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The "eat local" movement has driven more Americans to seek out their local farmers' markets, instead of the nearby supermarket chain, for everything from eggs, produce, even meat. There are a variety of reasons that more people are turning to local food: some just want to support local business, while others have concerns over food safety – from pesticides in produce to the way animals are treated on large farms. And, on Saturdays, it's BYOC – that's "Bring your own cartons" – at the farm. Volkert says his business is run like the family farms of the 1950s – without the use of hormones or byproducts – but to today's health regulations. "We are about taking care of the animal and giving them a good life, the short life they have," he said. "We take care of our animals as we think they should be." Free range eggs in Florida must be certified by the state of Florida, unlike many small other small farm operations, Volkert said. To meet state certification Volkert says eggs must meet all standards for grading, sanitary handling, and refrigeration. Free range eggs that do not meet state standards can only be sold as animal grade food. Although the USDA nutritional value is the same for mass produced eggs and cage-free eggs, Volkert says he believes his free range eggs are healthier than the big egg producers. "We are different than the big guys, we don't put our chickens in cages," said Volkert. "They are about volume and we are about quality." Volkert says his farm's mission is also to support the "slow food" movement – kind of the antithesis of "fast food." "The slow food movement is about how things were done in the past like back in the 50's," he explained. "We use breeds of chickens that are older breeds, heritage breeds. We have people who deliver house to house. "It's more about connecting with the person who grows your food and knowing where your food comes from." Volkert is aware of the debate stemming from the current salmonella outbreak over whether cage-free chickens are any safer than those on larger farms, who produce cheaper eggs. But, he says, "I think you if you take care of your animals they will take care of you." See all egg recall information on Eatocracy and full coverage on CNN Health |
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Who cares about this crap,Get a Life
A lot of people do care about this and if you don't care, go waste your time posting on another article that interests you. I'm sure there is one about the Jersey Shore that may peak your interest more.
Very interesting article and video and I applaud him for what he is doing. His hens are however not Rhode Island Reds, they are a cross between that breed and a White Leghorn, hence the white feathering. They are great producers for the first year or so, then off they go. Real heritage breeds, like the Dominique, Wyandotte, and the true Rhode Island Red are not considered productive for most farmers. However, those of us who keep our hens for longer appreciate the beauty of these breeds. I have free range birds, and yes sometimes someone gets picked on, but proper management eliminates the need for debeaking. And the bloom, which is the natural protection that the hen puts on each egg is washed off in that hot water.
You may have a point about the chicken breeds. I don't know enough about them to be able to tell a Rhode Island Red from a hybrid. But you are right about the washing. That is why it is nice to go to the farm and pick your own eggs. The bloom stays on them and those do taste better than the ones that are washed in the "egg soap". The taste is much better.
I actually sell Dale's eggs at two local farmer's markets here in Orlando, and I have to say that every single time I go to his farm to pick up eggs, it's an oasis of just the awesome love Dale has for these animals. Dale does trim beaks to prevent them from pecking at each other, and per a discussion I had with him, he tried to not have to do that, but found his mortality rate was too hi. These animals are clean, and are loved, and are taken care of to the highest degree. I believe that, and I believe in Dale and what he is trying to do for our community, and I am proud to be able to carry his eggs and call him a colleague and friend. Want a more in depth and detail oriented tour of his farm? Check out my blog, http://www.bigwheelprovisions.com/blog/?p=211, and see more of the beauty that is Lake Meadow Naturals!
Thank you for the video. I think it will help to answer some of the questions people have about the operation. Yes, if you are keeping a few backyard chickens you don't need to shave the beaks. Dale has 3000 chickens. Not a tiny operation but not a huge one by agribusiness terms. The important thing is he is happy to have anyone come out to his place to see it. No hiding anything. He is proud of his operation and I am sure if people have questions he is more than happy to answer them. I have been out to his farm a couple of times. It is beautiful. My son raises chickens but he lives in Gainesville, about a two hour drive. He brings them to us when he comes and I blame him for our acquiring a taste for fresh eggs. After you have tasted real eggs the store bought ones just don't taste good. Because we can't always get eggs from him we go out to Dale's farm on Saturdays and pick them up for us, my parents and my daughter. It is a twenty minute drive for us. Dale also has honey, the orange blossom honey is exceptional, as well as cheese and butter from the Amish and grass fed beef from Deland.
Chickens don't range, however they do forage and will travel quite some distance from their coop during the day. Mine go up 1/16th of a mile from their coop as they forage for food. They are out from dawn until dusk. Our dogs do a good job keeping predators away and there are many bushes and trees for the chickens to hide under when hawks and eagles fly overhead. They have rather intricate social structures with certain ones having their group of friends. They are very entertaining.
