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EGGS!!!

Milly finds out Clarence Court chickens have all day running around grassy land. Also the comment upthread about them being fed marigolds just to make the colour better sounds like it might be a bad thing, but i am reading it is in fact a good thing. Marigolds are good for chickens....as to whether it is true Clarence court feeds them Marigolds, I have no idea. But they are still my go-to egg brand.


That was in July 2019 so they won't be doing that any more; apologies if i've ruined your breakfasts!
 
Can you spell out what you're saying here? I mean, as far as I know you can't get eggs reared like the pictures on that website suggest from anywhere in the UK.
At the moment All chicks , even your grannies 3 hens in her yard, must be brought in. So there are no uk free range eggs. Zilch. Nada.
It happens every few years. They’ll be back but, ofc, at a higher price.
 
At the moment All chicks , even your grannies 3 hens in her yard, must be brought in. So there are no uk free range eggs. Zilch. Nada.
It happens every few years. They’ll be back but, ofc, at a higher price.

No date yet afaik but timing will depend on the number of new infections and the perceived risks from migrating birds this spring.

Also no guarantee that if we're allowed out this summer we won't be back inside by the end of the year.
 
What is it like in a barn? Are some barn eggs from higher standard barns than others? Or are they all high density concentration camps for fowls? Are Clarence Court barns 5 star luxury chicken hotels?
 
There are standards to do with space, numbers of birds in any one group, how much perching, how many nestboxes how much feeder and drinker space etc. etc. They are minimums and if you listen to farming programmes regularly, you pick up that slight tweaks within certain units produce less cannibalism, more eggs, lower feed consumption, etc. etc.

Maximum stocking rates for all three methods - enriched cages, barn and free-range, are very similar in terms of birds per cubic metre, the only extra being outdoor space for free-range, but, again, it is not used anything remotely as much as people imagine - particularly in wet, cold or windy weather, the birds just stay in the shed.

There will undoubtedly be videos on YouTube - the vast, vast majority of producers are proud of what they do and have no need to hide anything from anyone.

All are really struggling at the moment due mostly to Russia - feed prices have soared and only householders were protected from energy price rises - farmers using grid electricity had 300% price rises and no chicken lays without extended lighting during late autumn-winter-early spring, quite apart from any other need for electricity.
 
there are as many different 'barns' as there are farmers, but the basic rules are laid down by the certifying body.For profit, many chic farms just meet the standards required ...here: https://www.rspca.org.uk/documents/...b-64b5-ee56-73b9-6b82a1081340?t=1553271755453

As mentioned above, even the worlds most kind and caring, super free range with a comfy bed and a wildflower meadow', chicks are currently barn chicks, but you'd expect those to be lower density than the max 9 per sq meter if space allows.
If you love eggs and live in a city now, I'd use a supermarket that you know used to trade as locally as possible, hoping that the eggs will be from the same supplier.If you are more suburban or rural then find a local chick farm and buy eggs there....if you can afford it.
 
If I buy eggs I want to know that I'm buying them from chickens which have lived a happy life and if I buy chicken I want to know that it has had a good death too. And from the comments here, it's just very hard to me to be confident about that. I live in London, I can go to a farmers' market easily enough, but given the absence of independent verification for their claims that their animals are thriving, how can I trust them? I don't see why buying locally makes a difference, or buying from the milkman.

Given my values, I think I'll pass on eggs and chicken meat from now on, so that I can sleep at night.
 
All slaughter, for all domestic stock in the UK is exactly the same if on a commercial scale. There are no regulations relating to slaughter for personal consumption.

The animal is electrically stunned and while unconcious, the throat is slit. Even the vast majority of UK halal slaughter is the same, the only difference being the saying of the first kalma as the throat is slit - much the same applies to kosher slaughter (kosher meat is halal and halal meat is kosher).
To calm livestock further, before stunning, some slaughterhouses use carbon dioxide - partial suffocation (which some humans regard as providing quite a kick/trip).
 
All slaughter, for all domestic stock in the UK is exactly the same if on a commercial scale. There are no regulations relating to slaughter for personal consumption.

