Eggs from the supermarket...

[al6517]

My DW has some of her family in the production layer business, they produce something close to 500.000 eggs per day. I have to tell I have been in those layer houses many times, and it is nowhere close to this video. These are commercial houses and they are caged one by one, cannot turn around, nothing is automated except the egg conveyer. The eggs or stored, then shipped to who knows where. I have seen these Hens they look terrible, conditions are pretty rough. Nothing like this video, and I have been told that his layer operation is the standard type operation.

Make your decisions, but do you think they would show a real production facility, if they did folks would never buy eggs. I am not leaning either way on this topic, just trying to state what I have seen firsthand.

AL

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yes, there is at least one season with a female voice-over. (My son watches *all* the episodes, I know these things

)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0835010/fullcredits#cast if you don't believe me.

I have not seen the youtube video (dialup, and lack of interest) so I can't comment on whether it is authentic or not.

Pat

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
In lots of the rest of the world, people *do* raise livestock, chickens particularly, in cities and so forth. And a huge amount of vegetable growing on every available plot, yard and balcony, too.

People in the US (and to a lesser extent other Western countries) have just gotten out of the habit of doing that sort of thing, is all.

It remains to be seen how long they can *stay* out of the habit

Pat

 

[Rosalind]

Quote:
+1. Some of my Chinese co-workers are still trying to wrap their minds around the idea of buying everything from the grocery store, and they've been here for years and years, growing cukes and tomatoes on balconies. Occasionally I trade garden seeds & eggs with them. None of them ever lived in anything other than apartment buildings, and they can't fathom what anyone would do with a house and yard as big as mine. I'm on 2 acres, and they figure that's a real farm! They think it's pretty cool that USAians raise Silkies, though.

Also have a few colleagues from the ex-USSR, and even those who lived in downtown Leningrad & Moscow tell me they grew their own veggies on rooftops and balconies, grew mulberries and gooseberries in their garden share allotments, raised goats and chickens when they lived on ground floors with a little bit of yard. The state stores were stocked with so little produce that growing your own was the only way to get enough to eat.

There was an article last spring in Science about the possibilities of setting up aquaponics systems in skyscrapers, to aid in cooling the buildings that are mostly glass-walled as well as to produce local food. I wouldn't mind seeing a similar system set up for algae biodiesel production.

Also agree w/ what Al said about that production facility being abnormally clean, sparkling, and empty.

 

[wings]

I heard about that, Rosalind...

 

[Bettacreek]

People forget that with the population of humans like it is, we NEED these factory farms to produce food for us. Yes, we're wasteful, but, we wouldn't be able to do without them. All the more power to you if you buy local (I like to as well), but imagine if NOBODY bought from these factories, then you'd be paying $20/doz for eggs.

As someone else said, these guys actually look like they're in good condition, nice, pure white feathers (not covered in pooh) and alert eyes. Bad conditions equals bad production or a closed facility, so they're going to try to keep everyone as happy/healthy there as they can.

 

[SpunkyChicken]

Quote:
Farm stands and local grocery stores exist, you know

Currently I get all of my raw milk and free range chicken eggs from farm stands. I'd love to have my own Jersey cow and a flock of chickens someday, but I still get by with eating "happy" stuff while living in an apartment in an urban area just fine. Raw milk is even an option for people who live in the heart of Boston, because a milk truck drops it off at several pick-up stands throughout the city every week.

I can't express how happy it makes me to see a growing number of people interested in organic, free-range animal products. Even if they do it primarily for health reasons (as I do with raw milk), it's securing a future for humanely-treated animals nonetheless.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Their information is a bit off.

"As long as there is no rooster, the eggs remain unfertilized and edible..."

Just take the video with a grain of salt, and do your part to educate people wherever you live about the great things about raising your own chickens.

 

[FunnyFarmer]

Quote:
When we were in India last fall in a large city, we saw plenty of goats and cows and pigs around. Sometimes the goats would be tied up on the sidewalk, but the pigs and cows were always loose. I have a great picture of a cow drinking out of a water fountain and a calf nursing in the middle of the street! Didn't see a lot of chickens--we suspect it had to do with the large numbers of stray dogs.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

That video is real. Also that is what the egg farms I've seen look like. Chicken health is about the same. Chicken meat farms are messier.