WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA STATE CHICKEN CONFINEMENT LAW FOR EGG FARMERS ?????

[enola]

One thing is for sure, the price of eggs in the store are going to skyrocket because of this law.

And I agree, people who have never farmed should not be making laws that govern those that do.

The USDA already has/and enforces laws on the pet trade. My sister raises small animals for the pet trade. USDA does two 'site inspections' every year.

 

[WYNot]

Gotta disagree. If the people actually wanted this and were willing to pay extra, then the marketplace would reflect such. It didn't. It was implemented through force. While I agree that factory farm conditions can be brutal I don't like the idea of gov sticking its nose into the business of others.

As someone else mentioned, this is just the start. They will continue to push till they get their noses into everyone's business... including the backyard chicken keepers.

I think the new law is great! If 60% of people voted for this law then they realize how terribly cruel egg farm conditions are. They have shown that they are willing to pay a few cents more to relieve chickens from heartbreaking and sickening conditions. I think the market will level off over time. There are plenty of farms that raise cage free and free range chickens/eggs and are profitable.
I would also think that the advocates of this new law may have gotten some inspiration from free range and backyard chickens. They are too busy trying to better the lives of millions of caged birds, not in punishing back yard keepers who are doing it right already.

 

[hen madame]

Some regulation is generally a good thing. I don't necessarily think that an industry can self-regulate...Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" for example....and how many super-fund sites do we have in this country due to industries polluting with no regard for the health and welfare of people (let a lone other animals whether livestock or wild).

Do I think that the government is the do all and end all to keeping things in line...no, folks in industry still bear the bulk of responsibility. Do I think the government should have regulations and inspect industries on a regular basis in order to help safeguard folks...yes.

People, the government isn't always the enemy. I think government plays an important role to help keep a safe/civil society. It just seems that people over react, isn't there a middle ground?

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Gotta disagree. If the people actually wanted this and were willing to pay extra, then the marketplace would reflect such. It didn't. It was implemented through force. While I agree that factory farm conditions can be brutal I don't like the idea of gov sticking its nose into the business of others.

"By force"? You mean the "force" of the ballot box, aka proof that the people do indeed want this and are in fact willing to pay for what they want.

 

[enola]

"By force"? You mean the "force" of the ballot box, aka proof that the people do indeed want this and are in fact willing to pay for what they want.

"Willing to pay for what they want?" By forcing commercial producers to conform to laws that prevent "cruelty" to animals the average consumer is going to be "forced" to pay higher prices for the food they put on the table. How are the families that are barely making ends meet going to cope with not being able to put meat, milk and eggs on the table?

 

[CrazyTalk]

Gotta disagree. If the people actually wanted this and were willing to pay extra, then the marketplace would reflect such..

This is silly.

I want better service from my cable provider - but no amount of consumer pressure is going to get that. The free market only works if consumers have perfect information about the products they're buying, if the cost of entry into the market is small, and there's no cost to switching.

The only one of these that is true is the 3rd one - you need 10s of thousands of birds to compete in this market - so the cost of entry for businesses is high, and consumers have basically no information on how animals are actually kept. They don't know the difference, so they can't vote with their wallets.

 

[hen madame]

Oh my! We live in a democracy (kind of). When things get voted on somebody "wins" and somebody "loses". If the majority says they what these laws, then that's the way it is. Who knows, may be some of those people that wanted these regulations are poor but still think animal welfare is more important than what they pay for eggs. Maybe we should make sure that everyone who works earns a living wage and those that can't work get the assistance that they need so they can afford those eggs.

I'm sorry, but I'm getting tired of folks only liking votes when they win (and then bemoan the fact that sometimes their ideology is on the losing end of the stick). I don't like our gun laws, but I'll be darned if my desire for strict gun control keeps getting voted down...I except the fact that I live in a gun loving crazy society and continue to hope that someday gun rights advocates will be enlightened.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The Humane Society of the United States and only the HSUS wanted this law. You who keep free range chickens are the HSUS's next target, so hip-hip hurray all the way to the sanitary land fill with your poultry where at some date in the future you will be required by law and the HSUS to wring your own chickens' necks.

The up start of all of this is that your eggs will forever hereafter be produced in Mexico because they are not under the thumb of the California Department of Agriculture and are over and above California law by virtue of international laws and treaties like NAFTA.

The HSUS is a militant vegetarian organization who condemns all animal husbandry of any type, even bee keeping. Arm yourselves with knowledge.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Don't believe that the Humane Society of the United States isn't listing and watching this forum when chicken keepers discuss the injuries that their chickens inflict on each other.

Caged layers are mostly free from hen inflicted damage, mites, lice, contagious diseases, the cruelty of the pecking order, as well as predators.

 

[DoveStar]

If you don't think they'll come after backyarders you may be deceived, these guys are not the kind to stop at the top, poop runs downhill and it will eventually reach our backyards. They will eventually want to regulate whether your hen houses are heated in the winter and cooled in the summer, whether you can pen them at all whether they have room to flap wings or not. They will also go after county and state fairs as well as the exhibition section of this hobby because penning a chicken is cruel and unusual, even though if they are free ranged they are subject to death by coyote, raccoon, opossum, skunk, mink, etc...... I have been in laying farms and trust me, if a hen is not well fed, healthy and happy she is not going to lay and egg, period! People who do not farm should not make laws concerning those who do.

I'm not trying to start a fight, I simply want to put my opinion out there. I believe that, yea, some regulators might start looking at small hobby farms in the backyards of people. But, if the chickens are well-fed, have an adequate shelter, and enough space to flap their wings, you should have nothing to worry about! Ummm, no, chickens ARE able to produce eggs even if they are not in the best conditions. Yes, their productivity might go down from an egg a day to an egg every two or three days, but chickens CAN still lay in below-adequate conditions. I knew a chicken that was not fed at all (had to free forage in a dead fenced yard), had no shelter or water source (besides a small sewage/canal runoff pipe) and was thin enough to see several bones... and she still layed at least an egg or two EVERY WEEK.

PS The chicken is doing much better now though!