Funny how much the death of even something like a chicken can affect people who didn't grow up with it. I was at a friend's farm last summer when they slaughtered some roosters, another friend (who is kind of a sensitive woman) who had never seen an animal slaughtered wanted to see it. We hung the roosters up by their feet and cut the necks with one clean cut, then skinned them (because that's way easier than plucking.) So, yeah. She's a vegetarian now.
Yep, I've unintentionally made a few males vegetarian by slaughtering their feathery dinner in their proximity. I even had a boyfriend who dropped me because I said that I didn't think I could eat a meat from an animal I didn't feel I could slaughter myself. He found that... offputting, for some reason. {shrug} I find it offputting that some people can eat meat they don't feel it is acceptable to kill. Some people are like that I guess: A different moral compass to my own. The world is a big wide place. It's a pity I can't find a boyfriend willing to share my morals....
Plucking really isn't that bad, and the skin of the bird is pleasant when roasted. You just douse the bird in hot water first, then the feathers come out remarkably easily. They make great mulch for the garden if you don't want to use them as feather stuffing for cushions. In ancient and medieval times they were worth a lot of time and effort, and thus money, so it seems to me that they should be worth more in Dwarf Fortress too. Fletching, for a start... Or for making beds more comfy, like a shell or bone decoration on furniture.