I have a chicken farm and sell the birds and eggs. I have about 600 chickens in rotation and free range them after 12 weeks. I have never once debeaked a bird and never plan on it. I do not have chickens cannibalizing each other and the other things I have to worry about are hawks and skunks. They will peck at each other some but they will just lose some feathers that grow back with their next molt. This pecking is natural and is where the term "pecking order" comes from. I disagree with it being to "improve livability".
People care more about about chickens than they do other human beings. I guess it's easier, somehow.
By the way, there's no such thing as a "free range" chicken. Chickens don't "range". My grandfather had a chicken/egg farm, and the adage "You can tell what kind of person one is by the way they treat their animals". Raising chickens for eggs or their protein is not inhumane. If you start of with the presumption that it is, then all farming, and any manufacturing using animal-based materiel is all inhumane. That just doesn't make any sense. Keeping your animals and their areas clean and less crowded, makes sense from a sanitation point of view, you don't have to add in the false morality and guilt trips.
Also, it's funny that I spelled "ignorance" incorrectly
Our chickens forage a great deal during the day, getting earthworms and bugs out of the ground. They use the tips of their peaks extensively. I can't imagine how they could manage having their beaks clipped. In four years of raising chickens I've never had cannibalism and pecking is at a minimum. There is so much space that other than when they are eating grain or seed we've tossed, they are too far apart from each other to peck. At night they do huddle together on their roosts, but they seem to enjoy being close together for warmth and safety. There is very little pecking even then. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, you need lots of space to raise chickens this way. You're not going to feed millions this way unless 20% of the population is farming and the cost of food is two to three times what it is now.
exactly. It seems that most people think we can continue to give them $4 per gallon milk, $2 loaves of bread, etc. without chemicals, hormones, fertilizers or feed lots. As it is, the "evil farmers" are all abusing animals and polluting the earth. If it were done their way, the "evil farmers" would be starving people by charging so much for food. And the same people would be complaining. Like one poster said earlier, if you don't like the way your food is produced, produce your own. Looks like you took that advice to heart, i wish more would.
If you give the chickens enough space, there is no need to debeak them. We have 40+ chickens but they have 5 acres of woods, pasture, and brush to roam. At night they are in a coop, but at daybreak they are out. Debeaking is cruel, but unless you are willing to pay $6 or more per dozen and have farmers raise chickens on plenty of land, that is what you will get. Since we're only raising the chickens for ourselves and some friends, we go an extra step and don't buy hatchery chickens. We let our hens hatch the chicks and raise them. A hen will spend from 4 weeks to 8 weeks raising chicks. The chicks certainly prefer being raised by a mother than growing up without one. They are much calmer with a mother hen looking out after them. In an ideal world, this is how farmers would grow chickens and provide eggs, however it takes lots and space, no more than 50 chickens per acre, and lots of work. You do get outstanding quality eggs and meat, but in order for it to be economically viable egg prices would need to be $6 a dozen and individual chickens would need to sell for $20 to $25 or more. Unfortunately, it is just a fortunate few who get to taste what real eggs and chickens taste like. The masses will have to settle for an inferior product, or grow your own chickens.
It comes down to one thing. If their are nerves in the beak, the practice is inhumane, especially when we have farmers even in this thread who have shown that chickens can be raised without cannibalism, if treated appropriately. If there are no nerves in the very tip (which I would find hard to believe for a species that 'finds' its food through pecking) then cutting just the sharp tip off may not be inhumane if there are actual pecking injuries occuring.
What is NOT mentioned is the fact that even cage-free eggs are associated with animal death. Why? They can't keep the males with the females, or the eggs will be fertilized. So what happens to the males? They are either killed at birth (literally ground up alive in machines), or they are eaten. And females who are too old to produce end up being killed. Even the kindest farmer won't waste good money on feeding nonproductive animals. Don't fool yourself into believing that abstaining from meat yet eating eggs doesn't hurt animals.
Enjoy your tofu.
I love seeing all these people with NO FARMING EXPERIENCE who sit at their computers and pass judgment on others who are actually feeding the world. Most of the comments i'm seeing here are laugh-out-loud ignorant. Reminds me of my step-daughter coming home from college this spring, one year of college and she began explaining to me how to run my farm...after all, i've been doing it my whole life, someone with no experience should know better.
I hear ya. In all seriousness, we farmers need to spread the word about how what we do is important and beneficial, instead of harmful. People run with the inaccurate things that they read and the farmers that are feeding the world have to struggle with it and pay for it.
This "slow food" movement that he talks about sounds nice, and I understand how it would be nice to live like that, but people have to understand that if we care about feeding the world, we cannot do it solely this way. The large producers are necessary to sustain the population. It's fine if people want to do this, I'm not saying this man is wrong. I just want people to realize that the large producers are not bad guys for what they do. Without them we would starve. The media makes large producers and agriculture in general out to be the bad guy but people do not rely on the facts when making their judgments.
