[chicken henry]

saw this in the mail newspaper today , and folks are paying top dollar for free range eggs !

How we treat our animals is a reflection on how we live our lives

Not a blade of grass will they see
Nor a ray of sunshine
Not a bug to catch
Or ground to scratch
No worm or fly to try eat
no sign of any treat

[finleyfreyaseth]

sorry but why is the title"free range"? it is a very sorry state of affairs that animals that are reared to produce food for us have to be reared in conditions far from ideal,but if we want to carry on eating meat and such like,for the prices we want to pay this is the reality of it.

[grinling]

They can go out f they wish...but to classify free range is access to outdoors 10 weeks a year. This is why I am hoping moulting will end soon.
Plans for more meat sheds...14 sheds producing 500-600,000 chooks for meat...do the maths.
Source your food.

[GrannieAnnie]

That's the problem with being 'technically' free range.

They are able to go outside, but many of them won't.  they cluster around the doors, preventing others from actually getting outside.  After a while, they don't bother anymore.

They prefer to stay inside where there is shelter and food.

[Bev]

Makes you sick doesn't it? If I see someone picking up eggs in the supermarket I just want to scream noooooooooooooooo!

My husband gets cross with me because I won't buy the nice mountain hams from Aldi - I say, 'I am pretty sure those pigs have not been kept on a mountain!' He just blindly believes the labels also says, 'I am sure all animals reared for meat have to be kept to a high standard, it just wouldn't be allowed'. Then when a TV programme reveals something he is really surprised. Just wish everyone could be more aware and not so far removed from the realities of food production.

Bev

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm with you there Bev.  I find it hard to believe that so many people still think the supermarkets tell the truth.

[Silkychicks]

Lets all become vegetarian and start growing our own vegetables! 

I know it is idealistic but still I often hope more and more people will let information about food in general enter their counciousness 

[traacyken]

i aggree, free range or so called in asda are a pound? how, i buy them as mine have not started laying and i think its the best option being on a budget. they dont taste as good as fresh eggs and when i had my first lot of hens everyone complimented how tasty there was even a guy who bought them that used to work on a free range egg farm. god knows what is going on x

[finleyfreyaseth]

i aggree, free range or so called in asda are a pound? how, i buy them as mine have not started laying and i think its the best option being on a budget. they dont taste as good as fresh eggs and when i had my first lot of hens everyone complimented how tasty there was even a guy who bought them that used to work on a free range egg farm. god knows what is going on x

thing is ppl slate supermarkets but they give ppl on low incomes the opportunity to eat healthily put meals on the table,just seen on countryfile pressure groups in Scotland complaining about the damage fish farms are doing ,but if there wasn't farmed salmon the average person would never get to eat it like barn reared chicken compared to free roaming chicken the average person would not be able to afford it.

[traacyken]

true finley but a good while ago it was the supermarkets that put alot of the small local shops out of buisness, i used to live in eccles im manchester, they built a morrisions there and the town center died i moved away from thre 12 years ago. whent back there about 6 months ago and no shops open hardly and like a ghost town. v sad supermarkets have a hell of a lot to awnser for aswell x

[finleyfreyaseth]

true finley but a good while ago it was the supermarkets that put alot of the small local shops out of buisness, i used to live in eccles im manchester, they built a morrisions there and the town center died i moved away from thre 12 years ago. whent back there about 6 months ago and no shops open hardly and like a ghost town. v sad supermarkets have a hell of a lot to awnser for aswell x

totally agree with u tracey I used work in wholesale meat and poultry buying by the pallet load and selling to retailers ,shops cafes etc,and I said many many years ago that high streets would be a thing of the past before my times up,,but our own producers in this country got a lot to answer for in the demise as they have always charged over the top prices for the produce ,I used be able to buy a pallet of beef from brazil cheaper than I could buy a pallet of uk beef 20miles up the road so work out the logic in that,i was talkin to someone who lived next to a farmer in n wales last week and he used buy half  pig of him but cant afford to now cos of what he charges.

[andy46]

I agree bev i saw a programe about battery hens and it made me feel sick so i went out and got my four girls fresh from the farm and they love my garden