deceased cockerel

"moonglow minnow" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

What an awful trick to allow a child to believe that a chicken she's
grown to love would not appear on the dinner plate when he did.

I cried and cried.

You have my sympathy. My father pulled a similar trick with a pig we were
given as a gift that was raised quite deliberately as a pet. I still cry
when I hear Kermit screaming his last in my head.

I think it takes a special kind of sadist to do that to a child.

My grandfather was not a sadist at all. He never told me to make it a pet,
I did that myself, as young children do.
I guess he should have told me what would happen to Snowy but I expect he
was afraid it would upset me, which it would have done.
Now what to do - as a grandfather who loved me for sure. Watch the child
get fond of a chicken and play with it - tell her nothing and pretend the
fowl has gone on holiday or tell her the truth when she realise she is about
to eat it?
Now there's a dilemma.
So suddenly I knew when I was about to put the chicken into my mouth. At
that time we only ate chicken at Christmas.
I said to my grandfather "this is Snowy, isn't it?" and he said yes.

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12 cockerel
chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy as they got 20
weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good idea to eat him
immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Too bad you don't have a scanner!

Joyce


--
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me,
for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me
the hell alone. -- Unknown

Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12 cockerel
chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy as they got 20
weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good idea to eat him
immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been better
for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going to be eaten
when he saw the first signs of you getting attached, but well... when
hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's only practical on a
farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease. Perhaps you'll meet Snowy
again at the Bridge, free from the hormones that make cockerels fight.

Maeve ^..^
--
http://moonglowminnow.wordpress.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnow/

"moonglow minnow" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12 cockerel
chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy as they got 20
weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good idea to eat him
immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been better
for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going to be eaten
when he saw the first signs of you getting attached, but well... when
hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's only practical on a
farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease. Perhaps you'll meet Snowy
again at the Bridge, free from the hormones that make cockerels fight.

I don't suppose the poor man knew what to do when he saw me get attached to
a particular one. "Should I tell her now, or later.."
As it happened, Snowy was the first one to get killed through fighting.
Chicken was a luxury food then, reserved for Christmas.
Of course we ate him, it would have been silly not to, I know that now but I
was allowed to play with him, and the other cockerels and that is not such a
great idea to let a child think they'll be playmates for ever.

Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in
message ...

"moonglow minnow" wrote in
message ...
Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12
cockerel chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like
crazy as they got 20 weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a
fight. Good idea to eat him immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the
camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been
better for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going
to be eaten when he saw the first signs of you getting attached,
but well... when hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and
it's only practical on a farm to eat a bird that didn't die of
disease. Perhaps you'll meet Snowy again at the Bridge, free from
the hormones that make cockerels fight.

I don't suppose the poor man knew what to do when he saw me get
attached to a particular one. "Should I tell her now, or later.."
As it happened, Snowy was the first one to get killed through
fighting.
Chicken was a luxury food then, reserved for Christmas.
Of course we ate him, it would have been silly not to, I know that
now but I was allowed to play with him, and the other cockerels
and that is not such a great idea to let a child think they'll be
playmates for ever.

From what you said, too, you asked. And they were honest with you.
Not like they waited till you were eating and then announced it.
Might have been better if they had told you before, but its sounds
like it was unlikely there was going to be a good outcome in any
case.

Jo

On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:35:02 -0700, Jofirey wrote:

"Christina Websell" wrote in
message ...

"moonglow minnow" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12
cockerel chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy
as they got 20 weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good
idea to eat him immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the
camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been
better for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going to
be eaten when he saw the first signs of you getting attached, but
well... when hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's only
practical on a farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease. Perhaps
you'll meet Snowy again at the Bridge, free from the hormones that
make cockerels fight.

I don't suppose the poor man knew what to do when he saw me get
attached to a particular one. "Should I tell her now, or later.." As
it happened, Snowy was the first one to get killed through fighting.
Chicken was a luxury food then, reserved for Christmas. Of course we
ate him, it would have been silly not to, I know that now but I was
allowed to play with him, and the other cockerels and that is not such
a great idea to let a child think they'll be playmates for ever.

From what you said, too, you asked. And they were honest with you. Not
like they waited till you were eating and then announced it. Might have
been better if they had told you before, but its sounds like it was
unlikely there was going to be a good outcome in any case.

Jo

When I was a child (1960's), the pet stores in Nashville, Tennessee still
sold chicks and ducklings at Easter. One year, our parents bought a
couple of chicks for my sister and myself. We didn't get particularly
attached to them as pets, however, possibly because we already had a
cat. The chicks grew into a couple of young roosters, and my father
fenced off a corner of our back yard to serve as a chicken pen. I
remember how much trouble it was to recapture the roosters if one of them
managed to climb the fence to freedom. Finally, after the neighbors
started complaining about the crowing, my father bought some chicken
parts at the grocery store (making sure that my sister and I knew about
the purchase), then killed and cooked our two roosters instead, letting
us think that the store-bought chicken was being served for supper. Only
after supper did our parents reveal what we had eaten. My sister and I
went "Ewww....", but weren't distraught, since we hadn't become
emotionally attached to the two roosters.