You can feed a lot more people on vegetables and grains than you can on meat. If we were truly worried about 'feeding the word' we wouldn't focus our production on animals.
Here are a couple of things for you to consider:
There was a study done that looked at the effect of plant and animal protein on blood lipid levels in men aged between 18-27 years. All men were fed both plant and animal protein diets for a 21 day period in a cross over design. What they found was that when men ate meat proteins they showed high HDL cholesterol proteins (good healthy fats) and did not show any difference in LDL (bad fats) when compared to when eating vegetarian proteins. When eating vegetarian proteins there was also a significant increase in mean serum triglyceride values. This study shows that meat protein is likely to be better for you than vegetarian proteins. (High triglyceride levels are a risk factor for acute pancreatitis. High levels are also considered as a risk factor for diabetes and heart diseases.)
And if you're not concerned with your health, consider this. Approximately 85% of U.S. grazing lands are unsuitable for producing crops. Grazing animals on this land more than doubles the area that can be used to produce food. Also, cattle serve a valuable role in the ecosystem by converting the forages humans cannot consume into a nutrient-dense food.
Seems to me that livestock production is a good, healthy idea.
This is the way all eggs should be produced. If anyone has bought organic eggs before they know they taste better too. If you treat chickens well, they'll treat you well too. No bacteria, steriods, chemicals etc.
Being pecked by a chicken is quite painfull - those beaks are sharp! Having lived with a family that had a few roaming chickens I can definately say that chickens can be mean to each other for no particular reason. Some individuals are just known to be aggressive. I wonder if there is a process to "sand" the sharp point off without hurting the chicken or trimming the whole 1/4 inch of the beak? It's definately humane to the other chickens as a whole, even if not to the individual. I have read that some species are more docile than others so may be a choice of genetics and raising those that aren't as aggressive - but may not lay as well. By the way, chickens are not "that" dumb - they can be trained (have you not seen the chicken playing the piano at the fair - for the pellet of food?). And they can make very friendly pets (certain species) and get comfortable being held and groomed. Plus they're smart enough to figure out that following the mower leads to gettign the best bug feast!
Yes they have shaved beaks, yes they live to be eaten and yes we devour their eggs. They only live to serve, but I still must hand it to this man who by virtue of his treatment of these animals shows respect for other living things.
His chicken farm looks wonderful, clean happy healthy chickens. And I like the way the gathering of the eggs is all hands on by people not machines. I would love to buy eggs from him and even work on his chicken farm.
I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!! i'll pay more for eggs/chicks from these type of farms!!
It's like an Alfred Hitchcock film! The birds have escaped and are trying to kill that man!
isn't that just beautiful how those eggs are produced? get a sigh of relief when you shed that extra 3 bucks for the free range/organic eggs at the store or farmers market huh? hopefully those who claim to be selling cage free or organics are really what they say. keep up the good work and positive approach to business
David...If the roos aren't kept to a minimum, they will kill each other. Roosters don't like having other roosters around.
Where are the males? Oh that's right, they get killed at birth because people only want to eat hens.
Actually you can buy Capon at the grocery store. It is just a rooster. We've had a few roosters before and some are nice and some are very mean. Have to agree it's sad they are usually killed early on, but there isn't a lot of "use" for roosters in great numbers. As pets they are agressive and enjoy crowing at 4am, if there aren't enough hens for them to service, they hump them till their feathers are pulled out. Maybe you could start a rooster rescue farm.
People only want to eat hens? Commercially, only males are used as meat birds while hens are used for eggs. And yes, in large-scale egg operations, male chicks are killed because they have no economic value, but that doesn't mean that every small farm follows the same harsh practices. I can't say what this specific farmer does with the male chicks he hatches, but I do know that unless you want fertile eggs (which most egg farms don't) you keep the hens separate from the roosters. So it would make sense that you don't see any roosters in this video.
Some of my chickens have feathers missing from their backs...that happens because they are my roosters "favorite"
Yes chickens peck one another and if you don't trim their beaks they will literally peck one another to death...so kill the chicken or trim her beak? Some of you must not eat anything but bread and water because you have NO CLUE where your food really comes from! Until you've grown it or raised it keep your ignorant judgements to your self!
Watch your back small farmers, and customers protect small farmers from legislation. I can gurantee buried in new regulations due to this egg recall the Big Time Industrial Egg producers who are at fault will have wording to limit what your small local farmer can do.
My aunt and uncle had a free range chicken farm in the Feather River area in NorCal in the 1950's and 60's. They kept about 500 Rhode Island Reds in a very large pen where the chickens could roam free and peck around in the weeds. None of them had their beaks trimmed, it wasn't necessary because they had enough room to roam around. They would go into a large hen house at night and tended to lay their eggs there. They had 10 acres and could have crammed it full of chickens but they weren't greedy. Keeping 500 was enough to support them comfortably but not extravagantly.
