Are you one of the good guys and gals that only eat free range chicken and eggs? If you are, well done because you're amongst the still very small minority.
Believe it or not, 92% of all chicken products bought in the UK are still intensively farmed! Isn't that shameful? I mean, it's not as if we can't hide behind lack of knowledge because unless you've been living on another planet (there is one? You mean we don't have to save the world, after all?), you'll know exactly what goes on in the lives of those poor chooks.
Tesco are currently selling whole chickens at £1.99 per bird and, quite honestly, anybody buying them really ought to question their values. Are we really happy to treat other living creatures to a lifetime - albeit a short one - of misery for the sake of saving a few pounds? It doesn't make sense to me at all. Nike trainers £59.99 - a whole chicken £1.99. Nah. There's something wrong there. Folk must have their priorities mixed up, surely?
Anyway, enough of my waffle. If you'd rather see chickens running about on grass, enjoying the feel of the sun on their backs and being fed appropriate food at regular times, nip over to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Chicken Out" campaign and sign the petition.
Sharon J
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7 comments:
I miss a chap I used to work with a few years ago, can't remember his name but we called him the Egg-Man as hed totally free range chickens on his land that ran about in ths orchard and he would sell the eggs to us, they were the best tasting eggs I have had since I was a kid and we had our own hens
Rae. I kept chickens in our back garden as a girl. I bought them as chicks and didn't realise what they were. Dad built a house and run for them so at least we had fresh eggs.
Up until a year or so ago there used to be a small-holding near here that sold fresh free-range eggs. Gorgeous. Sadly, the new owners no longer keep chickens. Once I'm out and about again I shall be keeping my eyes peeled, though.
signed!
Interesting blog.
$10,000 prize for your "Green" idea-
http://www.bkfk.com/Modules/Competition/Competition.aspx?Section=changeit
Thanks for visiting, Kelly.
I looked at the competition link but I'm not sure whether it's of any use to UK residents. Still, there are few people in the US that pop in who may be interested. You should have made it an anchored link though as half the URL disappears until the actual blog post page is opened.
Sharon you are always a tonic. I am a veggie and feel guilty even about free-range eggs as there are 'guidelines' within the industry that are eyebrow raising. That said - free-range is the right choice and no one can claim ignorance of the cruelty of intensive rearing. Surely its better to have less eggs and pay more, than ignore the true cost of our food.
Oh Sharon how I agree!! Can't bring myself to watch factory farming on T.V. anymore and I certainly wouldn't buy those poor creatures. I feel a hypocrite even eating meat as I certainly wouldn't be able to kill the animal myself.
I enjoy reading your blog so keep up the good work.
Regards Julie.
I know 'free range farms' aren't perfect either but as you say, they're so much better than intensive chicken farming. The best is to find a local smallholder but unfortunately we don't all have one of those close by.
Thanks for visiting, Julie. I don't have a problem eating meat - other animals do the same thing too - but I do believe we should respect the fact that an animal died to feed us by not wasting meat.
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