Topic: CHICKENS,HUGH AND TESCO TOO

[les65]

ACE..............Do not see the relevance of chickens being thick...........so what

 Open the shed doors, see how many birds will fly out. They won't, they are nice and comfortable.

the reason they won't fly out is because they cannot even walk, they dont have the room to be able to use there legs or their wings, they are deformed, abnormal, man made freaks of nature. never seen sunlight.
 

[Baccy Man]

Lots of comments about the birds bred to RSPCA welfare standards have a reasonably good life in this thread but I wonder how many of you actually know what those standards are. Below are just a few of the RSPCA's welfare standards.

Firstly RSPCA weldare standards for laying hens & pullets:

Barn raised hens max flock size 32,000 birds.

Barn raised simply means intensive, not caged but no access to the outside world, the barn in question is usually a former battery shed with the cages removed & a few minor modifications.

Free range hens max flock size 16,000 birds.
There must be ar least 1 pop hole per 600 birds.

Overcrowding inside the sheds causes difficulties to arise with the large numbers of hens. As the birds can only recognise a maximum of about 100 other hens, no pecking order, hence no social stability is established. This results in aggression, feather plucking and cannibalism. They are technically allowed access to the outside world as the law requires but many of the birds will never leave the house because the pop holes are guarded by more aggressive birds. As there are typically only 27 popholes for 16000 birds a very small number of birds can dictate which birds are or are not allowed to leave the house.

Supplementary rules for pullets.
Where birds are beak trimmed this procedure must be carried out between 5 and 10 days of age.
The maximum stocking density must not exceed 20kg/m² of usable area at 16 weeks of age. When calculated at floor level this must not exceed 33kg/m².

Beak trimming is where a hen has the tip of their beak removed with a red-hot cutter. The hen's beak is very sensitive so this causes immense suffering.
The stocking desisity translates as 14 birds per m² if based on all available indoor space including nest boxes perches etc... or 23 birds per m² if based purely on available floorspace.


RSPCA welfare standards for broiler chickens:

Stocking density which is calculated using the floor space available to the birds must not exceed 30kg/m², 19 birds/m².
For every thousand birds the following provisions must be provided.
a 1.5 straw bales
b 2m perch space
c  one pecking object, eg: peck-a-blocks, brassicas, hanging wooden blocks.
In the case of free range birds the following minimum pop hole numbers must apply:
Up to 600 birds 1 pop hole.
over 600 birds 1 pop hole per 700 birds.
Each pop hole must be no smaller than 45cm high and 50cm wide.

There are no maximum flock sizes simply a rule saying 19 birds per m². The provision of bales & perches is laughable when you consider that on average at least 20% of the flock will want to use them at any given time, thats 200 birds wanting to use the 1.5 straw bales & 2 metres of perch simultaneously. Pop holes are even more restricted than they are for laying hens so even fewer free range birds will be able to access the outside world.


There are plenty of people here who keep their own chickens but I bet none of you would keep your chickens like this.




The RSPCA's welfare standards are barely an improvement on the conventional farming methods. If farmers want to be freedom food certified they have to pay for the privilege. We are expected to pay more for the eggs & meat because people like HFW & Jamie Oliver claim freedom food chickens lead wonderful lives. Personally I don't believe there is enough of a difference in the quality of life to pay extra.
If you must have eggs from chickens that lead good lives then then keep chickens yourself. If you must have meat from chickens that lead good lives then get it from a local supplier who can tell you which farm it was produced on & you can go check up on the standards for yourself. It is not viable to produce either of these on a commercial scale.

[les65]

i agree rspca standards are not much better, but they are slightly better than normal rearing.
i still wouldnt eat one raised on rspca standards, but hey each to their own, your bottom picture shows 3 for 10.00, even the one laying down would be used as long as it was still breathing at the time of despatch.
near where i live there are a number of chickens being reared by a company supplying several well known fast food and supermarket places, believe me you wouldnt eat them if you saw and smelt how they lived.

