This would seem to follow naturally on from yesterday's "Chicken or Egg" post. And it does. Mr Brown Eyes and I were talking about whether one needs to own their own chickens in order for them to live in good conditions, or whether we can just pay someone else to do that for us, such as in the case of buying organic eggs.
We used to buy all our eggs free-range until I found out that free-range eggs are fairly routinely de-beaked, because of the unnaturally (if a chicken is at all natural) large flock sizes they live in. Since then we buy free range from a local farmer who does not debeak, or organic if we are elsewhere.
Mr Brown Eyes was saying that industry standard may even move towards organic, that actually there is nothing inherently wrong with large companies and even maybe monsanto (or someone equivalent in size and stature) could farm organic eggs. The thing is that I do not trust large capitalist organisations. They wait for us not to be watching, and then they cut a corner. When that has gone unnoticed they cut another one.
I also felt that I probably couldn't pay anyone to keep chickens as well as I would keep them if I had just 2 in my garden. I presumed an organic (the highest standard of animal welfare) chicken would not have as much space as they would if I just kept 2 in my garden. Or maybe some might, but certainly it would not be assured to be the case. I went using my friend "google" to try to find how much space they would have.
Before finding the answer I got distracted by the very thing that was my initial concerns - big companies not only being outside the law but actually writing the laws themselves (just wait til I get round to writing my GM post!).
I have just been reading an article in times online, admittedly dated in 2007 but nonetheless, stating that organic chickens are typically bred in windowless sheds, given vaccines and fed chemically treated food. Some even have their beaks "trimmed". Hmmm. Apparently this is allowed because of pressure from supermarkets which has resulted in the standards being changed to suit the big companies. I don't much like the fact I live in a country where rules are not made by politicians for people, but are made for profit for companies.
These chickens can be kept in conditions with 14 birds per square metre, they would definitely be better off as 2 in my garden. They are moved to more "organic" conditions as we know them only once they are economically viable.
The Soil Association seems to have the best welfare conditions, so i am going to beware anything organic that is not SA, which only accounts for 30% of organic eggs apparently.
I think I may actually adopt some ex-battery hens:
http://www.bhwt.org.uk/adopt_some_hens.php
I think there was more of a point to this post when I started writing, but I seem to have totally lost the thread!
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