This whole issue of contaminated eggs boils down to greed. Greed is the motivation behind agribusiness cruelty and results in poisoned food from the horrific, unsantiary conditions these poor animals are forced to live in.
Beaks can be clipped minimally, which his chickens appear to have been. If done properly, it is a short term pain, like clipping your nails too closely.
The pain does not last, and this has been studied.
I will agree that mass-clipping machines are likely not done carefully. Even so, just as with your fingernail being clipped too closely, when it heals there is no more pain.
What this man and others like him are doing is laudable. We shouldn't use proper beak clipping as a reason to dismiss his great efforts.
Love this!
I see the angry posts about the chopped beaks. But these chickens are still better than the gross treatment given by Tyson chicken farms, etc. There are good videos on chooseveg dot com where they show chickens cramped in such small spaces that they cannot even walk. The chickens there have never walked and they don't know how to. Also they become very weak. What this farmer is doing now is marketing along the lines of fair treatment.
Someone mentioned the chickens looked stressed. It's summer and molting season, that's all. Chickens that aren't overcrowded don't tend to develop pecking problems on other hens or the eggs. Like the one person mentioned above, you may get an occassional agressive individual that makes it necessary to blunt the tip of the beak a bit, but it's to protect the others from injury. It doesn't hurt them.
Typo: "unlike many small other small farm operations"
Ever choked the chicken?
I grew up on the family farm and our chickens were free range. We did clip the beaks of some becasue they fought with other chickens,and it helped prevent them from hurting each other. The beak is like a fingernail, you don't feel it when you clip it do you?
Yeah, that's nice. But I'm not driving over there to pay for overpriced eggs. It's inconvenient and expensive.
I have backyard chickens, non of mine are debeaked and they don't tear each other a part they even share a dog crate at night( coops are illegal but chickens aren't so i bring them in at night). His birds look stressed,loss of feathers with no roo around ...... The reason why they are debeaked is most likely he bought them as ready to lay, that means they were in a factory farm setting until they were 16 or so weeks( that's how ready to lay hens come in our area).
Maybe keep your conjectures to yourself, because in this case you're absolutely wrong and spreading misinformation. Before I ever saw this video, I visited this farm (on Saturdays you can pick your own eggs from 9-1). He hatches chickens from eggs, and has different barns for the different ages of hens, from chicks to adults. And as for "looking stressed," as a chicken owner you should know it's molting season.
I've had a small flock of Rhode Island Reds, about half a dozen hens and a rooster that we raised from chicks. They ranged in the woods and fields during the day and went into their henhouse at night. Most of the eggs were found in the henhouse, but occasionally we'd find a nest in the woods. During the winter, they stayed in the henhouse (this was in Kane, PA where the winters are fairly cold). We never debeaked and never had any problems.
The beaks are shaved so they will not peck each other to death. I have been around this kind of farming (free roam) and chickens are like anyother living creature,......not all get along! This practice saves alot of trouble for the farmer and alot of pain for the chickens who would be pecked to death.
I think an even bigger issue with cage free egg production isn't simply the shaving of the beaks, but the fact that this article wholely misrepresents the larger cage-free practices. This guy is the exception, not the rule. Technically to have it listed on the label is to have them not in a cage; so farmers get huge hen houses and stuff them in with no light and tons of fans so it doesn't smell like chicken manure. Of course, just like the news media to highlight the rare farmer doing a decent job in comparison to the tons who are mass producing these eggs under the label of cage-free organic.
This video shows how most cage free eggs are handled.
I will only buy cage-free eggs for some time now. I could not idly sit buy and consume eggs from creatures who were treated so horrificly. While it is not yet perfect, farmers like him still are better than buying from the torture houses of the factory farms that most of the country stil justifies buying from. Plus, I am supporting my local farmers, they taste better, and more safe for me and my children!
Cutting a part of a chicken's beak is no different from cutting your dog's nails. As long as you don't cut the quick, there is no pain involved for the animal. Remember that chickens are descended from dinosaurs and many breeds of chickens can be vicious and competitive to the point of cannibalism. Birds all have their own personalities and some are worse than others, sometimes they don't like each other and if it feels crowded to them they will peck each other to death. It's far more humane to trim their beaks than allow that to happen.
I made the switch from "factory" eggs to free range eggs about a year ago and couldn't be happier. They taste better, I support a local farmer, and I'm reducing my pollution footprint. Not bad for a couple of bucks a month.
Isn't it amazing how much tastier they are. You can also tell in the yolk–it's bright orange and so creamy when soft boiled! It's a shame that most Americans prefer convenience over quality....
So their beaks are cut off...hello...they are going to be killed and eaten!!!!!
Oh my, no, the beaks are not cut off. Only the tip is, much like the tips of the claws trimmmed from your dog. If they de-beaked them fully they would not be able to eat on their own. If you have ever seen a hen being pecked half to death you would understand why farmers do this.
