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This. Lots of farmers in my family, and they just roll their eyes at all this "free range" nonsense.
"Caged hen production systems are often very clean and tightly monitored and are often very high tech with happy and healthy hens."
"They can control temperature, parasites, to provide a clean delivery of food. These are vastly superior to what you would get in many free range operations."
"With large-scale egg production, you can get chooks walking over other chooks, eating other chooks' faeces. "
And frankly, many of the sites that argue against "caged" birds, simply would rather you not eat chicken or eggs, at all.
Are these "farmers" in your family egg producing farmers or know ANYTHING about the methods?
All anybody has to do is google or see the birds in BATTERY CAGES to KNOW it's inhumane. Just like debeaking uncaged birds is inhumane.
How would anyone determine those birds are "happy"?
And do you believe in artificial lighting or do these egg farmers follow a strict natural daylight schedule?
Plenty of people advocate for humane compassionate use of animals for food without jumping to "not eating chicken or eggs at all". Like this poster provides:
Quote:
Originally Posted by carnivalday
I sell free range eggs, and they are indeed free ranged. I lock them up at night for their own safety, then during the day they are left to free range on 10 acres. They are indeed destructive little beasts, and they are fenced away from my personal yard and garden, but they have 9 acres of fenced pasture to do their thing. I still feed them a local milled feed, but they prefer staying outside most of the day.
I do lose a few now and again to predators, but its worth it, as the eggs are definitely different. I sell all I can produce. People who have tried them never go back to store bought eggs.
I have a waiting list for them. If you can find true free range chicken eggs, you'll be surprised at the wonderful quality. I have to laugh at the "free range" eggs in the stores. The advertising is so deceptive.
excellent points,,, ive found this to be true also
chickens are NOT friendly birds, they peck the hell out of each other and eat their own shyt, and they also get ticks and mites
and to pay 5.99lb or more for a feel good free range sticker?? not for me.
I beg to differ with this statement. Back in Miami when I worked out in the Glades, we had a rooster and hen that were indeed very friendly. Heck, the rooster thought he was a human. He would come up to us...I mean, really, if we called his name, he would come running over to us like a dog...he would sit in our laps, he would "groom" us, he would "hug" us, (when you held him, he would put his little neck on your shoulder), and he would be very content to sit there for hours if you let him.
If he felt that he was not getting enough attention, he would raise a fuss until someone paid attention to him. He would climb the gigantic banyan tree in the little park that we had, and when he wanted down, if there were people around that he knew, he would make all kinds of noise. He wanted someone to get him down. Oh he was perfectly capable of getting himself down, but he wanted the attention and the affection.
Naw, I think chickens are hilarious animals and can absolutely be very affectionate little birds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by runswithscissors
...Plenty of people advocate for humane compassionate use of animals for food without jumping to "not eating chicken or eggs at all"...
That would be me. I will eat meat, but I want those animals treated humanely before they arrive on my dinner plate. There is no excuse to cram animals in to small cages or pens to the point that they can't move their appendages, they can't stand up or sit down or move around. That's b.s. (Why I will NEVER eat veal.)
Yes, big factory farmers are doing it for the money....that's not a good enough excuse for me. Yes, I would be willing to pay more if I knew that the animal truly was being treated humanely in life and in their death, as long as the claim was actually true.
I sell free range eggs, and they are indeed free ranged. I lock them up at night for their own safety, then during the day they are left to free range on 10 acres. They are indeed destructive little beasts, and they are fenced away from my personal yard and garden, but they have 9 acres of fenced pasture to do their thing. I still feed them a local milled feed, but they prefer staying outside most of the day.
I do lose a few now and again to predators, but its worth it, as the eggs are definitely different. I sell all I can produce. People who have tried them never go back to store bought eggs.
I have a waiting list for them. If you can find true free range chicken eggs, you'll be surprised at the wonderful quality. I have to laugh at the "free range" eggs in the stores. The advertising is so deceptive.
They are indeed destructive! Any plant materials not fenced are gone. Well, I know a very short list of plants that seemed not to be their favorite. I fence for deer ,but chickens are worse.With a potential 15 acres to roam they would not venture too far from the coop. Weasels are the worst preditor,but free range dogs can be a problem too(not to mention fox and coyote). As to the point of the thread, there is a very noticeable difference as has been pretty well covered. The bones are thinner, stronger and very white. Meat is tasty but generally tougher with a much more yellow fat then any store purchase. As to the eggs I think there is a taste difference but the yokes definitely have more color. As to shell color, it is a function of the breed,color of the hen.
