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campaign for free range chicken!!!!!!! Please.

593 replies

fordfiesta · 09/01/2008 17:22

Please check out www.chickenout.tv or watch Hugh's chicken run tonight at 2100 channel 4.
you can sign up for his campaign on the above address.... sorry dont know how to do the link.
If you have been watching the program you will know how important it is!
thank you.

OP posts:
TheIceQueen · 10/01/2008 12:51

my best friend at school did taxidermy - I was horrified when I found out, especially when I discovered that her dad was gamekeeper and she often went outing shooting with him - most commonly it was during the deer cull (northern Scotland) or out shooting the crows that used to peck the lambs eye out (urghh).

CountessDracula · 10/01/2008 12:53

I'm sorry but pheasent is not the answer

Most of it is intensively farmed and then shipped out to shoots. I have seen one of these places in the flesh, it is appalling

I would eat a pheasant if I shot it while on a rough shoot in an area where there were no organised shoots. Or if I knew the pheasants to be raised humanely. Sadly nearly all are not

CountessDracula · 10/01/2008 12:54

look

TheIceQueen · 10/01/2008 12:57

CD - that's dreadful!

fordfiesta · 10/01/2008 12:57

urghhh countess..... i must be a romantic but i thought pheasants had a lovely life..... damn it another of my fantasies shattered!!!! My dad only shot wild ones poking around the farm, that makes me feel a bit better!

OP posts:
prettybird · 10/01/2008 12:58

You may have a point CD - although I know the chicks on ex-bf's shoot were raised humanely ( I saw their hutches) - but then, it was only a rough shoot.

I do have an issue with the big estates that shoot far more than they can sell, let alone eat, and end up just burying the excess kill.

CountessDracula · 10/01/2008 12:59

My brother ran the fishing bit of a sporting estate in Ireland and said he would never ever eat another pheasant after what he had seen there

Wisteria · 10/01/2008 12:59

I know where mine come from CD and I assure you that that is not the case in our area - either way though, although I agree with you that that practice is awful as well, in some respect it is slightly different because the birds are already dead when I am given them and I think it is even more criminal that they are thrown away rather than eaten at the end of it all.....

CountessDracula · 10/01/2008 13:01

Even when you are rough shooting though you could be shooting an escapee from one of these organised shoots.

What is wrong with these people? Why do they think that cruelty to animals is so acceptable? How does an intensive farmer sleep at night knowing that so many animals are in agony?

PussinJimmyChoos · 10/01/2008 13:02

Wisteria - I'm not saying people should go without a pint. What gets me is the people on the prog going on about how they couldn't afford the extra £2 or whatever but you could see that they had money for booze, fags or whatever.

I would rather they were just honest and said yes I could find the extra if I really wanted to but I don't as I don't give a toss about how the chickens are fed or what goes into my body (clearly evidenced by the consumtion of alcohol and fags!)

PussinJimmyChoos · 10/01/2008 13:03

consumption rather!

lenaschildminding · 10/01/2008 13:04

Before I start, please, please, please don't be nasty!!!

My Dh shoots. He has a agreement to shoot rabbits on some farmland, a local golf course and in the local Army barracks, where they are in abundance and doing lots of damage.

He is also a qualified Deer Stalker. Twice a year, he will spend a week in the forests in Scotland, culling Deer for conservation. Basically, so he explained to me, the Deer need to be culled to prevent mass population, which would cause devestating distruction to the forests and (for reasons he did go into but I can't remember) if they are not controlled they may become extinct.

When he shoots one, it's a direct shot to the heart and the animal dies instantly. He then has to perform a 'post mortom' so to speak. If he finds any defects in the Deer he has to report them to the head game keeper for the land he shoots on. This is to ensure that the herd are all kept healthy and there is no chance of genetic defects being passed on through breeding.

He won't bring rabbits home (because I don't want him to!) his shooting partner or the farmer have them, but he does bring venison home. TBH, he then gives most of it away, I tried it but it's a very rich meat, not my taste.

TodayToday · 10/01/2008 13:05

"I don't see why people should go without a pint if they want one though - if it bothers you, then you make the change, if it doesn't, you don't - the people in the pub weren't bothered about the chickens!"

I feel the same way. If people say they're on a strict budget and they don't care enough about chickens to want to do without something in order to pay for a more expensive chicken, then so be it. Their choice.

I do think there's a misconception that everyone who buys free-range or organic chicken is eating the same amount of chicken as those who eat battery farmed chickens. Yes there will be people out there who can shop in Waitrose and put 8 organic, skinless chicken breasts into their trolley every week and easily afford it. But most people I know have just given up eating chicken so often in order to only buy free range or organic free range.