Usually only caged chickens are de-beaked, to keep them from pecking each other to death. But free range chockens, as a rule are not de-beaked.
Where do you get this "rule" from?
Andrea, those poor babies would peck each other to death if their beaks weren't shaved. While I really appreciate the fact that you raise your own, you have to realize that spoiling 3 or 4 can't compare to raising and maintaining hundreds of them on a farm. Anyone ever been around a substantial group of chickens knows how nasty they could become to their owners and each other! Talking about humane, this isn't much different than castrating your pet to prevent strays on the street. We have been fooling with mother nature from day 1, these chickens wouldn't even exist in their current form if it weren't for the fact that we have genetically modified them (i.e. breed them) to suit our meat and egg consuming needs. Anyway, I support this farmer's endeavors and wish him and other slow food farmers the very best!
I have seen chickens in a free situation and yes they still peck each other.
I think it is more humane to shave the beak than to be pecked on and possibly pecked to death.
When I was young, we had a small ranch were our chickens roamed freely. I guess you could have called them "free range" chickens. That was until my mother got a hold of them and rung their necks, then they were "fried" chickens.
spoken by a true farm raised person. i too have used that anagoly regarding the chickens on our farm while growing up. i now get my eggs from a friends kids who are locally in 4H. they got new chickens this spring and two of them almost died within hours of being introduced into a free range situation because the dominant hen attacked them. so proves the reality that chickens def have a "pecking order" and there is a heirarchy within the flock even when they are free range
Response to Still Horrified: beak triming, when done properly, reduces over cannibalism, increases feather condition, decreases death rate, and stress in the flock [1]. I agree with your statement (minus the sarcasm): "Way to be humane!!"
[1] * Breward, J. (1985) An electrophysiological investigation of the effects of beak trimming in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus) Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.
Response to Not Horrified: I understand the factory mechanics of it. Too many chickens, even in that roaming environment, that results in cannibalism and stress. But is your solution still to trim the beaks of the chickens rather than taking a good hard look at why they would resort to the practices in the first place?
Seriously, I actually applaud this farmer for taking extraordinary steps in his farming methods when you consider how cruel most factory farming is. But it is inhumane, there is no skirting the fact that beak trimming is horrible – for whatever the cost benefit might be to the farmer.
There has to be another way. If crowding causes these behaviors (cannibalism and stress) then even less chickens per sq foot might be a good answer. What do you think?
See my response below, but it's no different than cutting a dog's nails. If you don't cut the quick, the animal does not have pain. You also don't know when I chicken is going to think it's too crowded. They can feel crowded in very small flocks or they just don't like each other. There's no predicting it, but it doesn't matter because it's not cruel to trim a bird's beak, it doesn't hurt them. Even if you do accidentally cut the quick, it heals quickly, it doesn't stay painful forever. It's better than letting them peck each other to death.
I'm sorry, but you're still not correct. My chickens were in NO WAY crowded, some of them were unfenced, they still kill each other. It was very sad to see. The birds who are worse about it, were pheasants, they are horribly vicious. They hatch-lings ate each others eyes out... it's horrifying. You should raise a few and see.
If beak trimming is inhumane, then so is clipping your finger nails or cutting your hair. I have a flock of 50 that free range over my 5 acres. I don't trim the beaks because I don't have a problem with cannibalism, but I have sense enough to know why some farms would. FYI, another practice is trimming the spurs on the roosters to keep them from injuring the hens or other roosters. It's not inhumane, it's practical and benefits the flock. If you can't understand this, then you don't have any common sense.
Get this nut off here. De-beaking is no way right. Sure a bunch of hens have a pecking order, they don't always want to draw blood. Like to see how he feels having his "pecker-head" debeaked! And what do ya mean their "short life"? Good layers don't have a "short" life. Like the approach to try and raise hens, but a couple statements and doings wrong here.
Tnpigal...... no all the facts before making blanket statemetns... NOT HORRIFIED is spot on. If you want that many birds in one area even if they have plenty of room to free range, they stilla re going to get into in the more crowded feeding and nesting areas..
I wish he didn't shave the beaks of those poor Babies. I raise Rhode Island Red Chickens, which are excellent Layers. I do not shave their Beaks, nor do I clip their Wings. My Children treat these Chickens more like Pets then as a Food Source. They get carried around, they get pet, they get SPOILED. We have a small Garden, and anything that is not consumed by Humans our Chickens get. They also get fed "Treats" like Bread, fruit cuttings, etc. I raised our Chickens since they hatched...never in a million years could i ever imagine being cruel to them. They truly are my Babies.
Andrea
Yes, I too have a small flock of 11 and do the same as you, but to be realistic with that many birds you are bound to have negative interaction between more dominant vs less dominant birds.
what do you tell your kids when you decide to make them fried chicken for dinner? children... you're pet is being served on your plate?
