Tell me the truth about hatcheries, please

[Karrie13]

It really does make you think.

I bet the majority of Americans have no idea where their eggs or chicken comes from. If half of them found out, I wonder how many would continue to use both in the same manner.

We have a family member who has a chicken barn (one of those large ones from a big name chicken meat supplier) and it is amazing to see what goes on in there. I never thought about the chicken I picked up at the grocery store until I helped out in there a couple of times when they were on vacation. When they arrive as day old chicks they are in these big crates and they are just “chucked” into the barn. As they get older you walk the isles and if a chick has a broken wing, limps, any leg issues or anything wrong with them at all they are culled. I don’t know the full cycle just what I mentioned above from witnessing. The smell in these barns is very overpowering.

 

[MissouriChick]

I bet the majority of Americans have no idea where their eggs or chicken comes from. If half of them found out, I wonder how many would continue to use both in the same manner.

That's EXACTLY what I couldn't stop thinking about. Folks are simply clueless, rather by choice or just plain ignorance--myself included. Until I began to unravel the truth about things. The visual on the hatcheries and battery hens has simply become the tipping point for me, I believe. I now feel a personal responsibility to educate and inform with the truth of how things really go down in this country. I, too, showed it to my kids and they instinctively knew that it was way wrong. When I told my oldest son that we were simply going to have hatch our own eggs from now on he couldn't have agreed more heartily.​

 

[Jamsoundsgood]

Invariably when people find out we are raising chickens the next question is "can I buy eggs?" I had no intention of going into the egg business, but the demand is such that I will probably be doing it when my babies start laying. I even had one woman from church ask if I would raise meat birds for her and these practices are the driving force behind it. People are fed up with the way animals are treated and want to know that we start treating our livestock humanely.
Emily

 

[Lov'emSouthernEggs]

Oh, how ignorance is bliss...

 

[RasMama]

This is precisely the reason I wanted to have my own flock to produce my own eggs how I see fit. The commercial enterprises are so faceless to the beings that are being used. If you're gonna use an animal like that, the least you could do is treat it with a little respect, right?
I sure hope that the smaller hatcheries are better than the large factory farms, as that's where my girls came from (via craigslist, I had the hardest time choosing which would be the best & in the end just hoped somebody else had made that decision for me

). Regardless of where they came from though, they're in a place now where they are fed good food, allowed plenty of space, given love & attention, & will live out their lives till they are ready to move on.

 

[eponagirl]

Again... I think everyone here would really enjoy Michael Pollan's books:
Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.
In Omnivore's Dilemma he discusses the issues with corn, factory farming and what we who don't want to support this anymore can do.

He said the laying hen has it the worst of all the factory farms...but he was not allowed in to actually see for himself. He was allowed in to see a well known "organic free range" meat bird facility in CA that were kept in huge barns with only one or two outside doors. The birds are not allowed out for the first two weeks of their life because of their low immune systems, then they open the doors, but the chickens are established in their routine and just don't go out ever...they are processed at 5 weeks so their really isn't much time anyway. The "outside" fenced area is well manicured and completely unused. He also said that chickens can only recognise and "befriend" about 100 other chickens and will not walk past chickens they don't know...another reason they won't go outside...because where the doors are situated, they would have to walk by or into an unknown flock...so they just won't do it.

To balance things out, he went to experience work on Joel Salatin's farm in Virginia where there is SUPERB model of what farms really should be. Everything works together and anyone is allowed anywhere on the farm to see it's operations...he wants to hide nothing. It is all done respectfully. His farm was a wasteland and his grandfather brought the farm to life by integrating all the animals to work together...fields are not overeaten by cows, chickens are large chicken tractors to disperse the cow manure, scratch the land and eat bugs, pigs root around in cow manure to compost it better...etc...basically they use all the natural instincts of the animals to happily do their "work" to balance everything out. Here is his web site if you are curious... http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
If more farmer's were able to do what he does with such integrity, we would all have healthier food and animal practices....gives me hope!!

 

[kipper]

All of this is demonstrates why we should support breeders and small scale "conservation" type hatchery/breeders. That's how I'm doing it from now on. And hatch your own, too.

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
I'm watching that episode on YouTube now, thanks! However, I also watched this video and wonder how accurate this method is:

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
I've bookmarked his site, so that I can check it out more thoroughly later. I live in Virginia, so I may just have to schedule a trip to check out his place in person. It's wonderful that there are still truly good people in this world who want to do the right thing! I applaud him!

 

[IggiMom]

I did not watch it, do not want to watch it.

BUT--I am very happy I raise my own eggs.

And EVERYBODY loves my eggs. I can't sell enough of them.

And my hens laid ALL last winter, too.

I do get chicks from hatcheries. This year I could not have been happier with the chicks from Estes, and the chicks from Ideal look very nice also.

Maybe I am just being naive, but could these chicks really look so healthy and happy if they were being hatched out in awful environments?

They started eating and drinking and scratching around within seconds of being unpacked.

Now, last year's chicks, from Cackle, did not look quite so good.

Catherine