nicos]

Hmmm.....

As far as I understood things....was that you could kill your own 'meat' so long as it was for your own consumption and not for sale( something to do with EU hygiene standards??)

BUT...now I've thought about it...I recall that there is a local (in UK) slaughterhouse where Hilal meat could be slaughtered. ( so...could they also be slaughtered in the back garden/streets instead???)

You've got me confused now! Ta!!!

[MaureenHall]

Now this really does take the biscuit!! Here's me, plucking up the courage to raise some cockerals for meat for me, my family and my friends, and Mr High and Mighty Government is saying I've got to eat it all myself? That's bollocks

[lynda66]

mind you, theres only me here ......

[steelsy]

I'm totally of the same opinion, if it is law then its absolutely ridiculous - we may as well not have gardens and use the space for a parking space each outside bloody tesco's!!!

[HayleyB]

The way it was told to me (at hen school) is that you can kill if cooking for yourself and family, but it is illegal to kill and sell on, it has to be done by a licenced slaughterer.

[nelliegemini]

Is there a special prize for the best thread title?

[Hilary B]

According to John Seymour, sheep, goats and pigs as well as poultry CAN be slaughtered at home, but the meat must be eaten on the premises, not sold OR GIVEN AWAY. Unless the law has relatively recently been changed poultry killed at home CAN be sold, as long as it is NYD (can be plucked, but no more preparation). It is the gutting etc that has to be done in controlled sterile conditions. 9 years ago I (and many of my then neighbours) put dead poultry in to a Christmas Sale at the livestock mart. I doubt that would have continued if it was illegal to sell.
What is this ruling about roadkill??

[Snadger]

If this is something else the EEC beurocrats in Brussels have dreamed up 'STUFF EM!!!!!' is what I say!

I am of course talking about chickens........just before you pop em in the oven!

[MaureenHall]

Sage and onion or parsley and thyme?

[rustylady]

I am absolutely sick and fed up with the EEC or whoever telling us what we can and can't do!! I still have to get over seeing my dad killing Henrietta (my fave chicken kept in the back garden when I was little - I went veggie for about a week) but I really do think that we all should be able to grow our own fruit and vegetables and if we have the space our own chickens, eggs, sheep etc. OK I'm turning into a grumpy old woman but I do often long to go back to the days when you just got on with it without beurocrats interfering.

[lynda66]

What is this ruling about roadkill??

if theres a dead wild animal/bird in the road, you can pick it up and eat it, however, if you run it over yourself, you can't pick it up you have to leave it ..... something to do with stopping you running down birds and stuff on purpose, so you can eat it ....... or something like that

[Hashette]

Help me someone, I'm struggling with the Euro-logic here:

A chicken that has had a happy life, been well cared for and a quick, stress-free death = bad.

One that has had no life at all, been intensely factory farmed, had every instinct suppressed, then been swept into a crate (possibly mechanically), transported painfully, hung upside down by its legs, had its head dipped in water against every natural instinct, stunned (if it's lucky), not stunned (if it's not) then decapitated after several minutes of blind panic = okay

WTF????

[MaureenHall]

Any MP's or better still MEP's on this forum? If so, please take note. We may only be a few people but I bet if you had a vote, there'd be plenty of support for us chicken keepers.