The animal is electrically stunned and while unconcious, the throat is slit. Even the vast majority of UK halal slaughter is the same, the only difference being the saying of the first kalma as the throat is slit - much the same applies to kosher slaughter (kosher meat is halal and halal meat is kosher).
To calm livestock further, before stunning, some slaughterhouses use carbon dioxide - partial suffocation (which some humans regard as providing quite a kick/trip).

Cheers Vinny...and another 1000 vegetarians are made:)
 
If I buy eggs I want to know that I'm buying them from chickens which have lived a happy life and if I buy chicken I want to know that it has had a good death too. And from the comments here, it's just very hard to me to be confident about that. I live in London, I can go to a farmers' market easily enough, but given the absence of independent verification for their claims that their animals are thriving, how can I trust them? I don't see why buying locally makes a difference, or buying from the milkman.

Given my values, I think I'll pass on eggs and chicken meat from now on, so that I can sleep at night.

I'm not sure that your values reflect anything other that a walt disney film.
I know that we would prefer animals to be treated well, to be 'happy' in an animal kinda of way and to die without pain.
I'd wish that much on a right wing politician!
But if you live with animals, or really know their lives you will know that...
they have no concept of that sweet life. They wake up, they take a shit, they look for food. Once full they check around for sex, and, if no, they eat some more. If it rains, they get what shelter they can, and sometimes, they have a midday kip.
In the wild their life is very short and they die horribly, often eaten alive.
On any farm they live an average life span, are fed well, and never ever are eaten alive.
Any non battery chicken does ok on those terms.
You should not impose human values on a chicken any more than you should impose a chickens values on a human (tho I know humans who wouldn't notice the difference).
 
All slaughter, for all domestic stock in the UK is exactly the same if on a commercial scale. There are no regulations relating to slaughter for personal consumption.

The animal is electrically stunned and while unconcious, the throat is slit. Even the vast majority of UK halal slaughter is the same, the only difference being the saying of the first kalma as the throat is slit - much the same applies to kosher slaughter (kosher meat is halal and halal meat is kosher).
To calm livestock further, before stunning, some slaughterhouses use carbon dioxide - partial suffocation (which some humans regard as providing quite a kick/trip).

Where ours go it's like that, the only difference with halal is three guys on shift singing as the birds go past. Most is halal so restaurants and schools don't have to make special meals.
 
Where ours go it's like that, the only difference with halal is three guys on shift singing as the birds go past. Most is halal so restaurants and schools don't have to make special meals.

The Quran makes no stipulation beyond that it is required that He be "thanked" for the food at the moment of slaughter. This is almost always the first kalma though.There is no requirement for the slaughterman to be a muslim either. Friends who grew up in Africa, would just send one of the "boys" (their choice of word, not mine) to catch and despatch a chicken for dinner and they all knew the first kalma.
Lots of very observant people will argue about various rules and the like, but most are wrong - I have/had very good teachers from both Islaamic and Jewish faiths.

I forget the exact %, but way over 90% of NZ lamb is slaughtered accoriding to halal requirements simply because the vast majority of NZ lamb sells in the Middle and Far East. Essentially no muslim in the UK (and lots of other countries), would buy just any NZ lamb as halal rules require absolute certainty (except in extremis) about all that is eaten and drunk.
Kosher rules are more pragmatic and do not require 100% certainty about 100% of what is eaten/drunk, which is why not much more than meat is halal if deemed to be kosher - a good example would be things like bottled sauces - complex mixtures/recipes. Kosher rules get so far and then they say "that is enough", not so halal. It does mean that halal foods are, generally, kosher.

Halal just means permitted/allowed, as opposed to haram - forbidden. Neither word has particular connection with food.
 
Eggs are amazing things - I eat at least 2 a day, every day. The way I see it, they are full of all the ingredients that goes into creating a life, a chicken in this case, which can only be a good thing. I never eat them raw so salmonella is not a concern

Food Standards Agency (FSA) now say raw eggs can safely be eaten by the vulnerable...babies, pregnant women and the elderly so long as they carry the Red Lion stamp.
No more 4 minute boiling for me. Life is too short to waste it on needless boiling.
 


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