--
John F. Eldredge --
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

"John F. Eldredge" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:35:02 -0700, Jofirey wrote:

"Christina Websell" wrote in
message ...

"moonglow minnow" wrote in
message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought
12
cockerel chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like
crazy
as they got 20 weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight.
Good
idea to eat him immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for
the
camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have
been
better for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were
going to
be eaten when he saw the first signs of you getting attached,
but
well... when hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's
only
practical on a farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease.
Perhaps
you'll meet Snowy again at the Bridge, free from the hormones
that
make cockerels fight.

I don't suppose the poor man knew what to do when he saw me get
attached to a particular one. "Should I tell her now, or
later.." As
it happened, Snowy was the first one to get killed through
fighting.
Chicken was a luxury food then, reserved for Christmas. Of
course we
ate him, it would have been silly not to, I know that now but I
was
allowed to play with him, and the other cockerels and that is
not such
a great idea to let a child think they'll be playmates for ever.

From what you said, too, you asked. And they were honest with
you. Not
like they waited till you were eating and then announced it.
Might have
been better if they had told you before, but its sounds like it
was
unlikely there was going to be a good outcome in any case.

Jo

When I was a child (1960's), the pet stores in Nashville,
Tennessee still
sold chicks and ducklings at Easter. One year, our parents bought
a
couple of chicks for my sister and myself. We didn't get
particularly
attached to them as pets, however, possibly because we already had
a
cat. The chicks grew into a couple of young roosters, and my
father
fenced off a corner of our back yard to serve as a chicken pen. I
remember how much trouble it was to recapture the roosters if one
of them
managed to climb the fence to freedom. Finally, after the
neighbors
started complaining about the crowing, my father bought some
chicken
parts at the grocery store (making sure that my sister and I knew
about
the purchase), then killed and cooked our two roosters instead,
letting
us think that the store-bought chicken was being served for
supper. Only
after supper did our parents reveal what we had eaten. My sister
and I
went "Ewww....", but weren't distraught, since we hadn't become
emotionally attached to the two roosters.

My Easter chicks always went to live on a farm after then got their
feathers!

We never discussed what the farm did with them however...

Jo

i just had this vision of kfc whipping him into shape so they could share
the corner of the bridge reserved for those who are waiting for tweed, Lee

--
Have a wonderful day

"moonglow minnow" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12 cockerel
chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy as they got 20
weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good idea to eat him
immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been better
for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going to be eaten
when he saw the first signs of you getting attached, but well... when
hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's only practical on a
farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease. Perhaps you'll meet Snowy
again at the Bridge, free from the hormones that make cockerels fight.

Maeve ^..^
--
http://moonglowminnow.wordpress.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnow/

i am not even sure why it struck me, but franscis drake, his mate and all
of the whippets are lined up in an neat and orderly fashion, kfc sits in
front... now we all know that tweed won't be there for a long time but kfc,
being kfc, makes them practice their welcome fomation every day so its
purfect.
Lee

--
Have a great day
"hopitus" wrote in message
...
On Oct 17, 5:07 pm, "Stormmee" wrote:
i just had this vision of kfc whipping him into shape so they could share
the corner of the bridge reserved for those who are waiting for tweed, Lee

--
Have a wonderful day

"moonglow minnow" wrote in message

...



Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12
cockerel
chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy as they got
20
weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good idea to eat him
immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been better
for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going to be eaten
when he saw the first signs of you getting attached, but well... when
hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's only practical on a
farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease. Perhaps you'll meet Snowy
again at the Bridge, free from the hormones that make cockerels fight.

Maeve ^..^
--
http://moonglowminnow.wordpress.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnow/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ROTFL possibly true. KFC is no pushover. And certainly not for a bird.

I like the idea of that.

Tweed





"Stormmmee" wrote in message
...
i am not even sure why it struck me, but franscis drake, his mate and all
of the whippets are lined up in an neat and orderly fashion, kfc sits in
front... now we all know that tweed won't be there for a long time but kfc,
being kfc, makes them practice their welcome fomation every day so its
purfect.
Lee

--
Have a great day
"hopitus" wrote in message
...
On Oct 17, 5:07 pm, "Stormmee" wrote:
i just had this vision of kfc whipping him into shape so they could share
the corner of the bridge reserved for those who are waiting for tweed,
Lee

--
Have a wonderful day

"moonglow minnow" wrote in message

...



Christina Websell wrote:

Actually, what really happened was that my grandfather bought 12
cockerel
chicks to rear for meat. They started to fight like crazy as they got
20
weeks or so, and Snowy got killed in a fight. Good idea to eat him
immediately I suppose.

I still have a photograph of me aged 8 holding up Snowy for the camera

Still heartbreaking, but not so cruel... it still would have been
better
for him to gently tell you that those cockerels were going to be eaten
when he saw the first signs of you getting attached, but well... when
hormones take over birds *do* get killed, and it's only practical on a
farm to eat a bird that didn't die of disease. Perhaps you'll meet
Snowy
again at the Bridge, free from the hormones that make cockerels fight.

Maeve ^..^
--
http://moonglowminnow.wordpress.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minnow/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ROTFL possibly true. KFC is no pushover. And certainly not for a bird.