Some people keep hens soley for eggs not for meat, hence the term "meat chickens" and if thats the case im sure the children already have an idea.
Healthy cycle of life! That animal is respected and gives back what it is put here for! Sad, so many children have no idea where food in comes from.
They are your animals, so you can do almost anything you want with them. Call them "babies." Treat them like "pets." Dress them up in little baby people clothes if you like. Pet them. Kiss them on the lips. Put the little chicks in a baby carriage and walk them in the Easter Parade if you desire.
But don't forget the bottom line: They are food.
It's ridiculous to think that just because an animal is often raised for "food" that any member of its species should be considered "food" even if it's raised as a pet. Animals are alive, and I assure you they appreciate their lives as something more than something to serve on our plate.
cage-free does not prevent a salmonella outbreak. this is just a pr garbage
I don't know what you people were looking at. The video I saw had close-ups of the chickens and they had their beaks.
Kristy, Only the sharp tips of the becks are cut off, most of the beck is left so they can eat.
They're cage-free, not inhumane free.
If you don't like the way your food is raised, raise your own.
The simple reason, humane or not is to reduce the fighting between the birds, so i ask which is worse, trimming their beaks or allowing cannibalism which is what would happen. So before spitting out nonsense understand all the reasoning behind why this farmers has done this.
With that many birds it would be detrimental if acts of cannibalism occured because once they start the flock will not stop and kill the weakest or lowest bird in the pecking order...
Is it more humane to leave there beaks on and allow 15 % to be killed by cannibalism or I have an idea we could cage them so they don't do it...
We ate our farm eggs for 20 years- chickens in the farmyard eggs. Over easy, soft boiled, poached, omletted, etc. No problems ever.
Chickens get internal salmonella from overcrowding and bad diets leading to feces eating combined with antibiotic resistance from antibiotic laced feed. It's that simple and that damning.
You are so right. Speak that truth over & over...hopefully in time enough people will hear it that we actually change the way we raise our food animals.
Have you watched Bill Engvall's comedy routine about free-range chickens?? Laugh 'til you cry funny!!
I never knew they did this to chickens until I watched a documentary on TV about the treatment of these creatures. I'll never forget it because I was really disgusted by it. I wonder why this farmer does it...
Simple, work with chickens yourself and you'll believe in it too.
They'll peck each other literally to death.
I've even watched chickens attack a turkey.
De-beaked chickens = humane farming fail.
Say that after sitting down in a yard with a couple hundred beaked chickens.
I have 300 beaked chickens that roam on 4 acres of pasture alongside ducks and geese. I have had no pecking problems at all.
We also don't castrate our sheep, goats, or pigs. If you selectively breed them to reduce hormonal taint, there is no reason to. Instead of taking the easy, cruel way, we take the longer, more humane way. It's hard for Americans to fathom this abandonment of commerce, but at our farm the bottom line isn't necessarily the bottom line.
Cheers.
yeah yeah yeah.....always a squeaky wheel in the bunch,....
Love this! I live in Orlando and def want to take a trip to this farm to buy some eggs. Food doesn't need to be produced in a cruel way. Kudos to this farmer for being a steward to animals!
I love the innocent faces of chicken :)
And Yet... their beaks have still been shaved off. Way to be humane!!
It's nice that they are not thrown into cages, but lets not pretend that these chickens are treated fairly. You try having your lips chopped or shaved off at a young age.
Eww. Thanks for pointing that out. Wish I could delete my post. This farmer is almost there with the cause. :/
I didn't notice the beaks until I read your comment. Given that the farmer clearly seems sincere in his attitude towards animals, I do wonder why he would engage in that practice.
trimming their beaks is like trimming toe or finger nails.
My parents also raise free range chickens and have about 60. They are treated very well and chase bugs, dust themselves in the dirt nad peck everything! they peck at my toenails repeatedly when I wear flipflops. Some farmers clip the beak, don'e after hatching, to prevent them other chickens from being pecked to death. They do this by nature and there are always "weak ones" which can be brutallized by the sharp beaks. We have seen many alpha females act like a rooster by mounting the other hens. They have bought chicks from farmers who do the beak shaving but don't do it themselves. Even though the chickens have lots of room to roam and are never caged, there is little you can do to control a chicken's behavior. If you can, try raising a couple of hens. They are not the brightest animal but very friendly and their feathers are so soft.
My mom raised about 6 chickens in her backyard, had a coop for them but most days they got to walk around free for a good part of the day. They did not have shaved beaks, but pecked at each other and themselves a lot...there wasnt a lot of logic to why they did it. Then after 2 were snatched by coyotes during the daytime while walking around, they got became very nervous and the feather plucking got worse. I dont think that beak cutting is overtly inhumane thing to do to chickens – it keeps them from harming themselves and others. (plus, how many of you declaw your cats...or spay or neuter your dogs/cats? hows that not considered inhumane? yet we dont...we think of it as a good thing)
The beack cutting is apparently not painful to the birds.