We have our own chickens. We don't eat them, but once you have an egg with a deep golden-orange yolk that is fresh out of a happy chicken, you'll never want to eat those pale, watery, six-week-old store-bought things again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carnivalday
I sell free range eggs, and they are indeed free ranged. I lock them up at night for their own safety, then during the day they are left to free range on 10 acres. They are indeed destructive little beasts, and they are fenced away from my personal yard and garden, but they have 9 acres of fenced pasture to do their thing. I still feed them a local milled feed, but they prefer staying outside most of the day.
I do lose a few now and again to predators, but its worth it, as the eggs are definitely different. I sell all I can produce. People who have tried them never go back to store bought eggs.
I have a waiting list for them. If you can find true free range chicken eggs, you'll be surprised at the wonderful quality. I have to laugh at the "free range" eggs in the stores. The advertising is so deceptive.
I sell our extras too. Our hens are locked up at night but during the day they are kicking up their fenced yard and eating all the bugs they can find.
Anyone can buy a hen and keep it for eggs, unless your town prohibits it. If you can't figure out how to get fresh, free range eggs, buy one. I hen of a quality egg laying breed will, on average, lay 1 egg per day. You can even keep it in a small rabbit hutch at night. This way you will know where your eggs came from. Just remember that livestock has it's own set of needs that must be met, and they are not throw away pets when you get tired of them.
Yes, especially in the breast meat. I typically avoid breast meat in "industrial" chicken. I also find Amish chicken to be much tastier even though it may not conform to the definition of "free range".
Commercial is the important part. Commercially slaughtered chickens are no longer bled long enough to empty out the large vessels, which then "explode" dreadful tasting chicken blood into the meat if not soaked or brined adequately before cooking. There is nothing like chicken blood to disflavor chicken.
I fry chicken and have noticed over the past 20 yrs or so, that these birds are so blood laiden you must brine em or soak em (and squeeze the parts out well)before you try to cook them or they wil have an off taste and black blood spots in the thighs...and even the breasts.
I think PETA goes too far pushing it's vegan agenda. Like it wants to free all the animals used for their meat or products, but where do you propose they all go? Release them in the wild? I think deep down they know that wouldn't be realistic that's why they themselves euthanise a lot of animals. Plus they actually advocate you feed your CAT or DOG a vegan diet and argue it's healthier . Talk about animal cruelty. Yeah I mean do they have a problem with a lion eating zebra? As long as it's humane, are we not animals too?
Well, that's just it -- it's an agenda. It is no more about animal "rights" than it is about offering solutions to any of their agendized "problems." It's about raising money to cloud the issue as the people of PETA very well know that, without real or manufactured crises, organizations like PETA cease to exist. This isn't to say that there isn't a hint of truth to some of what they say. The problem is that the "crises" are largely overblown and there is never really a viable solution presented other than "Go Veg." I think most rational people understand that an all vegetable diet will generally not provide the nutrients an average human needs and that all farm land is not created equal. They also realize that even the strictest vegan is responsible for collateral animal deaths. The reason domesticated livestock came into being was because the human being began to transform from living hand to mouth (hunter gatherer) and into a more planned existence (farmer). To deny our omnivorous nature is to deny evolution, period.
I once had a vegan neighbor who killed his dog with an all vegetable diet. When the vet finally convinced him that he was killing the poor thing and to feed it Bil-Jac, it was too late. Apparently, dogs do not assimilate amino acids and create complete proteins the way true omnivores do. They absolutely need substantial quantities of meat to obtain the proper amount of protein and other "meat only" nutrients to maintain proper metabolic function, muscle growth and maintenance, and nervous system health. I suspect that anyone else who does that to their carnivorous companions will have them meet the same fate. I would suspect that deliberate malnourishment of a pet could easily be classified as cruelty, yet that sentiment doesn't seem to phase the agenda-pushers.
It just seems to me that we have sacrificed nutrition and humane farming practices for convenience without regard to what we're really losing. Large agribusinesses have tried to keep up with feeding this country while people were busy with other things.
Getting back to growing at least some of our own food and the humane raising of animals will benefit all of us.
Yes, I notice some difference in flavor with free range chickens... but more with those that are organic and free range.
I did have an organic and free range turkey for Thanksgiving and found it tough. I think I was just used to roasting the ones that had been injected with brine, so was surprised by the result. It sure did taste healthy, tho.
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. Talk about animal cruelty. Yeah I mean do they have a problem with a lion eating zebra? As long as it's humane, are we not animals too?
