Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)

geordie_joe

Just had a thought, according to HFW it takes an egg three weeks to hatch and a free range chicken 45 days to be ready to eat. At least I think it was 45 days.

I don't think the chicken producers keep more than they can sell. i.e. if they sell 50 chickens per week they will hatch 50 eggs per week.

So I don't think they will be able to supply enough chickens to satisfy the extra demand for them now. It will be 3 weeks plus 45 days before we see an increase in the number of free range chickens on sale.

Maybe a farmer produces 80 chickens per week, sells 50 to the supermarket and the other 30 in his farm shop or the farmers market. This week the supermarket wants to buy all 80 chickens, so there are non left for the shop/farmers market.

There may be an increase in chickens available in the supermarkets but less available in smaller outlets. I don't think there will actually be an increase in the number of chickens available for a while yet.

geordie_joe

competitionscafe wrote: »

" - 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. ??

These birds will only eat constantly if they have a constant supply of food. In the sheds the food is supplied on a conveyor belt and is always available to the chickens.

Take the chickens out of the shed, feed them twice a day with a measured amount of feed and they will grow slower.

~Chameleon~

geordie_joe wrote: »

These birds will only eat constantly if they have a constant supply of food. In the sheds the food is supplied on a conveyor belt and is always available to the chickens.

Take the chickens out of the shed, feed them twice a day with a measured amount of feed and they will grow slower.

Competitionscafe is right in that different breeds of chickens will grow at different rates, it's not just as simple as feeding htem more or less food. A lot of the chickens that are used in intensive meat production today are in fact genetically modified hybrids, so that's yet another concern we should have in eating GM meat.

~Chameleon~

geordie_joe wrote: »

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.

Yes, you are quite right I wasn't thinking logically when I wrote that, I blame lack of sleep

This is a quote I've adapted from the River Cottage forum that I was reading earlier, which actually explains why it will take some time to satisfy demand for the increase in free range chickens ...

Only one breeder company supplies all the parent stock for these free range birds to Messrs Lloyd Maunder,Moy Park, Grampian, P D Hook, Sun Valley, FAI, Lowther Park and will need to increase it's parent, grand-parent, great grand parent and elite parent stock to cope with a sudden huge surge in demand.

Then you have to wait for all these lines to multiply and produce enough offspring to feed the demand below them in the pyramid. Its not like turning on a tap as I have pointed out elsewhere on here. There is a not a lot of slack in the system. You are facing increasing demand from other European and African countries for breeding stock as well.

Prices could go up short-term due to lack of birds in the pipeline, and prices can only fall so far before production becomes uneconomic re cost of feed, higher capital investment etc. Prices won't fall to the level of broilers, and with high feed prices here to stay for the time being they can't come down much at all.

I wonder whether people will be patient enough to wait for the supplies to start trickling through, especially if there is a risk prices may go up before they come down again. A lot of people are already complaining about the increased cost of buying free range and most won't understand the economics of it all or be prepared to stick their necks out so far for the sake of a poor little chicken

Lotus-eater

geordie_joe wrote: »

I said he didn't say MUCH about it. With the eggs he actually went to a woman's house and picked stuff out of her fridge. Then contacted the manufacturers to see if they would stop using battery eggs in their products. Even had a man from Hellmans in the audience.

With the chickens he didn't go to BirdsEye and ask them to use freerange chickens in their nuggets, or Heinz to use them in their soup.

Well doesn't it seem strange to you that the only manufacturers represented there are going to free range eggs soon? Good advertising.....
If they hadn't been going free range, do you think they would have gone on tv :rotfl:
I'm betting others were asked but declined.

MrsE_2

TNG wrote: »

Supermarkets - I kind of expect that attitude, but the people :eek: :eek: "cut the breasts off the chicken and chuck the rest" :eek:

I do this:o

BUT in my defense I've stopped buying whole chickens & just buy breasts now.
I don't like all the skin, carcase & bones. They make me shudder.

geordie_joe

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I wonder whether people will be patient enough to wait for the supplies to start trickling through, especially if there is a risk prices may go up before they come down again.

Is this possible? people demand free range chickens today because of all the programs about them. "Production" is stepped up, but the chickens won't hit the shelves for a couple of months. By then most people have gotten over the "knee jerk" reaction to the programs and are back buying ordinary chickens.

The supermarkets, who have ordered a lot more chickens than usual, are left with a load they can't sell and so have to drastically reduce the price just to shift them. They then go back to ordering what they used to, but the producers have now got a lot more chickens than they can sell.

As a total aside, I went to Somerfield this morning. Had a look at the chickens but not one was free range or organic. I got there 5 minutes after they opened and the chicken shelves were full, but no free range or organic ones.

They have a counter selling ready cooked ones, but when I asked if they were free range or organic she didn't know. She did say "Look at the chickens in the fridge over there, that's where I get these ones from."

geordie_joe

Lotus-eater wrote: »

If they hadn't been going free range, do you think they would have gone on tv :rotfl:
I'm betting others were asked but declined.

Apparently, in a effort to save his job at Sainsbury's, has written a letter to all their staff apologising for the program. Sainsbury's will not say if his contract is going to be renewed.

Hapless_2

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Competitionscafe is right in that different breeds of chickens will grow at different rates, it's not just as simple as feeding htem more or less food. A lot of the chickens that are used in intensive meat production today are in fact genetically modified hybrids, so that's yet another concern we should have in eating GM meat.

Breeding 2 chickens to produce a different breeed is not genetically modifying in the way most people think. Otherwise anyone of mixed race would be "genetically modified".

It is selective breeding..e.g. using a light sussex and a black rock. Not sticking their genetics in a test tube and see what happens.

linzibean

Not a organic or free range chicken, or indeed any bits of chicken, in Morrisons yesterday. This was 4pm on a Saturday, bu usually there are loads and loads. I'll have to go into town now (which is actually further away than the supermrket!) and go tot he butchers instead