Reply #2: My grandma used to have chickens, and rabbits.

[The Straight Story]

When dad was a boy he would go out and kill a chicken for dinner. They roamed the backyard (but had a hen house and such). The rabbits she kept in big cages (I remember those, but not the chickens - I think because when they moved to Ohio she only kept rabbits then).

She always had eggs and meat and did not treat them cruel (well, unless you consider killing them cruel) during their tenure with her.

My dad's dad died when dad was 13, and grandma did her best to provide. If she could do it in a human fashion I am sure others could as well.