Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)

~Chameleon~

There's also this site which I came across the other day http://www.ukfoodonline.co.uk/index.htm - which covers online and mail order companies in case you can't source what you need locally.

xlt_hunter

Lets go one better and include prices of eggs - I will do Tesco and Asda

C = Cage B = Barn, FR = Free Range

Asda:
Med 6 - £0.73 (c), £1.18 (b), £1.19 (fr)
Med 12 - £2.29 (fr)
Large 6 - £1.36 (fr)
Large 12 - £2.62 (fr)
X.Large 6 - £1.65 (b), £1.88 (fr)

There is only 1p difference between Barn and FR medium 6 pks!

Tesco:
Med 6 - £0.73 (c), £1.12 (b), £1.28 (fr)
Med 12 - £2.45 (fr)
Large 6 - £1.24 (b) £1.45 (fr)
Large 12 - £2.78 (fr)
X.Large 6 - £1.88 (fr)

Now I will do the averages bases on per egg costs using the data from Tescos site and from my time in the industry using data from "other" brands like B'n'F ones

Med 6 - £0.08 to £0.12 (c), £0.19 (b), £0.21 (fr)
Large 6 - £0.08 to £0.12 (c), £0.20 (b) £0.24 (fr)

Right the way tescos do this is that you don't see 6pack of Large cage value packs as value packs are mixed weight containing a mixture of mediums and lower end of the scale large eggs.. so its hard to work out - unless your clever like Tesco (not) and stick their Large (at the heavy end of the scale) eggs ina different pack and call it something else and charging in the region of £0.20 to £0.22 per egg on the larger range- this is Big 'n' Fresh eggs (them Yellow boxes) - note any m/w egg packs must contain a mixture of weight of eggs

There is really not much difference on the price on the per egg bases.. its really pennies - and that all it should be to get people to change to Barn or Free Range eggs.

And a inside knowledge it pays to just dump the supermarkets and find a local FR doorstep little run egg place - one around the corner from me charges £1.60 a dozen - and another I know £1.20 a dozen - all Free Range, so 10p a eggs sounds good - I get mine for nothing, as I got birds in my back garden in a enclousre of 8'x6' after what I saw in the egg industry - fillty!

xlt_hunter

Cost price of breast meat

Someboby here wanted to know the cost price of chicken meat (breast) is.

We here in my town there is one of them dreaded chicken processing plants where the chooks come in alive and out in boxes

Okay prices... it is

£35 for 10kg of breast meat or in simple terms £3.50 per kg before the middle men and supermarkets get the nits on the ££ -

This is basic price wether is cage/barn/free range meat that you got in the box- what you get is luck of the draw - but I will be in touch with them to ask about a label system where I can see what system the meat comes from

Also the slaughter house pays £0.50 per bird!!! iirc

xlt_hunter

I will dig out the prices of whole birds in the morning to compare it against the 2 for £5 offer because I think the latest price is £3 for 2 at the slaughter house.

competitionscafe

geordie_joe wrote: »

Don't forget the chicken that goes to make soup, nuggets, burgers, curry etc. Jammie didn't really mention much about that.

Apparently a lot of that chicken is imported from places like Thailand and Brazil as it's cheaper, it is cooked there too due to some sort of regulations - check labels as they may say something like packaged in the UK or produced in the UK but this refers to the final product, not the ingredients.

competitionscafe

jessbrown100 wrote: »

if there are any chicken owners on the O/s board any advice would be more than welcome!

Lots of help and advice on the River Cottage poultry board too:
http://forum.rivercottage.net/viewforum.php?f=25

Can also recommend reading a book called 'Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance' which is very funny.

competitionscafe

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Does anyone here buy it already that can tell me where to source it at a reasonable price (not from Tescos :mad: ) please?

