Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry
From: Ray (ray_at_syntex.com)
Date: 08/08/04
- Next message: Darkginger: "Re: Eggs and thunder"
- Previous message: Bethel: "Re: Fishing,THE CATCH!"
- In reply to: dh_ld_at_nomail.com: "Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry"
- Next in thread: Derek Moody: "Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 02:29:14 +0000 (UTC)
<dh_ld@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:16fah09eu9t8mifp2hdhmvrdf0crb1qtin@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 07 Aug 2004 09:00:27 +0100, Derek Moody <derek@farm-direct.con>
wrote:
>
> >Bloody hell is nothing safe from the loony factory farmers? Who on
> >earth would actually eat this garbage? remember that next time you are
> >eating out.
> >
> >Found on the Animal Aid website.
> >
> >
> >
> >http://www.animalaid.org.uk/farming/shell.htm
> >
> > Factfile: August 2004
> >
> >From Shell to Hell:
> >the modern egg industry
> >The modern chicken is descended from the Red Junglefowl (Gallus
> >gallus) of Asia and has been domesticated for around 8000 years.
> >During the breeding season, the hens would lay 5-6 eggs in a clutch
> >before incubating them for 18-20 days (del Hoyo et al, 1994). Compare
> >this with modern breeds of domestic hen, which lay more than 300 eggs
> >in a year.
> >
> >In the wild, hens are active from dawn to dusk, walking, running,
> >pecking and scratching in the ground for food, dust-bathing and
> >nest-building. Their natural lifespan is up to ten years. Chickens
> >farmed for meat are killed when they are six weeks old. Egg laying
> >hens are killed when around 72 weeks of age.
> >
> >The modern poultry industry
> >Meat production
> >These days, the poultry industry is divided into two areas: egg
> >production and meat production. Meat - 'broiler' - chickens have been
> >manipulated, through selective breeding techniques, to make them grow
> >around twice their natural rate, to get them as fat as possible in as
> >short a period of time. They grow so big, so fast, their legs are
> >unable to support their weight and they frequently collapse. Broiler
> >chickens are slaughtered at six weeks of age - they are still babies,
> >trapped inside obese, deformed bodies.
>
> They will not convince me that a high percentage of broilers
> have terrible lives, though I know for a fact that some of them
> do.
>
> > 'Farm fresh', 'country fresh' and 'fresh from the barn' are all terms
> >conjured up to disguise the cruelty involved in egg production. You
> >think eating eggs is a cruelty-free option? Think again.
> >Photo shows a recently rescued free range hen. Credit: FAWN
>
> That is a pathetic example, which of course is all that "ARAs"
> are likely to show. They damn sure aren't about to show any
> of the decent conditions many chickens are kept in.
Give us a link to a decent Broiler Website David.
You can't, because none exist.
> In all the conditions I've seen which produce birds that have
> been picked all to hell by other birds like that, it's the fault of
> those who raise them for not providing enough calcium in
> their diet. If chickens don't get enough calcium, every feather
> that falls to the ground is eagerly devoured by the first bird that
> can get to it as if it were some special treat, and as we can see
> by the lovely example they also pick the feathers from each
> other. In the same type of environment but provided with enough
> calcium, the birds pay no attention at all to feathers that are on
> the ground (the place can get so trashy with them during the
> moult that they need to be removed), and you never see them
> picking each other.
> Quite disgusting that these "ARAs" who pretend to care about
> animals want to create the false belief that free range chickens
> are always in such horrible condition, instead of pointing out the
> horrible care given to this particular bird by its inconsiderate keepers.
> As dishonest as "ARAs" are, there is absolutely NO reason to
> believe that poor bird was in a free range environment anyway!
>
> >Egg production
> >Egg-laying hens are a different 'type' of chicken to broilers. Bred
> >specifically for high egg production, they do not put on weight
> >quickly enough to be considered economically-viable for meat
> >production. A particularly tragic occurrence springs out of this
> >difference: the destruction of male chicks, deemed useless because
> >they cannot lay eggs but are not suitable for meat production either
> >(see below).
>
> Another of the more obvious ways that "ARAs" are extremely
> lame, and show their lack of caring. They could get those birds
> for free and give them a long decent life, but they don't. The
> "ARAs" are every bit as guilty of the death of those little birds
> as those who kill them. In fact we all are. We could go get
> them out of the situation if we wanted to, but no one wants
> to be bothered by it...not their raisers, not me, not you, not the
> complaining "ARAs".
