Chicken cruelty

[Lowlander]

Many people have strong (and entirely justified) views on fox-hunting, foie gras and cruelty to dogs/cats.

There are around 36 million commercial egg laying hens were kept in the UK in 2013 http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/farm/layinghens/farming

In the UK the proportion of eggs produced in the different systems in 2013 was:

?51 per cent* of eggs produced in battery cages

?3 per cent* in barn systems

?46 per cent* in free-range systems (of which 2 per cent were organic systems).

By contrast, 20,000 foxes are killed by fox-hunting, and whilst I haven't been able to find out how much foie gras is sold in the UK, I'd wager more chickens and hens lead an unhealthy life.

https://www.vegsoc.org/layinghens

Why does no-body seem to care about farm animal welfare? I meet so many vegetarians/animal lovers who continue to eat mayonnaise/non-free range eggs, or drink milk from intensively farmed cows.

[DulwichFox]

People DO care about farm animals..

Many people are simply unaware of everything that goes on..

Like Prawns Crabs ?? Seafood Farms

Well you may be shocked to find out (and I bet you did not know) Eyestalk Ablation.

Eyestalk ablation is the removal of one (unilateral) or both (bilateral) eyestalks from a crustacean.

It is routinely practiced on female shrimps (or prawns) in almost every marine shrimp maturation or reproduction facility in the world

DulwichFox

[aquarius moon]

The reason I don't eat meat/seafood is because I DO care about animals.

I'm sure lots of vegetarians do feel the same as me even if they are not vegan.

I use dairy-free products personally but I don't live alone so unfortunately have to share the fridge with my daughter's milk etc. To each his own.

I trust the organic, free-range eggs I buy & would never buy any others.

Haresfield Farm, Wiltshire. They are available from a home delivery company that I use.

[titch juicy]

There's been a big push for more free range chickens/egg production over the past decade. I'm sure if you compared 46% free-range eggs to 10/15 years ago the difference would be huge.

Regarding chicken meat- free-range is hugely expensive compared to battery farmed and i expect this is what put's most people off.

[Tallulahdoesthehula]

I do care.

We keep our own hens - all rescued and ex battery

We only buy meat locally direct from the farms, none is intensively farmed.

Milk is also sourced locally, again from non intensive farmed dairy cows.

Cost compares to Tesco prices but we no longer live in London.

[Salsaboy]

If we aren't meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?

[Sue]

I care as well, though probably I could do more.

I eat very little meat, but I won't eat chicken unless I know it is free range, and I won't knowingly eat battery farmed eggs.

I didn't know about prawns, why do they do that Fox? Apart from anything else, prawns are quite small, it must take ages?

[DulwichFox]

I saw a programme about this recently on TV .. Could not remember why so had to Google:-

Most captive conditions for shrimp cause inhibitions in females that prevent them from developing mature ovaries. Even in conditions where a given species will develop ovaries and spawn in captivity, use of eyestalk ablation increases total egg production and increases the percentage of females in a given population that will participate in reproduction. Once females have been subjected to eyestalk ablation, complete ovarian development often ensues within as little as 3 to 10 days.

The most commonly accepted theory of why eye ablation reduces this inhibition is that a gonad inhibitory hormone (GIH) is produced in the neurosecretory complexes in the eyestalk

The eye stalks are quite prominent so easy to remove :-

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Woda-6_ubt.jpeg/250px-Woda-6_ubt.jpeg

Full article :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyestalk_ablation

Foxy

[Blah Blah]

Ditto what many have said above, that we do care.

But what can we do when regulations around food production/ slaughter are not enforced enough and suppliers like Happy Eggs, who are supposedly supplying free range eggs use farms where the hens are trained to not go outdoors before they reach hen laying age. The door is open but they stay inside. It's a loophole producers use to circumvent the true definition of free range.

Why does it take undercover activists to expose this stuff?

http://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/rspca-hits-back-at-viva-happy-eggs-expos.htm

Why aren't the regulatory authorities already doing it on a regular basis?

If you want to do something about chicken welfare, a good place to start is by not buying from fast food chicken businesses. If you saw the conditions in which that chicken is reared, you'd certainly never eat it again.

[Otta]

Which is exactly why I avoid seeing those conditions.

[Sue]

Otta Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Which is exactly why I avoid seeing those

> conditions.

And that's why the cruelty continues, because people don't want to know and so there is no financial or other incentive for the cruelty to stop.

One small indication of human nature, and the terrible (in many respects) world we have made for ourselves :(

[Otta]

The world would be a sad and empty place without fried chicken Sue.

