Animal Lovers Web Blog

…to escape the man from Tesco selling her for a paltry £1.99!

Despite all the recent media interest in the welfare of British poultry, it is still sadly apparent that our consumer society demands that prices, profits and productivity come before animal welfare. 

At Animal Lovers Web, our chickens are kept purely for their eggs and will, fortunately, never see the inside of a slaughterhouse.  Even when they get old and decide that egg-laying is too much like hard work, they will be able to live their twilight years with us, pampered, loved, safe and secure.

We don’t live in a utopian bubble and recognise that, for our chickens, life is far removed for the commercial poultry farmer’s huge barns containing thousands of chickens that never have and never will see the true light of day.  It is encouraging that more and more farmers are trying to change their farming methods to support the RSPCA’s Freedom Foods Standards, but this obviously comes at a price.  Supermarket bargain-buy chickens mean that for every bird sold, the farmer makes an unbelievable 3 pence!  This cannot be right! How can commercial poultry keepers hope to compete, yet raise their standards of husbandry?

Keeping a few back garden chickens, whether for eggs, meat or both is becoming increasingly common in the UK and abroad.  Animal welfare concerns, an increased awareness of the origins of our food and a desire for self-sufficiency, are some of the drivers influencing this practice.  It’s not just a hobby for the small land owner or stereotypical eco-warrior! 

A couple of small laying bantam hens require very little garden space and you soon realise the benefits with a fresh, tasty egg for breakfast each morning.  For those with a slightly stronger constitution than us, it must be very satisfying eating your own bird that you know has had the benefit of a good quality of life, to free range, peck and forage and enjoy being able to express their normal behaviour.

In reality, the vast majority of eggs and chickens are acquired via the supermarkets and stores.  Is consumer power strong enough to influence how these birds are raised?  Does the consumer indeed really care enough to forfeit the price of a pint of beer and a Coke for the sake of a better cared for bird - after all, who doesn’t like a bargain?  We don’t necessarily care enough about human welfare to not buy a pair of £5.00 jeans that may well be the product of child labour in some far-flung country that we can’t even pinpoint on a map.

Certainly, the publicity campaigns in recent weeks, driven by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, have increased demand for a better welfare bird and free-range eggs.  However, whilst cheaper products are available, cheaper products will be bought.  If the supermarkets thought outside the box a little more often and placed heavy discounts on the better welfare chickens, they may be less likely to score an own goal and do more for their own reputation as responsible providers to their communities.  Ultimately, an increase in demand for these better welfare chickens and free range products, would to help to drive down the costs for everybody.

Living in a democracy allows us to all make choices, even if they are not necessarily always the right ones.  Unfortunately, the same rights don’t apply to chickens. Some get lucky and have a wonderful free-ranging life ahead of them - the rest are stuck with their lot. 

Until governments take action to introduce legislation to ban intensively-farmed chickens (and their importation) and thereby remove from the equation our poor choices, then the majority of chickens will continue to be stuck in a life that bears no resemblance to living at all.

Diane
Animal Lovers Web.com