YOU EAT REAL CHICKENS? ARE YOU INSANE??

[Elke Beck]

People have been brainwashed by marketing and corporate America in general to believe that food in stores is sanitary and safe, while homemade anything is dirty, unsafe and to be suspected. It is hard to change that. I have given people eggs and had them ask me if they can be eaten. I have a sharp, sarcastic tongue, so I have been known to say, "No, actually, the eggs you get in the stores have been specially treated with a secret method that is known only to the people who have the recipe for Coca Cola, so I am just giving them to you as decoration. Don't eat them!"

It is not their fault. They are the victims of several generations of carpet bombing market. They have been told that food only comes from a store their entire lives, and when they come across someone who challenges that belief, they may react badly.

 

[ChickenManTN]

This statement is just as crazy as what the other seriously misinformed people said.

Okay, the 20% weight from fluid absorption does seem pretty excessive. I got that "fact" from a book written buy a guy who competes with the chicken mass producers, and I have found nothing else to substantiate it. The fact is that some of that water is absorbed into the carcass. As for processing, they may not put 500 in birds in a vat at a time, but in some places that process hundreds of birds a day the first chicken soaks in the same water as the last one of the day. There is sludge in the bottom of the tank. You may draw your own conclusions as to what may constitute sludge from mechanically eviscerated chickens, and you can decide for yourself how healthy it is for your food to soak in that water.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Okay, the 20% weight from fluid absorption does seem pretty excessive. I got that "fact" from a book written buy a guy who competes with the chicken mass producers, and I have found nothing else to substantiate it.

So why would you put it forth as fact? It harms your argument to use such obvious propaganda, no matter which side you're on.

That also means that everything else you say in your post is automatically suspect, since you start with a false "fact." Citations/sources for everything you've posted would be helpful.

I've been in slaughterhouses, by the way. They are not my favorite place, but the ones I've been in are fairly clean for the job they're doing. There's a lot of stuff that comes off a bird that is not excrement. It happens when I process birds at home, too. And I promise that my birds do not soak in poo.

 

[Bossroo]

I agree with chicken jerk's comments ( he is NOT a jerk) ! Some base their opinions on raising poultry methods on fiction or research methods with built in conclusions at it's inception or an axe to grind, however that fiction just DOES NOT measure up to pear reviewed scientific publications.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

.......I got that "fact" from a book written buy a guy who competes with the chicken mass producers, and I have found nothing else to substantiate it. .......

There are enough justifiable motivations for one to purchase chicken meat from a small local producer that you don't need to manufacture false "facts" and use inflammatory Boogey Men.

 

[Elke Beck]

Did anyone else see this: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/11/butterball-turkey-shortage

It is a discussion of the Butterball shortage of big, non-frozen birds this year. Interesting.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Did anyone else see this: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/11/butterball-turkey-shortage

It is a discussion of the Butterball shortage of big, non-frozen birds this year. Interesting.

Apparently they didn't "grow as well" this year and they don't know why.....

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Apparently they didn't "grow as well" this year and they don't know why.....

Makes me wonder (and this is pure speculation)... if you go over to the Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying forum, you'll see post after post from folks that have 30+ week old pullets that have yet to lay, or people whose pullets began to lay and then quit on them. I've had trouble with my fall pullets as well this year--I have a bunch that should be laying by now, and aren't. They were even given supplementary light the way a commercial egg barn would--bringing up the light to 14+ hours slowly over several weeks only after the pullets reached 18 weeks. That ALWAYS brings my fall pullets into lay with nice large eggs around 23 weeks, but not this year. I wonder if the fact that the turkeys haven't grown well has any correlation with the fact that so many pullets aren't coming into lay. Did anyone do a late summer/fall batch of broilers this year that didnt' grow as well as expected?

 

[bugglesmommy]

I feel I need to pop in and add this: http://www.infowars.com/usda-to-allow-u-s-to-be-overrun-with-contaminated-chicken-from-china/


I personally do not feel safe feeding myself or my family chicken that was killed, shipped to CHINA to be processed and then shipped back. A processed chicken is a chicken that lived and died no matter where you buy it from. No one is saving a chickens life by buying grocery store meat. Maybe some people just don't care what quality of life the bird had first, but they should at least be aware of what is happening to the meat after it was slaughtered.

 

[chick2flick]

Makes me wonder (and this is pure speculation)... if you go over to the Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying forum, you'll see post after post from folks that have 30+ week old pullets that have yet to lay, or people whose pullets began to lay and then quit on them. I've had trouble with my fall pullets as well this year--I have a bunch that should be laying by now, and aren't. They were even given supplementary light the way a commercial egg barn would--bringing up the light to 14+ hours slowly over several weeks only after the pullets reached 18 weeks. That ALWAYS brings my fall pullets into lay with nice large eggs around 23 weeks, but not this year. I wonder if the fact that the turkeys haven't grown well has any correlation with the fact that so many pullets aren't coming into lay. Did anyone do a late summer/fall batch of broilers this year that didnt' grow as well as expected?

I agree (I think). Here too. Out of 7 hens of various ages from 6 months to 2+ years, we're only getting one or two eggs a day. We even have a rooster. We've never provided extra lighting, but do give organic layer feed mixed with higher protein feed that is also organic. We've never had this low of egg production for number of birds.

But how can home growns have the same or similar issues with commercial growers that have opposite growing practices?

Oh, and by the way, in comment to the OP's thread, Yes we've eaten our own birds, and recently had the opportunity to watch the whole butchering process of both chickens and turkeys but have yet to do the deed ourselves. That will be next years project. And yes, I think the world has done gone mad.