Interesting Video

[Dace]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1h7G9wNKw4

Found this on BYC......thoughts?

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I don't like it. The birds are confined in both facilities mentioned, with little to no access to outside. Just seems like the one featured is an even more confining type of egg factory. How much room did those chickens have? One, maybe 1-1/2 square feet?

Boooo

 

[Dace]

I found it interesting that they talked about how they were able to 'protect' the birds from predators
and avian flu

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Riiiiight, lets not mention the fact that free range birds have a better immune system, and there are other ways to cut down on predator losses, like oh, say... netting? Run-ins? Electric net fencing?

Oh and doesn't avian flu spread wildly in a confinement operation, since the birds are wing to wing?

 

[Iceblink]

I found it telling that they put pretty much all the responsibility for production methods on the consumer. On the one hand, I do believe we vote with our food dollars, but on the other hand, they seem to be abdicating responsibility for what they are putting the chickens through.

The whole video seemed to be a self justifying 'feel good' piece about factory farms.

 

[Dace]

I agree....I mean in the beginning he references their cages as "luxury condos"
COME ON! Are people really this stupid??

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Not stupid I think, but "There are none so blind as those who will not see" Like they said in Food, Inc. people have this image in their head of how food is produced (with the cows ranging & the chickens pecking in the grass) only it's an outdated model, at least at the big operations and many of the smaller ones as well.

The whole video seemed to be a self justifying 'feel good' piece about factory farms.

Yes, exactly!

 

[old fashioned]

My thoughts run along the same lines.......I think most people think of organic or free range (chickens, pigs, cows, etc) as being the animal is able to live in the environment as nature intended and able to "tiptoe thru the tulips" so to speak and NOT cooped up inside a building or enclosed pen with barely enough room to move.
Like in another thread (yes, mine) "Truth about organics", the linked articles are about how the labels are misleading to the public because it's big bu$iness.

Watching this video and I think how can you justify such practices as being better for both the chicken and the consumer???
I'm almost inclined the think the caged chicken is better off than the so called free range (did I just say that?), only because of pecking attacks and cannibalism would be less of a problem.

More and more information is getting out there to Joe Public about the conditions of their food sources and that's great, but I think alot of people don't really want to know the truth and are in a happy dream state of denial.

 

[Ohioann]

Let's face it, if there were not these factory farms eggs would be a luxury item at the grocery store. The DAC, (dumb average consumer) and yes I know I'm being harsh, really doesn't care how the food is produced as long as it is as cheap as possible. I have talked to people about how there chicken and eggs are produced by the average facory farm and they tell me they prefer the grocery store egg to my farm raised eggs because 1) brown eggs aren't as pure as white eggs 2) my hens have a rooster with them and the person is afraid of "bad" eggs and 3) eggs from factory cage farms are produced so that the chickens can't touch them or sit on them so they are better. I gave up!!! Have had the same type of conversations about feed lot beef, factory pork, and my personal no-no veal, with the same general results. There is a reason we are members of this group....we think about our animals in realistic terms and understand their function and place in the greater scheme of things. Even if some of us chose not to consume our animals we all have a much more realistic view of them than the general population.