Preaching to the choir... PICS

[foweler]

I too believe that it should be my choice (or yours too) to buy my chicken from whomever I please without some vote hungry politician placing himself between me and said chicken for my own good.
I also believe, as I said above , that the only vote that is worth the time you take to cast is where you spend your money.

I believe that with the information systems we have at our disposal (this board or starters) we can start a grassroots education-based campaign for the voluntary boycotting of cruelly raised meats and products.
If the average person actually knew what was happening they might agree with us. You tube is a powerful tool for getting the truth out there.

To be perfectly clear, I'm not condoning that group of over the top wackos whose mere mention here gets threads closed. I just think the free market can and will work if everyone is informed.

 

[pixie74943]

so basically, Le Canard de Barbarie, you believe that this

is not better than this

or this?

??? Is that about the gist of your argument?

No, raising Meaties in tractor is not as Ideal and picturesque as your meat ducks, but Cornish X's arent exactly predator proof...
Penning any animal and raising it for meat isnt perfect, but raising an animal in your backyard, on grass, with fresh air, easily outstrips factory farms with Minimal windows and airflow, and birds ending up with broken legs so they cant reach the feeders/waterers and die from starvation.

EDIT TO ADD: this is the most windows I've ever seen in a factory farm. There is a farm about half an hour from my house and... It doesnt HAVE windows.. I didnt actually realise they raised birds for about a year.

 

[gkeesling]

I thought I'd put in my two cents here. I raise a few chickens for eggs and I have 10 steers on my property I raise for beef for people. My wife and I enjoy the small hobby farm and the meat and veggies we get from it. I take very good care of my animals both because I think it's my responsibility to take care of them properly and because I can provide a better product if my animals are cared well cared for - to a point of a cost vs. benefit analysis. With that being said, I also think we need to over all provide food for as less of a cost as we can. We are already legislated to death and it looks like our taxes are going to be going up even more. The less the government is in our lives the better off we will be. My position would be that, if an entrepreneur can make a profitable business from raising a lot of animals or fowl for part of our food supply, and process them according to the current health standards then good for that person. The market will determine who can stay in business raising animals. Also, everyone has a free choice where to spend their money. I will choose to find the best value for my dollars depending on my need.

 

[daisy_dukers]

This is all about the all mighty dollar.

Most people don't want to pay $2/lb from a farmer when they can get it for 99cents/lb at Wallmart. The only way you can get it for 99cents a lb is to have factory farms....

What I find funny though is people who are willing to pay $2k for the latest big screen plasma that next year will be selling for $1k. Yet these same people complain that I am charging 50 cents more for free run eggs than the factory produced eggs (free run eggs are $1 more at the grocery store).

 

[jaku]

Quote:
Why can't you raise enough meaties? I do a batch in the spring and another in the fall. Stagger the batches, do bigger batches, you should be able to pull it off.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
It's the latest trend in commercial chicken raising. Some genius figured out that meat birds grow faster with only artificial light, so no windows.

 

[pixie74943]

Quote:
It's the latest trend in commercial chicken raising. Some genius figured out that meat birds grow faster with only artificial light, so no windows.

Yay for that guy/gal *sarcasm*
lets find him/her and bonk him on the head with a big stick!

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
It's the latest trend in commercial chicken raising. Some genius figured out that meat birds grow faster with only artificial light, so no windows.

Yay for that guy/gal *sarcasm*
lets find him/her and bonk him on the head with a big stick!

... and some genius figured out how to pack a bunch of chickens into a moveable battery cage, call it a chicken tractor, and declare it humane. So, how many chicken get hurt or killed when moving the tractor?

 

[chickens4me]

I see those trucks quite often, too. It is hard to see them crammed into the cages & imagine what their whole lives might have been like.

I tried to grow my own "meaties" in humane conditions this last spring, but it was a disaster all the way around & unbelievably expensive (though they were treated very well.)

Now I try to buy the "free-range" organic hens when they are marked down at the grocery store on Thursday mornings...hoping they have been treated much more humanely as their packaging suggests.

 

[pixie74943]

Quote:
Yay for that guy/gal *sarcasm*
lets find him/her and bonk him on the head with a big stick!

... and some genius figured out how to pack a bunch of chickens into a moveable battery cage, call it a chicken tractor, and declare it humane. So, how many chicken get hurt or killed when moving the tractor?

A battery cage describes a cage that is not big enough for one chicken

A tractor for broilers, in general contains no more than twice the number of recommended hens (so a tractor big enough for 4 hens, would contain 8 broilers) (yes, this is my opinion and I'm unsure of anyone elses practices). Broilers, generally Cornish X's, are a sluggish, docile breed.
As for injuries moving the cage, that has nothing to do with the size of the tractor, it simply comes down to how caring/humane the people are.

This argument could go on forever, I've already said, your freeranging is ideal, but it is not functional for Cornish X's, they dont have the survival skills. It is however, better than 99% of what people can buy is stores, better for both the chickens, and the people eating them.