[Caralou]

of the caged hen   http://www.roseacre.com/cagesafe.html

I just love the whole "this system is actually designed for the welfare of the birds" statement   :blink: How exactly, is keeping a hen is a cage and not allowing to exhibit natural behaviours, for the hen's welfare   Also, the argument that they are "protected" from predators does not wash with me - the predators here are the companies after a higher profit margin 

The site also links to an old Daily Mail article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-468565/Battery-hens-happy-birds-roam-outside.html - that has also wound me up (I know, it doesn't take much...)!

[8doubles]

In all the photo`s the hens do not have a feather out of place , very different to the ex -batts we know.

[Celtic Eagle]

Those photo's don't look right too uniform I reckon they have been photoshopped or staged .  All the hens standing there looking at the eggs go by Yeah right  someone needs to join the real world starting with the paper.

[wolverine]

Ha ha what a load of b*ll##ks
surely there must be laws against misleading people like that ?? those hens do look healthy though if that's how they really look in American battery farms but I doubt it.  if I lock my girls in the run for even ten minutes they kick off!

[mumofstig]

where did you drag them up from? they are 2007/8.

I think even The Daily Mail has moved on a bit since then 

[Caralou]

Roseacre is their current publicity material - they refer to the Daily Mail article from 2007 as further "evidence" that the way they raise is best  :blink:

[Casey76]

I really like this: "the hens have negligible contact with their own feces compared to free-range birds which
tend to eat their own and other hens (and other animals) feces when given the chance."

Since when do hens eat their own faeces?  I know chicks sometimes do... it's one of natures ways of passing on immunity from mum to chick, but normal well fed, properly housed hens do not eat their own (or other animals!!!) faeces.

This doesn't bode well either: All of this is required for a hen to be capable of producing eggs on a daily basis.

I'm sure they also monitor how many eggs are produced from which cages... I wonder how many days a hen can have off before they are, ahem, removed.

This also gets me... "Safe-Hen cage farming reduces the carbon footprint"  How exactly?  the eggs still have to be shipped to whichever shop they're going to!

"Adjusted for inflation, the retail price of eggs in the U.S.A. is a FRACTION of what the cost was in the 1950's before modern production methods came into place." - Do I care??? no!  I'm sure hens in the '50s would have been a lot happer rather than being introduced to "modern production methods"

It's time people realised that food should not be cheap at the sacrifice of good husbandry.

I would never, ever buy eggs from caged hens (and I try my best to use only products containing eggs from non-caged hens)

/gets of soap box

[animal mad]

I agree that this isnt right, I went to visit a free range farm for sale recently and the eggs were going to a major supermarket just really to have a nose. i got a big shock the house had 15thousand birds in it which had low lighting to stop them feather pecking, drop through slats for poo which wasnt cleaned out for 14months when the birds were killed, the birds looked worse than you average image of a battery hen, they had a run which was about 1/4 acre no grass or vegetation and these were free range,  the farmer told me that 90 % of the birds never go out because the strong ones control the pop holes. So from this i think  the only really happy healthy hens are from small flocks it has changed my view. i know there are probably really good farmers out there and hopefully my experience was a one off. 

[rossivale]

Certainly "interesting" reading.  Did some of the hens have their beaks filled down/away, some certainly looked odd.

Interesting how they package their "free roaming" eggs, would have you believe the hens free ranged in a lovely green field, only going inside to lay.

http://www.roseacre.com/freeroaming.html

Jo

[Casey76]

http://www.roseacre.com/greatbrown.html

"vegetarian" eggs ROFL!

[LittleRedHen]

I find it interesting that all those hens are laying white eggs.  hhhhmmmm - I believe that those birds might be living in the USA.  It is very rare for an American to eat anything but a white shelled egg.  I also would like to know where the source of water is for those birds.  I think this is not the WHOLE story.  yep!  Those hens are in the states.

[Caralou]

I hadn't even seen the links for the "vegetarian" eggs or the supposed "free roaming" eggs! Yes, it is in America. I find it strange that Americans will only eat white and most Brits only brown - it shows what the caged system in each country has instilled as the 'norm' for consumption. I have one lady who has eggs off me that will only have the eggs that look like "proper chicken eggs" - she refused to eat the white or cream eggs as they would taste funny  :blink: and said she like caged eggs most before as she knew they would be clean 

[joyfull]

when I was growing up many years ago white eggs were the norm, then brown ones were consider healthier which is why we changed over here. Goodness knows what we would have thought if we came across an araucana egg  . In Malta the majority of eggs eaten are white.

[Wild Pony]

The "freedom" food bit always makes me laugh, the birds go in a commercial setting as pol into a barn where the pop holes are closed for a good couple of months, then when certain agencies make an appointment to go and inspect the pop holes are opened and everybody's happy and certificate issued..............doh! the chooks won't go out as they're unsused to it. But coz they "could" has satisfied all concerned. Yeah riiiight, like I'm convinced. Thank goodness for my girls.

[Caralou]

I know just how you feel. I couldn't buy free range or even organic eggs from a shop anymore. Last winter when I ran low I bought from the chap over the road whose girls were still laying and then when his took a break mine were back laying so he then bought from me. I know there must be some good commercial egg producers out there, but they are few and far between 

I also get annoyed by the fact that getting pre-made foods such as cakes are always with caged eggs unless a specific organic product - another reason to make your own, but frustrating for people who don't have time to do it that they are stuck supporting the caged industry through lack of alternative choice