Topic: Hughes chicken run

[Old bird]

Havnt seen any FREE courses at River Cottage HQ for people on low income thinking about allotment management or poultry rearing. Says it all really.

Why should anyone do free courses at River Cottage HQ or anyone else for that matter for people on low incomes or even high incomes?  Gunnerbee when do you turn up for work for free? 

I feel sorry for people that have low earning potential but do you really think free cooking courses at River Cottage HQ will make an iota of difference to them? 

Some people earn a lot of money for doing very little - so - that is their good fortune I really don't think we should knock other people - just because they earn more than you or I!

I am happy earning just below the national average - It isn't money that makes me happy - it is friendship - interesting hobbies - my dogs - my lottie  and my wonderful son that makes me happy - so long as I have enough to live reasonably comfortably - Life is good!

Old Bird

[Macy]

Luckily, we're in a position that we're able to afford to make the change to free range, and after watching the programmes we probably will. We're even thinking about getting chickens for food - the in laws supply the free range eggs so we might go for the male chicks.

However, I think the attitude towards the likes of Hayley (?) and others who have budgetary issues is all a bit high and mighty. A couple of years ago it was all about getting people to get away from the likes of turkey twizzlers, chicken nuggets, potato smilies etc. Now the focus is on people that are on low incomes but are giving their children roast chicken dinners, but not the right sort of chicken.

I'm loath to criticise people like Hugh and Jamie who I genuinely believe are passionate about getting people to eat better. However, there are somewhat detached from the reality of millions of people, and unfortunately I think that showed to some degree.

[Froglegs]

Well put Macy,it's OK to have principies,it's just sometimes affording them.

[glyn1206]

Lots of valid points about HFW's programmes,which I was unable to watch due to work commitments!
I would have thought the best way to bring the supermarkets to order would be if no-one and I mean no-one bought any poultry from them for perhaps a month, then watch the panic set in.
When I was told of the programmes I went onto youtube and wished I had'nt I never realised that Australia send live animals to the middle east for slaughter by ship,now that is barbaric! I know some of you will go looking for it on youtube but be warned,you'll wish you had'nt too

[Froglegs]

Funny isn't it how the government bans fox hunting because its cruel but does nothing about the way some farm animals are kept. But then again they don't have to worry about paying out £6 per bird do they!.

[Eristic]

Can somebody enlighten an old timer as to the current cost of a takeaway chicken and chips please?

[caroline7758]

Haven't been able to get free range chicken in our sainsbury's at all this week. I'd like to think it's because everyone has bought them but I'm not so sure. Wouldn't you think they'd have got extra stock in after these programmes?

[Froglegs]

Can somebody enlighten an old timer as to the current cost of a takeaway chicken and chips please?

At Mc Donald's about the price of a pint.

[northener]

Kfc- Around £2.80 for 2 pieces and chips

[purple sprouting]

Good luck 'Old Bird' in your request to keep chooks on your lottie - I hope it all works out.

Not sure that everyone will like my opinion, but here it is!!!!!!

I am very fortunate in being healthy, motivated, (and despite having children) enthusiastic enough to work full time.  Despite this I would not describe myself as 'well - off' - but I am also able to make the choice between buying freerange or intensively raised chicken (ie as previously suggested - rather than eating a whole chicken for one meal, make it stretch to two etc.).   Prior to the programmes I was a little ignorant of the practices of the chicken industry - so if Hugh has only one convert then it is me and my family.

I appreciate that Hugh is not the 'poor land farmer' that is portrayed in the various tv series, but that is beside the point - the question that is not answered anywhere is this.............

.........if intensive farmers get paid 3p per chicken.....and the chickens sell for £2.50...........what do freerange or organic farmers get paid per bird??????????????  The difference??? (similar marketing costs?)  somehow I doubt it.  Any ideas?????

Feedback welcome - with kind regards

Ann

PS I kept freerange chickens until very recently....I found them highly intelligent and clever!!!

 

[Eristic]

.........if intensive farmers get paid 3p per chicken....

They don't get paid 3p per chicken, they make 3p per chicken. there's a big difference.

The cost of rearing the better birds is greater hence a bigger charge all round.

Virtually everyone reading these posts grows their own veg yet if the costs are calculated properly nobody saves money. - We grow for quality not to save on the veg budget so why not buy quality meat and cut back on waste. Nearly everything not eaten should be recycled: No, not in the £60 digester, in the next meal.

