Hugh's Chicken run...

[2cvbloke]

Makes you think doesn't it?

Normally, I wouldn't give a monkies about where my chicken came from or how it was raised, but, looking at the way that they're raised, it really does make me feel a little sick...

Part one showed the state of what the floor was like for the indoor-raised chickens, it was basically an ammonia-soaked carpet (ammonia from the chicken's fecaes, stick your nose into a week-old cat litter to see what that smells like) which was burning the feet & legs of the chickens that were too fat to move, so you're essentially eating 5h1t covered animals.

The Free-range ones were much better, they ran about, like they should, they had access to outdoors, like they should, they scratched about for worms & other little things, like they should, and they turned out to be much healthier and fitter than the other lot.

Either way, they were slaughtered in the same factory, but at least the free-rangers looked better and cleaner to me...

Personally, 2 for £5 is not an option now, I'd prefer to have a chicken that hasn't been wallowing in it's own number 2 and crammed together with hundreds, if not thousands of others in one shed...

 

[PaulR]

Funnily enough my wife and I are watching the first in the series as I type!

We keep a few chickens in the back garden for eggs (none at the moment though) and my wife has just suggested that we keep a few for meat as well. Have to say I'm tempted.

 

[Analoguesat]

Who cares - as long as its all cooked properly it aint going to do you any harm.

- you have just put me in the mood for Chicken Nuggets Yum yum

Do you eat meat slices from the supermarket? If so thats mechanically recovered meat - and you dont want to think about that too much believe me. I still happily put it on my sarnies in the morning

 

[Salty25]

I saw bits of it, couldn't quite believe what I was hearing when they said that the factory birds might begin to eat each other if they saw light!

 

[rolfw]

When I was a youngster, I worked for a summer at the local chicken farm, I have to say that I was put off of chicken for quite a while afterwards, as all of the old manky chickens which could no longer lay, were unceremoniously shipped off to the meat paste factory.

 

[2cvbloke]

Who cares - as long as its all cooked properly it aint going to do you any harm.

- you have just put me in the mood for Chicken Nuggets Yum yum

Do you eat meat slices from the supermarket? If so thats mechanically recovered meat - and you dont want to think about that too much believe me. I still happily put it on my sarnies in the morning

It's each to his own on this subject, if you don't mind then it's up to you...

As for meat slices, well, not really, they always taseted like they were flavoured and most of them are infact just meat flavoured water, so if I wanded chichen sandwiches, I'd put real chicken in them!!!

Funnily enough my wife and I are watching the first in the series as I type!

We keep a few chickens in the back garden for eggs (none at the moment though) and my wife has just suggested that we keep a few for meat as well. Have to say I'm tempted.

If I had the money & space, I'd love to keep chickens too, both for eggs & meat, but it's keeping detatched from them that I think would be the most difficult part, as was shown last night for the allotment chickens. But, at the end of the day, they're bred for consumption, but as long as they live happily...

 

[Topper]

Thirty odd years ago when I lived in the Middle East I used to have to do a one special workday once per month checking the chicken coups ensuring the automatic water feeders were working and the automatic grain feeders, we all took turns. I used to hate that place, the chickens were crazed with the heat and filth, mostly we used to look for corpses or chickens who were too weak to defend themselves. Chickens reared for eggs in this way are very unhappy and very cruel to each other. If one became ill the others would constantly attack it pecking the skull of the bird until the brain was exposed, life was very short for them after that. It was quite a while before I could eat chicken after that. In fact I was a vegetarian for about 4 years.

 

[Salty25]

Makes you think, if we can't look after chickens is it any wonder that we can't look after each other?

 

[2cvbloke]

Makes you think, if we can't look after chickens is it any wonder that we can't look after each other?

Very good point...

I was thinking today about factory farming, why is it that birds are the ones that get cooped up in sheds and fattened up, yet, cows, sheep & pigs are allowed to roam outdoors? What is different about keeping a herd of cows on a field than keeping chickens in a large open pen? Are those farmers just lazy b*st*rds that just can't be ar53d to open and close a shed door for the chickens? It's silly when you think about it, imagine if the beef you ate was also from a cow that was cooped up in a shed with food & water trays and hardly any room to move and never allowed to see the light of day. What would people say then?