Debeaking hurts. The beak is full of nerves. Not at all like cutting fingernails.
i haven't noticed the beaks until u mentioned it......i know it hurts, but there is a point in cutting off their beaks....its a preventive measure to reduce the incidence of cannibalism and improve livability
Chickens rarely cannibalize outside of battery cages.
Awww, the poor chickens.
Ever work with chickens? They peck and each other and even humans. They are about as intelligent as a postage stamp, so anything that gets close to them gets pecked. I've even watched them try to eat the lit ember from a cigarette. Repeatedly.
So, one has a choice, shave the beak or have holy chickens.
Exactly...You people are freaks........Let me guess, most of you when faced with a chicken or a small child on the road would run the small child over.... and save the chicken....
Yep I've worked with chickens and they are not dumb. Chickens have complex language, behavior and individual-recognition. They can be clicker trained on agility courses just like a dog. As for the cigarette.. well the human was smoking, so who's the dumb one?
it's so they don't peck themselves to death. perfectly humane if you ask me.
This is from Wiki "In some countries, such as the United States, beak trimming is common in egg-laying strains of chickens and turkeys as a preventive measure to reduce the incidence of cannibalism and improve livability."
I guess this is done for the benefit of chickens, like circumcision in humans. I don't see it as inhumane...
There is absolutely no benefit to humans to have their healthy foreskin amputated. Please educate yourself on this topic – try [ intactamerica dot org ] for starters. Around 200 healthy baby boys die from circumcision in the US every year – if a toy killed that many children, it would be recalled immediately but this outdated, unnecessary and unethical practice is still perpetuated by some. Fortunately, the CDC recently revealed the circumcision rate in the US has dropped dramatically and now "only" 33% of boys are circumcised – a major drop from 90% a couple of decades ago – so American parents are finally choosing to respect their children's basic human right to bodily integrity. Please do research before making this decision for another human being.
Circumcision in humans? Are you joking? That's not beneficial at all. I'm sorry but you will not convince that mutilating the human body is better for vs. how God made you. Sorry but you're brainwashed. Do you believe in Female circumcisions? Because many cultures do. No one else does it but (some) Americans and Jews. Everyone else is fine. I'm proud to say that no blade has ever ventured near there. Don't do it to your kids. We are not chickens.
Really? What exactly is the benefit of circumcision in humans? There are no proven medical benefits but it has been proven to actually DECREASE pleasure...
Actually some studies have shown male circumcision to reduce STD infection and transmission.
Female circumcision is still barbaric.
In regards to Michelle's comment " so their beaks are cut off", would you rather the birds cannibalize each other? It's appears you speak strictly from an emotional point of view rather than an educated one.
My dad has 50+ egg laying hens that are free range. They are part of his family. Ever heard the expression "hen pecked"? They do peck each other when in their coop. They are in a coop at night to protect them from foxes and coyotes. Their beaks are like your finger nails. They grow back and have to be trimmed regularly like your dogs or cats nails.
This is very much true.
My parent's chickens have 2 coops for them to roost in at night. They found a huge owl roosting in there one morning. Also if they are not in a coop for protection, foxes, stray dogs can eat them. We also have issues with hawks swooping down and taking them away. I witnessed this 2x.
We used to have free-range chickens. Admittedly, we had no more than 25 and they were almost "pets", but we never shaved their beaks – didn't even know about that! I don't remember them ever pecking at each other, or even us, for the most part. If they're free-range, they can get away from each other and would have no reason to attack one another. Perhaps this is a rule in Florida in regards to owning the chickens and selling the eggs? I want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but...
I have two in our backyard and have already witnessed one of them pecking the hell out of the other. We have a fairly large backyard too. If it were to continue I would have no problem trimming off the beaks. Their beaks are just like toe nails. They are fine as long as you don't cut into their mouth.
I have owned more than one female dogs at a time for years and never had a problem. I found out the hard way that they are territorial when our female lab killed our female chihuahua. So, I'm glad your chickens didn't peck at each other. It does't mean that it doesn't happen. And an ounce of prevention goes a long way. Since it doesn't hurt the animal and it can save other animals, why not do it?
Trimming beaks is just like trimming toe or finger nails. So yes, it is humane and way better than the chickens pecking each other to death.
I grew up on a farm, and we had a large pen (about 2 acres for about 25-30 chickens, which is nowhere near compact) set aside, and even then the chickens still would kill or peck the others. You may not like it, but from first-hand experience, I can tell you that the debeaking/detipping process does reduce this behavior.
If you don't trim their beaks, they cannibalize. It's awful to come outside and find a chicken running around half eaten. It's a natural part of who they are.. they do this, dispite the very best of care. Get educated.