[gordonsveg]

Re sean,
   your not on your own here,i agree with you. In the mail on sunday was a reply from a chicken farmer re the programe, it seems the crew spent a few days filming on his farm and not one minute was used for the programe,
   Maybe it didnt fit in with their preconcieved, biased ideas.

[norfolklass]

Haven't been able to get free range chicken in our sainsbury's at all this week. I'd like to think it's because everyone has bought them but I'm not so sure. Wouldn't you think they'd have got extra stock in after these programmes?

we noticed a huge amount of the cheap chicken in Morrisons, huge piles of it sitting in the refrigerated meat cabinet. hopefully because no one wanted to touch it with a barge pole. no noticeable difference in the amount of freedom/free range/organic/welfare chicken on the shelf though.

the other problem that situation creates is more waste: if no one's buying the chicken already on the shelves, what happens to it? presumably it just gets binned?

[legendaryone]

Re sean,
   your not on your own here,i agree with you. In the mail on sunday was a reply from a chicken farmer re the programe, it seems the crew spent a few days filming on his farm and not one minute was used for the programe,
   Maybe it didnt fit in with their preconcieved, biased ideas.

It's no different from other programmes who film more than they require.

[growmore]

In my opinion they are  treat as a commodity .. With little regard for welfare..
I was surprised no mention of what may have been in  the food  or water the chickens are fed to keep them alive (disease free) in such intensive conditions and get them table ready in such a short time ,,
 I think If we took the biggest of the normal   breeds of chuck  and put a few on our lotties, fed them normal  cerial based food etc , We would be a lot longer getting them to table ready size than these were .. Maybe  by 3 or 4 months .

[Froglegs]

The cost of rearing the better birds is greater hence a bigger charge all round.

[/quote]
£2.50 to £6-8.00 is not a bigger charge all round but a bloody rip off!. I agree that the practise of raising chickens intensively is wrong and something as to be done.In the past  free range was produced as a high quality produce for a niche market, if you wont the masses to buy it, then a way of producing it more cheaply will have to be found.

[chlodonnay]

I don't think £6-8 is much to spend on a chicken. Personally I have bought only freerange chickens for the past couple of years, despite being on LT sick leave and living on benefits. For me, I would rather pay more and eat meat less often. We had a chicken on Sunday, it fed three of us. We then had it for lunch the next day, had it for dinner last night, and I will use the stock to make a risotto for dinner tonight. That £8 has therefore given us a fair few meals! The amount of chicken eat has increased so much over the last few years, partly because it is so cheap. For me meat is a treat, not something that we can afford to eat every day.

[Old bird]

chlodonnay

Well said!  Yes you can live well eat meat that is reared naturally and you don't need to have pots of money to do so.

I think a fair bit of the problem is lack of knowledge I mean as in How to cook!!

Unfortunately there is a generation of people who only know how to buy ready made meals, or easy stuff ie like chicken breasts, steak, fish fingers which just need very basic culinary skills to turn out something half decent.  The supermarkets can be criticised for supplying these easy quick fixes but they are only satisfying demand from the consumer and making money into the bargain.

Your chicken chlodonnay fed 3 people 3/4 meals - that is pretty good - plus you have used up the whole bird so no wastage and if you divide the cost of the chicken into how many meals it provided - it ends up being pretty reasonable.  As you say - you don't need a huge quantity of meat to enjoy a meal.

I am now nearly 80% vegetarian and only eat meat once or twice a week.  My health has improved and I have lost weight - back to the weight I was in my late teens/twenties - I am now late 50's (Walking my two new big dogs also helps!!)  I am fitter than most of my twenty something workmates - both men and women - and much of it is down to my lottie and my veggie diet.

I am trying to teach the younger people at work (all professional solicitors/secretaries/accountants) how to make good wholesome soup, veggie dishes etc.  (one of them didn't know what a raw beetroot looked like!  Can you imagine that?)

They always enjoy what I cook for them - the cost being minimal.  I think education is the way forward!

Enough of my ranting!

Old Bird!!

 ;D

[purple sprouting]

Exactly my feelings, 'Old Bird'.

 

[Old bird]

What do you mean Purple Sprouting - "enought of my ranting"!!!

Old Bird

 ;D