>
> >Despite centuries of domestication, laying hens retain the natural
> >behaviours shown by their wild ancestors. This 'ancestral memory' of
> >the birds' natural way of life has been carried down the generations
> >so that hens retain the need to carry out behaviours such as building
> >a nest, perching, pecking and scratching at the ground, dust-bathing,
> >etc. (Dawkins, 1993). For the majority of the world's egg-laying hens,
> >the farming system renders it impossible to live anything remotely
> >resembling a natural lifestyle.
> >
> >The global egg industry
> >Around the world there are approaching 5000 million egg-laying hens.
> >The latest numbers available show that China had the largest flock
> >(800 million), followed by the European Union (271 million), the USA
> >(270 million), Japan (152 million), India (123 million) and Mexico
> >(103 million) (IEC, 2001).
> >
> >Globally, between 70-80% of laying hens are housed in battery cages.
> >The proportion of caged hens in the EU is about 90% (Williams, 2000).
> >
> >There are about 30 million hens in the UK egg-laying flock. Some 72%
> >are currently in cages, 23% kept free range; and 5% in perchery/barn
> >systems (BEIS, 2004).
> >
> >UK laying hens currently produces around 10,000 million eggs. In the
> >UK, the average consumer eats 170 eggs per year.
> >
> >
> > Of the 30 million egg-laying hens in the UK, around 75% are kept in
> >battery cages. The others are kept in 'alternative' systems such as
> >'barn' or 'free range'. But look at the photos on this page. Is there
> >really much difference?
> >
> >Labelling: what does it really mean?
> >The egg industry has created a very successful smoke-screen to hide
> >the harsh reality of modern egg production by using terms such as
> >'farm fresh' and 'country fresh'. As with 'free range', these
> >misnomers conjure up images somewhat different from the true picture.
> >One would not normally describe eggs covered in excrement, lying
> >amongst the decomposing bodies of dead hens in battery cages as
> >'fresh'!
> >
> >From 2004, European Union legislation will make the egg industry more
> >transparent when it becomes compulsory for eggs to be labelled
> >according to the method of production. The following terms will apply:
> >
> >Battery eggs will be labelled "Eggs from caged hens";
>
> Excellent!
>
> >Barn eggs will be labelled "Barn" eggs;
>
> Excellent!
>
> >Free-range eggs will be labelled "Free Range" eggs.
>
> Excellent! But!!! We have already been encouraged by the
> "ARAs" to believe that even free range birds have terrible lives,
> so we've been encouraged to believe that there's no reason
> to spend the extra $$$ for free range eggs. And below they
> will try even harder to encourage us to believe the same thing.
>
> [...]
> >Free Range Systems
> >Many people associate the term 'free range' with 'cruelty free' and
> >assume the hens live a natural lifestyle, merrily pecking at the
> >ground, willingly giving the farmers the daily gift of an egg.
> >Unfortunately, this is not the case!
> >
> >The EU guidelines, to which egg farmers are legally obliged to adhere
> >(Welfare of Laying Hens Directive), state that in order for eggs to be
> >labelled 'free range', the hens must have access to an outdoor range
> >area, accessible through openings in the sides of the barn. The barn
> >can be stocked at a density of 12 hens per mē (hardly a lot of
> >space!), and the total opening between the barn and the outside must
> >not be less than 2m per 1000 hens. Farmers with fewer than 350 birds
> >in their flock are exempt from the Welfare Directive (unless their
> >eggs are sold graded as Class A).
> >
> >The reality is that 'free range' hens are often kept in 'barn'-type
> >sheds in flocks of up to 16,000. In large-scale free range units,
> >often fewer than 50% of the birds regularly go outside.
>
> That's because they don't care whether they go outside or
> not, quite obviously.
>
> >Some barns,
> >for example, only have doors down one side - imagine the scrum trying
> >to get through the holes to the outside; the hens at the back of the
> >barn are unlikely ever to be able to pick their way through.
> [...]
>
> Crap. If the birds cared much about going out--which they
> obviously don't--then the outside yard would be filled up with
> them to the point that there would be a problem with them
> smothering each other.
>
>
- Next message: Darkginger: "Re: Eggs and thunder"
- Previous message: Bethel: "Re: Fishing,THE CATCH!"
- In reply to: dh_ld_at_nomail.com: "Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry"
- Next in thread: Derek Moody: "Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Relevant Pages
|