[Baccy Man]

your bottom picture shows 3 for 10.00, even the one laying down would be used as long as it was still breathing at the time of despatch.

Both pictures are from an RSPCA approved farm producing 'Freedom Food' free range eggs, I could post pictures showing chickens on RSPCA approved farms living in much worse condition but I am sure nobody wants to see them.

[Froglegs]

I saw them designer slippers you bought from Ikea..........go on ,deny it ;D

  :-[....... :-X....... ;D ;D

[valmarg]

A few pages back on this site I mentioned a TV programme 'The True Cost of Cheap Food'.  Well it's being repeated tonight on More4 at 7.55-9.00 p.m.

Sorry its taken me so long to find it.

valmarg

[Tin Shed]

Thanks, Valmarg - off to record it now.

[ACE]

Well! keeping an open mind on food and things, I watched the programme, the presenter must have had a degree in 'stating the bleeding obvious'.

If you are lazy and don't work, or have more kids than you can afford, you are obliged to buy budget food in blue and white stripey packets at very cheap prices. Naturally this cheap food does not have as much nourishment as the more expensive food, but you haven't used a lot of energy to find it, so it trades off.

You can buy just as cheap if you go around your local shops hunting out bargains. The flaw in this is that the people on the blue stripey food are too lazy to earn a decent living so it stands to reason they will not waste energy doing that.

Nobody in their right minds will buy the budget food as it is bloody horrible. If you can't afford the good stuff, get a job or keep your legs together. SORTED.

[Froglegs]

Nobody in their right minds will buy the budget food as it is bloody horrible. If you can't afford the good stuff, get a job or keep your legs together. SORTED.

Or get your 12 year old son to get in line and give a 14 year old slapper one then sell the story to the gutter press, init.

[tonybloke]

If you can't afford the good stuff, get a job or keep your legs together. SORTED.

Try telling that to the thousands who have recently been laid off!! ;)

[ACE]

If you can't afford the good stuff, get a job or keep your legs together. SORTED.

Try telling that to the thousands who have recently been laid off!! ;)

I have been through a few so called recessions and work shortages, never had to go on benefits all my working days. There's a job for everyone, even if it ain't the one you want.

[redimp]

if god didnt want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat ;D ;D ;D

You are made out of meat and you have placed yourself on the menu - nto for me of course.  22 years a vegetarian/vegan

[jesssands]

DARN!  I had wanted to see this..... one day too late  :(

[tonybloke]

DARN!  I had wanted to see this..... one day too late  :(

that's wot the i-player is for  ;D ;D ;D

[Froglegs]

if god didnt want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat ;D ;D ;D

You are made out of meat and you have placed yourself on the menu - nto for me of course.  22 years a vegetarian/vegan

50 Years a omnivore just as nature intended. ;D

[redimp]

Actually, nature gave us a brain and the ability to choose.  The teeth are a throwback.  People who have made a choice not to eat meat have ascended above their base instincts and are no longer subject to their more primitive past at the expense of other living creatures. And, when we developed our teeth, we were chasing the animals with spears and not eating much meat.  We now abuse animals, physically and mentally and produce meat on an industrial scale - as nature intended ::).

[Froglegs]

Actually, nature gave us a brain and the ability to choose.  The teeth are a throwback. And, when we developed our teeth, we were chasing the animals with spears and not eating much meat. 

Actually,we developed our teeth when hominids left the forest for the Savannah,and as the main Savannah food was meat-which in turn required greater intelligence to gather, so nature gave them a bigger (energy-hungry) brain that needed plenty of high protein foods like meat, so along with the right teeth for the job and a bigger brain to cope with there new environment and to survive they became a omnivore. Thus modem man was born.  ::)  And who I'm i to argue with evolution. ;)

[betula]

Especially with them legs ;D ;D ;D

[Froglegs]

Cheeky bugger  :o  nothing wrong with them there legs. ;D

[betula]

eeekkk  I remember them legs,remind me of a couple of pipe cleaners. ;D