Preaching to the choir... PICS

[Year of the Rooster]

At least those birds got a chance to breathe some fresh air in that truck rather than be stuffed in a window-less one

 

[PaintedGemsRanch]

I live only a few miles (probably 6) from our "chicken plant" as we call it. I cant leave my house and go to town without seeing at least one truck headed there. Sad part is, 1 out of every 15-20 times I see one ive seen at least one chicken fall or be on the side of the road.

Quick story:
The first time I ever saw a white chicken on the side of the road I was floored. We were in the process of building our coop and had zero chickens. I had been reading on here a lot and started to love them before I had them. So of course I freaked when I saw this chicken hobbling on the side of the road, pretty tore up. I didnt have the heart to run it over fearing it was someones. So I pulled in the driveway that was closest to me, got out and knocked on the door. Asked if anyone around here had any chickens because someones baby was on the side of the road, no one knew anything. So I went next door and an older man answered, hard of hearing it took me a few times to explain to him what was going on. With the straightest face he looked at me and said (remember i live in Geogia) "Well I reckon he just fell off the back of the truck"

It was only then that I realized it could happen and that all the little white pancakes I passed on the road were chickens that fell off the truck and got ran over!!!! AHHHH!!! I can never look at a Cagles truck the same again.

Note: I went next door to a husband and wife that were outside to let them know about this chicken on the side of the road and I didnt have the heart to run him over... The husband told me he would take care of it the proper way.....

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
I think a chicken tractor is just another big battery cage.

I raise and butcher my own meat birds (check out my website) and I buy my chicken from a store. I can't afford the prices people want for a chicken raised in a movable battery cage.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
Next year I'm going to let my muscovy and mallard hens raise their young to market weight. The pekin eggs will be incubated on site, and the ducklings will be raised until four weeks in a brooder and then free ranged. My business model is based on having an LGD and electric netting that can keep predation to a minimum. I should be producing about 1,000 ducklings next year. This year was several hundred.

I didn't say it was worse than factory style farming overall, so don't try to words into my mouth. What I'm saying is that a chicken tractor reminds me of a big, moveable battery cage. At least in a factory farm a chicken could walk 100 feet in a straight line if it wanted to. I have yet to see a chicken tractor that big. Pro's and con's.

This all stems from a picture of chickens being moved to the processing plant. So much is assumed after that.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

You vote with your dollars for this method of chicken keeping every time you buy chicken nuggets or sandwiches from a fast food dollar menu, or really, any time you buy almost any inexpensive product made with chicken meat. As long as there is a demand for cheap chicken to eat there will be this type of factory farming. It certainly isn't the nicest life for a chicken, but not the worst way to raise livestock either.

These are a hybrid type of chicken especially bred to reach a mature slaughter weight in just 8 weeks. Even when kept in ideal conditions they often will grow faster than their feathers can cover so they look picked at and bare. I thought the ones I raised looked repulsive & reptilian despite the excellent living conditions they were given.

Shoshana, you may want to do more research before you initiate your meat bird plan. BOs are known for broodiness, but it's difficult to rely on hens to go broody precisely when you want them to. BOs are also a hefty dual-purpose breed, but still not as meaty as other breeds like Cornish or Cornish X. You may want to plan on ordering day-old meat chicks to raise in a brooder to supplement your family's menu.

 

[95yj]

Quote:
i hope this is a joke, i really don't want to fight about this right now, but there is no possibility that a factory raised chicken w/ zero floor space in a warehouse surrounded by thousands of other birds with barely enough room to move are on the same level as birds raised in a tractor which is moved to fresh vegetation daily and are raised by people who actualy care about the birds enough to ensure a happy life and humane death. i'm open minded and i did think about your side, but there is no possibility... besides my cx's never even moved the full length of the tractor, but they appreciated not being jammed next to another bird, even in the warehouses the birds are still packed in much tighter than what could be considered humane.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
i hope this is a joke, i really don't want to fight about this right now, but there is no possibility that a factory raised chicken w/ zero floor space in a warehouse surrounded by thousands of other birds with barely enough room to move are on the same level as birds raised in a tractor which is moved to fresh vegetation daily and are raised by people who actualy care about the birds enough to ensure a happy life and humane death. i'm open minded and i did think about your side, but there is no possibility... besides my cx's never even moved the full length of the tractor, but they appreciated not being jammed next to another bird, even in the warehouses the birds are still packed in much tighter than what could be considered humane.

You didn't include my other sentence that I felt was important:

This all stems from a picture of chickens being moved to the processing plant. So much is assumed after that.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Next year I'm going to let my muscovy and mallard hens raise their young to market weight. The pekin eggs will be incubated on site, and the ducklings will be raised until four weeks in a brooder and then free ranged. My business model is based on having an LGD and electric netting that can keep predation to a minimum. I should be producing about 1,000 ducklings next year. This year was several hundred.

And duck is the only meat you eat? Where does the rest come from? I don't want to make any unwarranted assumptions, here.

And it is just silly to say a factory farm bird lives anywhere near the quality of life my tractored birds do. You are entitled to your opinion, though, however wrong I may know that opinion is.

BTW, I personally have no problem with the above picture. That is a least of those birds' worries. A little rain isn't going to hurt an adult chicken. It is the life they led up to that point and the method of slaughter I most object to. I'm just saying you are dead wrong about tractor raised chickens.

Oh, and when you compare the lives of those factory farmed birds favorably to my tractored birds (you did it again in a later post), you are in fact saying I treat mine worse than the factory farm does, no matter how you want to dance around the semantics.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
I said I buy my chicken from the grocery store. I see no reason why I should pay the prices people ask for cornish cross birds raised in a moveable battery cage. In case you need further clarification, I think chicken tractors are just another version of high density factory farming.

I'm not the first you have argued this point with. You are entitled to your beliefs, though, however wrong I know they may be.

 

[redhen]

Thats so sad....