In regard to eating locally because its suppose to be healthier, why is it we assume everyone's local farmer is always out for our best interest vs his own pocket book? Do you think that if a local farmer starts losing money that he won't be just as tempted to use hormones and bad practices to cut costs? I use local plumbers, mechanics, electricians, and contractors all of the time and I've unfortunately found the majority to be either dishonest or poorly trained. I like the concept of organic foods and cutting pollution (in theory) by buying locally. However, I'd like to see some studies proving that "local" farmers across the country are on a whole making healthier, safer food than the big guys. I worry it's only the big guys making lots of food who make the news. Consider that a contamination in one small farm may not even being noticed just as that bad electrician in your local area stays in business despite terrible work. All of that said, I have nothing against local farmers per see, and I hope they're doing a better job than the big guys.
I am a local farmer. The profession is low paying and offers no vacation time. We lose money every year. You dont get rich farming small. There is no cutting corners on a small farm to make more money... to make mega bucks you have to have all the size of the big guys. Think econimics of scale. Local guys, stay small and produce quality, because they are feeding themselves what they feed you. And Eating local is about so many things, including reducing our carbon footprint (i'm not sure why this is in theory for you. How is a tomato trucked from California to Connecticut have the same impact as one bought up the road?), staying in touch with what nurishious us, connecting to our past, as well as supporting real food in your community. The difference between the big guys and us... we will open our doors to you any time. I have never met a small farmer, in all my years, who didnt love his land and animals and have a profound respect for it. That land is what sustains us first and then our customers. We dont get desperate and jam our animals full of antibiotics, when we start losing money... because we give a crap about them. Corporate mass produced meat and vegs, it's all money. Do your own study, If you are curious, go! Ask questions of your local farmer.
The difference between a local, small farm and a factory farm is that the local farms are not mass producing. Sure, they could use hormones and antibiotics, but much of the time there is no need since their animals are cared for differently than those of a large scale farm. The chickens in this story are not crammed in a cage or room on top of each other with no room to move. They aren't forced to sit in their own/other chickens' waste. They are fed quality and/or natural food. There is a huge difference in their treatment and therefore no reason to give them preventative antibiotics and since they aren't out to make the chickens grow at an unnatural rate, they don't need the hormones.
You are right, the farms are still out to make a profit, but they aren't doing so in the same way as a factory farm. I trust a local farm that raises its animals humanely or grows its veggies organically over a factory farm any day. They may create the same products in the end, but the way it is done is totally different.
You are sorely mistaken if you think an issue like poor quality would not spread like wildfire among the people who shop locally. They are an informed group. Also, you hear about the big guys WAY after they have an issue. Look how far back they had to do to contain the problem. With smaller operations, a problem would be noticed right away and delt with by the farmer...PR rep. Locally grown and produced food is the best way to go if you want to be informed about what you are eating and want the best quality possible. Just do a taste comparison between free range and Perdue. There is a HUGE difference. If we are eating these animals, the very least we can do is give them a decent life before they end up on our plates.
idiot, the cut and cauterize their beaks so they dont peck each other to death. It doesnt hurt them at all and the grow back.
Their beaks are simular to the material of our finger nails. It doesn't hurt and keeps the chickens from hurting each other with their sharp beaks.
chickens will kill each other if they are not cut down.it is like a toe nail.
The beak trimming issue is almost superfluous compared to the much graver confinement issues faced by most production chickes. I think this guy is doing something terriffic!
Stay Cage Free baby! – So what a shave of the beak? Prob done to prevent themselves damaging each other and possible hurting us. Face it – these chickens are nuggets anyways – Cage free and non-mass grown enviornment is good enough – these aren't pets. Don't be so sensitive....
This article is very misleading. Shaved off beaks, yes. These are not pastured chickens. Pastured chickens with no hormones and antibiotics is what you want and they definitely are higher in nutritional value. Free range can still mean hormones and antibiotics. The labeling is a marketing scam. Pastured is what you want. Visit the farm. Know your farmer.
you are 100% correct.
You are truly ridiculous. Their beaks are barely shaved off at the tip which is of course like cutting a fingernail. It doesn't hurt the chickens and prevents them from pecking on each other. So unless you want a farm full of injured chickens with gaping wounds running around this is actually the most humane way to handle the situation.
The beaks are trimmed for the chicken's own protection, yes, they are cannibalistic, and this is why it is done!..nothing cruel about it.
Maybe they rescued some factory farm chickens, thus the reason with the beaks.
I wish you libs could become as concerned about "human life" as you do a stupid chicken.
Cock-ul-doodle-doo!
I am all for ethical treatment of animals, but I didn't see any missing beaks, and I blew that up on hi-def and paused it. They generally lose their beaks in cages because they peck each other in close quarters. These looked to be cageless.