The likes of Hugh F-W and Jamie Oliver could probably afford to drink Champagne every evening. I'm not expecting someone to set up a slave-labour work camp to make champagne more cheaply just so I can drink it everyday.

Rhubarb - I do get your clothing argument on one level but it's not quite the same as chicken. If a chicken is not labelled Free-range then you know that it has been farmed in a certain way - the least possible way. The same cannot be said for clothing (at the moment) There is not a minimum standard labelling process which allows the consumer to know that anything lacking that labour = made in unethical conditions.

crace · 10/01/2008 13:07

I don't see as it a rich/poor thing, it's a quality of life thing for these poor animals. I will find the money and buy free range any day than the standard animal, and that's not just chicken. In his programme Hugh actually showed how far a chicken can go, and it's true, we do that at home.

TheIceQueen · 10/01/2008 13:07

puss - don't forget that for some people a pint down the pub, or a cigarette is their only "treat" that they give themselves - ok not a healthy one - but often people who say they can't afford organic meat, and are seen having a pint or a ciggy DON'T have much money for anything other than food......and their ciggies/booze.

For me my roll-ups are my sanity saver - and the only money I spend each month that doesn't get spent on food/toiletries/cleaning etc etc stuff or bills! - and even then it's only £15 - even if ditched the smoking - it would still only be £15 a month extra to either spend on food, or to create a clothes/entertainment/etc budget with.

TodayToday · 10/01/2008 13:07

Argh that should say least ethical way not least possible way.

I should have added that if such a clothes labelling system existed then of course I would never ever buy clothes that fell under that standard.

Twinklemegan · 10/01/2008 13:08

I haven't read the whole thread so the argument's probably moved on and someone will have said this already, but anyway..

The answer is that we all eat far too much meat. Twice a week with one serving of fish a week is quite enough. I buy free range chickens, then I joint them, put the meat in the freezer and make stock from the carcass. Therefore one chicken at, say, £8 does at least 4 meals for 3 of us. Say we have chicken once a week. That's £8 for a chicken that lasts a month.

Wisteria · 10/01/2008 13:10

What's your point Lena?

I don't have a problem with any country pursuits personally, I was a farm girl and still am at heart.

Deer are culled when necessary and not if the stocks begin to dwindle - they are very destructive critters if left to breed unchecked....

I never have a problem with any animal being killed for meat as long as it is born, bred and killed ethically.

TheIceQueen · 10/01/2008 13:10

so Today - how often do YOU (I presume you eat free-range/organic) eat chicken - either as portions or as a whole one?

We probably it 3 times a month - as the big packs of thighs/drumsticks can usually be split for 3 meals. A whole roast chicken - probably once every 2 months.

Twinklemegan · 10/01/2008 13:12

Worse even than broiler chickens are cheap eggs. That just makes my blood boil. And when I see people buying them I want to thump them. There is NO excuse, I don't care how poor you are.

Wisteria · 10/01/2008 13:12

I think it's a bit much to say that people who don't like intensive farming shouldn't go and have their treat once a week of a couple of pints and a few fags - very elitist argument.

You have no idea how often these people are in the pub and wrt the programme the people in there weren't bothered - end of - their prerogative.

I see where you're coming from but we all need our treats and vices, otherwise depression beckons...

TheIceQueen · 10/01/2008 13:14

thank you Wisteria as she rolls another in preperation for putting DS3 down for his nap and having 5 minutes outside.....ok perhaps standing in the greenhouse doorway as it's raining **

fordfiesta · 10/01/2008 13:19

re the ciggies and beer arguement.... it does kind of bother me when i drive through housing association estates (houses i assume to be rented to people on low incomes) and see bigger better cars parked outside than i could ever afford, and when i see people down the pub who i know to be on benefits etc getting wasted on a fri night. maybe i am being unfair but i bet they buy cheap chicken..... gosh that is a huge generalisations and not intended to offend!!!! But think it does highlight how 'things' are more important morales!.... ps really am not having a go at smokers in general!

OP posts:
Wisteria · 10/01/2008 13:20

Yes FF I know what you mean but you are referring to the minority IME not the majority...

TheIceQueen · 10/01/2008 13:24

ff - we have a very new car - a ford fiesta as it happens (actually I guess it's not so new now - over 2yrs old- but was brand new when we bought it). We bought because DH HAD to have a car for work (still does), and because the repayments on it were cheaper than

a) buying a 2nd hand car for cash (that wouldn't break down)

and

b) cheaper than the repayments we had on our OLD 2nd hand car!

Just because someone has a brand new car on their drive doesn't mean they're loaded

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