 

[Topper]

imagine if the beef you ate was also from a cow that was cooped up in a shed with food & water trays and hardly any room to move and never allowed to see the light of day. What would people say then?

Come on 2cvbloke have you been living under a rock

They currently say diddly squat about it, because that is exactly what they do to rear the young calves from where we then get our veal. Have a look here

anyone going vege?

 

[2cvbloke]

Come on 2cvbloke have you been living under a rock

They currently say diddly squat about it, because that is exactly what they do to rear the young calves from where we then get our veal. Have a look here

anyone going vege?

I've never eaten Veal in my life...

 

[Site Services]

- you have just put me in the mood for Chicken Nuggets Yum yum.....

Good choice, and 100% breast meat as well.

 

[PaulR]

I've never eaten Veal in my life...

On a related subject has anyone else been watching Kill It, Cook It, Eat It on BBC3? I have watched nearly all of them and I'm strongly considering eating veal again. It seems that modern veal is produced as a by-product of the dairy industry. Dairy cows have to give birth every year in order to keep producing milk and of course about half of the calves born are useless males (feminists love that phrase!).

These male calves have virtually no value and so most are simply culled at a few weeks old and then incinerated. Some are now allowed to grow a bit longer and these are the ones that become veal.

It would have to British pink veal though. There is still white veal available on the continent.

 

[2cvbloke]

On a related subject has anyone else been watching Kill It, Cook It, Eat It on BBC3? I have watched nearly all of them and I'm strongly considering eating veal again. It seems that modern veal is produced as a by-product of the dairy industry. Dairy cows have to give birth every year in order to keep producing milk and of course about half of the calves born are useless males (feminists love that phrase!).

These male calves have virtually no value and so most are simply culled at a few weeks old and then incinerated. Some are now allowed to grow a bit longer and these are the ones that become veal.

It would have to British pink veal though. There is still white veal available on the continent.

I completely forgot about that series, the last time it was on I missed the last three episodes, and on each one I saw I didn't seem to be that bothered about watching the animals being slaughtered. As for the "Useless males" (yep, women do like that phrase!!!), I didn't know that they were culled at a few weeks old, and it is a shame that they're classed as "by-products" of the dairy industry...

 

[Salty25]

I had no idea about Veal to be honest, no idea. I can't say having read that though that I will stop eating meats and its by-products. We are carnivores, but we have enough (supposed) intelligence to treat animals with respect.

 

[2cvbloke]

I had no idea about Veal to be honest, no idea. I can't say having read that though that I will stop eating meats and its by-products. We are carnivores, but we have enough (supposed) intelligence to treat animals with respect.

Well, technically we're Omnivores, as we eat both plants and animals...

But yes, we should have enough intelligence to look after the animals on which we feed, but for some reason, we don't seem to apply this to what we raise to eat...

 

[Salty25]

Well, technically we're Omnivores, as we eat both plants and animals...

But yes, we should have enough intelligence to look after the animals on which we feed, but for some reason, we don't seem to apply this to what we raise to eat...

I stand corrected, although it must be said that the way some people I know eat, carnivore is a better description

I thought this was why we had the EU, so that there would be a big enough body to deal with this type of stuff.

 

[2cvbloke]

I stand corrected, although it must be said that the way some people I know eat, carnivore is a better description

I thought this was why we had the EU, so that there would be a big enough body to deal with this type of stuff.

I suppose, I don't eat much veg....

As for the EU and all that, well, yes, they should do something, but you have to remember that they're politicians, they don't do anything unless there's something in it for themselves... :mad:

 

[Topper]

so that there would be a big enough body to deal with this type of stuff.

Big enough body for yer

 

[2cvbloke]

Big enough body for yer

Now that's an artificially fattened pig if I ever saw one!!!