Way beyond that. They take a naturally hungry bird with a high metabolism and follow commercial broiler specifications of feeding and growth schedule and somehow expect the product they have in their back yard will somehow differ from the stench producing, the death producing methods of commercial ag broiler houses. That this will somehow not happen in their yard even though they are feeding the same rations, on the same schedule, and keeping them too crowded into a small space just like the broiler houses do.
Then, when they do this and are repulsed by the overly fat, immobile young birds who cannot escape their own feces due to growing too quickly...they will then adamantly state that they will not forage because they are much too lazy and food obsessed to actually work for food. All the while that full feeder sits next to their obese-ly crippled birds...placed there by them...
Or, you have those who will put 50 young birds in a 10x10 tractor out on grass, provide the continuous feeding, and then observe that the birds just do not seem to actually forage on that 10x10 square of grass each time it is moved to fresh grass. That they just trample the grass but do not actually scratch for bugs or eat the grass. Really? They have a full feeder of easily found feed and you think they should be eating the poop covered grass and finding the bugs in that 10x10 patch of grass? Do they actually imagine bugs are going to remain where 100 feet are constantly stomping the ground or that the grass is going to remain edible after all the trampling and pooping? That chickens just eat any and all grass and are not selective about which grasses are more digestible and more nutrient laden? Or, somehow, do they imagine the birds will scratch the ground looking for food in those conditions when a feeder hangs nearby with all the food they could possibly need...why then search for food?
Yes, it goes way beyond just that. When someone can look at a young bird and see it growing into the shape of a volleyball so that it's legs are splayed out and it cannot move and they think that is good flock management, meat bird or not, they have some serious issues. It's cruel and it's also needless and anyone with a little imagination and with eyes to read can find a better way to raise a meat bird instead of blindly following the advice of commercial agri-biz people. It's for your own food consumption, for pete's sake! A sick, feces covered bird that did nothing more than sit by a feeder for its entire young life and produce colorless, mushy, questionably healthy meat is just a no brainer...why then doesn't one just skip all the drama and expense and just buy it from the store? The standard answer is: So I can know what was put into the chicken. What more could a person put into a chicken that makes it any less healthy than a bird whose cardiac, hepatic and renal health has been strained to the max by overfeeding and confined living on excessive fecal matter?
Yes..it goes way beyond that and ventures into the ridiculous. Just because they are meat birds does not excuse actually using one's noggin to figure out they have a different metabolism and instead of exploiting it, manage around it to provide them a healthier existence in their time on Earth. It's easily done and it's a cheaper way of doing it, but many will still insist that it cannot be done...simply because they like being lazy and having an excuse for it.
just awful my books- so this was so heartening to see!