[Otta]

> One small indication of human nature, and the

> terrible (in many respects) world we have made for

> ourselves :(

And frankly there are far bigger things to get het up about (and I do).

[Robert Poste's Child]

A farmer I know says free range is crazy as you can't possibly vouch for the quality of the chickens' meat or eggs if they're free to roam and forage for themselves.

[Seabag]

Robert Poste's Child Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A farmer I know says free range is crazy as you

> can't possibly vouch for the quality of the

> chickens' meat or eggs if they're free to roam and

> forage for themselves.

I know a few farmers, nice as they are they're not that progressive

Check out Fosse Meadows. Nice chickens, reared well, great flavour

[Blah Blah]

Battery hens often produce poorer quality eggs with thinner shells. So any idea that quality control can only be measured in battery egg production is nonsense. Free range hens do not forage. They are fed just the same as battery hens. The difference is though that they get to stretch their legs instead of being pinned in all day and forced to lay eggs.

The same is true for cows. Cows that roam free and eat grass a far healthier than cows that are corn fed and kept in factories for mass burger production.

Free range chickens also, are not living in their own excrement all day and night, in barns with no windows. And they have more of a chance of not dying before they can be turned into your fast food. One of the daily tasks of a factory chicken farmer is to remove the dead chickens. Free range chicken is far healthier.

[Ron70]

Salsaboy Wrote:

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> If we aren't meant to eat animals, why are they

> made of meat?

That made me laugh out loud!!

Ron70

[DulwichFox]

Otta Wrote:

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> The world would be a sad and empty place without

> fried chicken Sue.

But the chickens have the last laugh.

Because:-

Fried Chicken makes people Fat, Obese. Clogs up peoples arteries promotes heart failure and type-2 diabetes.

Enjoy while you are still able to get of your A**e and get down to the Chicken Shop.

Foxy :)

[Tallulahdoesthehula]

Our chickens have a run which is in excess of 100m2, they don't search for their food, we feed them.

Yes, they get to wander around, play in the sandpit, sunbathe, shelter, eat grass / worms etc .

The Egg yolks are very different from eggs purchased from the supermarket and taste lovely!

Rubbish that free range is inferior!

We don't allow us to be fully 'free range' due to the risk of predators.

[Otta]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Otta Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > The world would be a sad and empty place

> without

> > fried chicken Sue.

>

> But the chickens have the last laugh.

>

> Because:-

>

> Fried Chicken makes people Fat, Obese. Clogs up

> peoples arteries promotes heart failure and type-2

> diabetes.

>

> Enjoy while you are still able to get of your

> A**e and get down to the Chicken Shop.

>

> Foxy :)

If I lived on a diet of fried chicken that might bother me slightly.

But as I don't, it doesn't.

[Seabag]

Actually who does live on a diet of fried chicken?

Apart from the Yout'

[Blah Blah]

Plenty of people live on a diet of the wrong food as rising rates of obesity clearly show.

[Otta]

Whwn people have little money, a hot box of chicken and chips for a couple of quid seems pretty appealing.

Not talking about myself. I just like the taste sometimes.

[DulwichFox]

For Many years I regularly eat Fried Chicken Ribs and chip.. Apple Pie..

a well as my regular curries.

At work with 30 people in my office it was always some ones birthday so Cakes donuts..

I was about 8 1/2 stone but reached 10 1/2 stone. Now that does sound a lot but on my frame it was enough

to develop type 2 Diabetes. 2011

Its not the fat.. its the carbs..

After careful diet control I have reversed my diabetes. Diabetes UK now acknowledge this can be achieved.

Only 4 - 5 years ago they refused to admit that. Well they did not know.

I eat virtually everything now but still have to be careful. I could still re-develop type 2 again.

As could ANYBODY else. especially if you are over 40.

Still eat Fried chicken occasionally but not more than once / twice a week and most of it ends up

as a late night snack for the Foxes. They like chicken but not ribs

DulwichFox

[Alex K]

Blah Blah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The same is true for cows. Cows that roam free and

> eat grass a far healthier than cows that are corn

> fed and kept in factories for mass burger

> production.

Mis-information above, I think. Grain is expensive. Mature cattle are grain-fed only immediately before slaughter, as I understand it, in order to force them to lay down new fat deposits, increasing the degree of marbling (fatty infiltration) of muscle tissue and increasing meat tenderness... self-basting, really. All beef thus is grass-fed, only some is feedlot-finished. Beef from older cattle, supposedly more flavourful (years and years of wear and tear, think how good some of us would taste after decades of hard living!), is enjoying a vogue at present. I wager that much of it, no matter how long it's dry-aged, is made edible only by fattening in the animals' last few weeks.