Fancy a Chicken Supper?

Me and Mrs Neely have had a disagreement this morning. I refuse to eat chicken produced under "normal" conditions (please see above). However, Mrs Neely doesn't care "because they are only chickens" which means, apparently, that it is acceptable for them to be mentally and physically abused.

Now the simple way to get around our argument is to buy organic chicken; chicken that has been allowed to live normally. (I am not a vegetarian though I eat meat sparingly and only knowingly buy from animals which have been given a life.) Of course, the "choice" at our local stores of factory farmed chicken or factory farmed chicken (apparently people who live on the poorer side of town have no ethics) is not really a choice is it? This is despite Tesco claiming repeatedly that they are "only doing what the consumer wants" but that rant is for another day...

To get around this I have devised a cunning plan. I will get around this by travelling to the city centre, having a couple of wheat beers, buying a real chicken and coming home, hence I get beer and chicken!

Anyway, my question is, do you fancy a chicken supper? Does it put you off, like me, eating chicken produced under intense factory conditions, or are you like Mrs Neely who doesn't care "because they are only chickens"?

Would you eat chickens produced under these conditions?
(The poll is anonynonymous.)

I ask, merely out of interest.

Thank you.

Neely, please, go and see for yourself, the raising of chickens that is. Don't take a pressure group's word for it they have an agenda you know, and don't like open minds.

I have taken more into account than just pressure groups. I am not being manipulated. Good point though.

Besides Tesco's fully admit to producing under these circumstances and proudly declare that they meet targeted welfare standards.

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Originally Posted by Neely

Of course, the "choice" at our local stores of factory farmed chicken or factory farmed chicken (apparently people who live on the poorer side of town have no ethics) is not really a choice is it?

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Are you saying that those that don't eat organic are unethical?

I'm not watching the video. I know that animals raised for human consumption are probably not raised in the best conditions, I know that slaughterhouses are not the happiest places on earth. I would never be able to work in that indutry and if I had to raise/hunt and kill my own food I'd be a vegetarian.

I tell myelf there is a farm where chicken, beef, etc. wrapped in cellophane/polystyrene containers are grown. I will continue to tell myelf this until I have the time and inclination to take up for the plight of the chicken.

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Originally Posted by papayahed

Are you saying that those that don't eat organic are unethical?

I'm not watching the video. I know that animals raised for human consumption are probably not raised in the best conditions, I know that slaughterhouses are not the happiest places on earth. I would never be able to work in that indutry and if I had to raise/hunt and kill my own food I'd be a vegetarian.

I tell myelf there is a farm where chicken, beef, etc. wrapped in cellophane/polystyrene containers are grown. I will continue to tell myelf this until I have the time and inclination to take up for the plight of the chicken.

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I think the least that you can do is to watch the video.

There is a farm where chicken, beef and all manner of animals are allowed to live a normal life, all you have to do is seek out the smaller farms and reject the industry standard. Watch the video and decide for yourself.

Being a small eater, I don't eat chicken or most meats, but even if I were not concerned about factory farming, which I am, I would be very wary of eating anything other than free range birds. I read a report about two years ago that revealed much of the chicken eaten in the UK comes from Brazil and is chemically treated to ensure that it doesn't deteriorate before storage and shipping to the UK.
On a further point, a radio programme I was listening to a week ago about foodstuffs, mentioned that factory farming really took off during the 1960s when supermarkets became the normal pattern of shopping and food was therefore readily available in large quantities. Among other things, this was the start of the universal fattie syndrome.

Are we only considering the chicken bought at market? Do you eat chicken at restaurants, fast food places. My question is to any one that prefers free-range. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just curious.

Thanks Brian, sensible approach I think.

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Originally Posted by iamnobody

Are we only considering the chicken bought at market? Do you eat chicken at restaurants, fast food places. My question is to any one that prefers free-range. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just curious.

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No, that is a very good point. It is extremely hard to eat out and eat free range. Personally I don't eat at fast food places (I have never in my life had a KFC) and now more and more at restaurants I will only eat free range or locally sourced stuff. Yes, this does make it hard, but there are more and more places around that are heading in the free range or locally produced direction, even pubs.

For the purposes of the poll however feel free to vote for what you buy.

Ok... Not watching the video, probably seen it before and really I don't need a repeat of the being sick incedent. I buy Halal....which aside from the debate about whether it is an inhumane way to slaughter animals is supposed to cover the treatment and keeping of animals till the time they are killed they are basically menato to live nice healthy lives, no cages or overcrowded pens etc . So I buy and I don't ask questions but here is the thing Neeley, what is to garantee that some guy isn't just slapping organic on another type of chicken to raise the price.

And while I know you can't do this in the uk, the only other way to get around this would be to raise your own chickens and kill yourself and pluck and clean... but you can't do that in the uk anyway . Besides you already said you couldn't do that.