:T

Try bigbarn.co.uk - I found a veal supplier near me using that, although I am in Scotland so not so near to you -
http://www.localfoodshop.co.uk/vendors/oldspot

You could try the http://www.localfoodshop.co.uk/ site too.

competitionscafe

boo81 wrote: »

I dont think anyone has touched on this so im going to mention it but the I feel the RSPCA freedom food standard may be an improvement but isnt going far enough.

They say that birds will be given 25% extra space (considering they only have less than an A4 piece of paper this doesnt seem much) and brighter lights.

There was a dispatches programme last year as well as BBC Watchdog which revealed that the RSPCA only had 10 full time officials to police the scheme in the whole of the UK.

"A former RSPCA council member claims on the programme that the inspection back-up provided by the RSPCA for the Freedom Food scheme is flawed because it employs too few people.

One in 20 farm animals in Britain is reared under the Freedom Food scheme, but there are only 10 full-time officials to police it which means that farms can go up to 15 months without an inspection. "

In an interview on the programme, Celia Hammond, a former RSPCA council member, says the organisation does not employ enough people to inspect farms properly and urges the RSPCA to withdraw from the scheme: "They can't adequately monitor the number of animals."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,2032547,00.html

The RSPCA's director general, also said that the freedoms were only aspirations :
"five freedoms were "aspirations" rather than guarantees"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,2032547,00.html

These are only very basic aspirations too - the freedom refers to "freedoms from" hunger, etc and I agree the word freedom is close enough to free-range to be misleading.

While the JO programme did a good job of showing the difference between an ordinary intensive unit and one which met the RSPCA standards/aspirations as well as the compelling argument that one of the Freedom scheme birds would only cost the consumer an extra quid, I think this was overly simplistic and there is no assurance that all freedom scheme birds will be the "happy" perching, hanging corn pecking, spaciously housed birds shown in the second clip.

"The RSPCA standards for the rearing, handling, transport and slaughter of farm animals are broadly based on the Five Freedoms as defined by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). Although these are ideal states, they provide a benchmark towards which the detailed RSPCA standards aim:

Freedom from hunger and thirst
# by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.

Freedom from discomfort
# by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

Freedom from pain, injury or disease
# by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

Freedom to express normal behaviour
# by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind.

Freedom from fear and distress
# by ensuring conditions and care which avoid mental suffering."

Source: http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RSPCA/RSPCARedirect&pg=welfarestandards

Although admittadly for chickens the standards do go into more specific detail:
http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RSPCA/RSPCARedirect&pg=welfarestandards&marker=1&articleId=1121442811407

On the first point however, "# "Only slow growing breeds of chicken can be reared. Why? Fast growth rates can result in serious health and welfare problems such as leg disorders and heart failure."
" - I was a bit puzzled by the yellow chicks being randomly selected for free-range, organic or intensive in the clip on the JO programme, surely the breeds would need to be different according to the farming method, as earlier indicated by the clip showing how broiler chickens had been selectively bred to eat constantly and put on weight on weight as fast as possible particularly breast meat. ??

lainey_stardust

thanks for the links chameleon, will definitely be giving them a look.
I would like to think that shows like Jamies have given the public something to think about other than their pockets. I know lots of people are on extremely tight budgets, but for the price of a couple of cigs or a can of Tesco brand lager the public has the power to make the powers that be change their policies and that can only be a good thing.
( I'm a Financial Inclusion Officer working for a Skills for Life project with my local council and I see people day in-day out with money issues. I have spent more than my fair share living with a tight budget myself and have learnt my lessons the hard way so I hope folks don't think I'm preaching?)

geordie_joe

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Surely, knowing these films were due to be screened this week, you'd have thought any sensible supermarket manager would ahve stocked up on free range chickens in preparation :rolleyes:

Where would they get them from? Surely every free range chicken that is killed is sold, so if the supermarkets wanted more where would they come from?

The producers of these chickens only produce enough to satisfy the demand for them, if that demand suddenly doubles it will be a while before they can grow more.