EDIT: Mind a friend of mine in MAnchester won't even do that on the grounds that she reccons no one follows the real halal rules anymore and thus the animals are treated with crulty and we shouldn't be eating them.

Hello. Whereas I agree that food labelling is not good enough, I seriously doubt that they can get away with some guy in the back sticking "organic" on the packet! As with anything there are different standards and not everything is to be trusted, for example Happy Egg are a large company who supply free range eggs to most of the major stores in UK, but despite being genuinely free range, some of their farms are of pretty poor standard. This opens up another debate about what happens when you try to supply large-scale industry without intense farming methods - a conversation for another time perhaps?

Why can't you raise your own chickens in the UK? There is no law against this at all. I'm sure that you have to have adecquate space for it etc, but there is no law against it. In fact it is growing in popularity all the time. As for raising and killing my own chickens I don't recall having said that I couldn't/wouldn't do that at all. We don't have the space as it happens, and I'm not an animal person really, but of everything, with more space, I think I could go for a few chickens certainly.

Yes as your friend says Halal doesn't necessarily mean much I'm afraid. Reports such as this are common.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardia...meat-the-truth

I can't and won't force people to watch videos they don't want to, but it seems to me that there is a lot of putting fingers in ears and shouting loudly going on. If that's how people want to feel better about it then that's up to them.

Personally, I want to know where my food comes from before I put something in mine, or my children's' mouths.

So, what you are suggesting is that the chicken should be kept and raised in a more natural environment... Before he loses her head to find her way to your dinner plate?

I cannot imagine something more cruel than eating a living creature's wings or breasts (not to mention her off-spring).

PS: Just for the records:

1. I am not a vegetarian and do consume chicken every now and then.

2. I am not suggesting either that, since we are eating them, it does not matter how the chicken is treated.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

So, what you are suggesting is that the chicken should be kept and raised in a more natural environment... Before he loses her head to find her way to your dinner plate?

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Yes. That's about it. If you are eating the animal, I think it is only fair that they have lived some sort of life first. Chickens brought up in the "standard" manner, have not seen either sunlight or grass and forced to live in, for me, totally unacceptable conditions.

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I cannot imagine something more cruel than eating a living creature's wings or breasts (not to mention her off-spring).

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Again, if you are having something killed at least make the most of it. As little of it should go to waste as possible. Eating meat should be big thing that we don't take for granted.

Neeley I meant you can't slaughter the bird in your house, or on your property without special liscence, ( well Ithink farms can??) but I know you can't do it in a normal house. And I am aware that she was right which is why I went veggie for a while, but the fact is I like my meat too much to give it up. And Neeley it really depends where the food is coming from. Even people who use 'local produce' often have fine print that says that if they can't find what they want locally for what the deem a suitable price they will go somewhere else. I was fairly shocked when I read that at the bootom of a yorkshire pride soup!
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That is a point scher, just how humane, is it really to eat the animal no matter how it is killed? or has lived...

I can tell by reading these posts that most people on this forum have never been hungry. I mean really hungry, as in not knowing where the next meal is coming from and not having eaten for a while. I am sure this would change your mind about foods. Now, I am no defending the way some livestock is treated in some commercial farms, but it does make it affordable to people who could not afford it otherwise. To think that someone that has less money has no concern for the ethical treatment of animals is just wrong. If it comes between giving a chicken a good life or my children not eating, the chicken is going to lose.

My father in law usually raised his beef from a calf. I was always impressed at the way he treated his livestock, they had good lives. He treated them like his own children. But when the day came he would walk out into the field and blow its brain out. The beef was delicious.

I want to raise my own chickens and I do have goats. If I get hungry I will eat the goats. If I can't bring myself to kill them I will sell them at auction and buy food. I will have no problem killing chickens however.

By the way good milk does come from contented cows. It is good business to treat milk cows well.

I raise my own chicken and the conditions are much different that those of industrial chicken farms. I know, I used to be a poultry farmer. But, I ate those birds when I raised them. Something to remember is that at times conditions on a farm can get quiet bad. During bad weather or times of illness living conditions are not optimal. That's also true with free range birds, just on a much smaller scale. Industrial farmers want happy, healthy birds because they get fatter and bring more money.

I'm probably more grossed out by what happens to the chicken after it's killed. Chicken purchased from the grocery store has water added and it makes it gross. The poultry plant can add up to 8% water weight (unless that has recently changed). That's why when you buy chicken it's all juicy and you can squeeze water out of it when it's raw. When you cook in in a pan you end up with chicken swimming in a lot of water. Real chicken that you've killed yourself doesn't feel at all like that. It feels clean, like game meat. It also has a better flavor, in my opinion. Additionally, my chickens lay eggs with dark orange yolks with a rich flavor. Market eggs have a light yellow yolk and no flavor.