Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)

~Chameleon~

Speaking from my own point of view, what annoyed me most about Hayley was her overall attitude to the project and not simply that she decided to continue buying the cheap standard chickens.

I wouldn't dream of telling anyone what they should or shouldn't buy, or impose my views on them as being the only view to have. I'm the sort of person who likes to gather as much information about a particular subject as I can, and in doing so will debate the pros and cons with others, likeminded or not, and share any knowledge I gain to help others make informed opinions too.

I sincerely hope no one on this forum has ever felt that I have made them feel uncomfortable for disagreeing with my views or choosing not to buy free range products as it's certainly not my intention to do so.

elaine373

I dont know what i will do from now on, after watching those programmes . I live on a very tight budget but just couldnt bring myself to buy the usual cheap chicken, this morning when i did my monday shopping. I couldnt ignore the chopped legs.(Didnt even know what that meant until last weeks programme) However, I am not prepared to contribute to the suffering of any animal. Will probably eat very little chicken and buy free range very rarely.On a more positive note, Asda were selling 18 free range eggs for £2 today, so that made me feel a little better.:)

fluffalo

geordie_joe wrote: »

When I said supplier I meant someone who supplies shops with chickens, not someone who sells chickens to customers. Although he does that too.

There is a Co-Op in Axminster, too - but they showed him standing in the car park and he said he was not allowed to film inside.

McDuck

My local butcher is organic and very good it is too. He says that the market is going crazy - he knew there would bigger than normal demand but couldn't get his hands on any.

I think there will be a short term dip in availbilty and then (hopefully the % of chickens sold that are free range goes up)

Plushchris

geordie_joe wrote: »

Sorry but your post has really annoyed me!

How can you criticise someone when you know nothing about them!

Easy really, I dont need to tell you how because you have just done exactly the same to me.

geordie_joe wrote: »

How do you know she bought the cheap chickens simply because she was "too pig headed and stubborn".

Just a hunch, do you know her?

geordie_joe wrote: »

As for "totally ignoring everything that Hugh F-W and the rest of her community was trying to do" She has the right to do this and it has nothing to do with you. She was taking part in the program so I would hardly saw she was completely ignoring what HFW and SOME of her community were trying to do.

Again, do you know her? Are you not one of the SOME in her community?

geordie_joe wrote: »

that'll be all the 2 for a fiver chickens!

It could be, and you are trying to DEFEND eating the 2 for a fiver chickens????

geordie_joe wrote: »

So what, she has the right to spend her money as she sees fit, and I bet she doesn't throw her teddy in the corner when complete strangers don't do what she wants them to do.

It sounds like I hit a nerve there! She has every right to spend her money how she sees fit, I never said anything to the contrary, I was pointing out that she shouldnt really be spouting off and claiming poverty when she is spending money in the wrong place. I wouldnt put SkyTV fags and Stella above my kids health but each to their own I guess.

geordie_joe wrote: »

Not this again! How can you say one bird will be far bigger? Chickens are sold by weight, if you buy a 3.5kg battery chicken a 2kg free range one will not be far bigger!

As for stretching it out to 3 or 4 meals, YOU CAN DO THAT WITH AN ORDINARY CHICKEN!

So the chickens in Tescos that are sold 2 for a fiver are actually sold by weight? Do they all weigh EXACTLY the same then? Free rangers are sold by weight, and a free ranger costing £7 or £8 will be bigger than one of the 2 for a fiver.

I'm fully aware you can do that with a "normal" chicken (if normal is what you choose to call them) but quite why you would want to is beyond me, but maybe you like eating stuff thats been living in its own !!!!!! for 40 days, again, thats up to you.

geordie_joe wrote: »

I really wish I was a vegan now, then I could really take the moral high ground and pick on you for eating defenseless animals.

If you REALLY wish you were a vegan, why arent you?

competitionscafe

geordie_joe wrote: »

When I said supplier I meant someone who supplies shops with chickens, not someone who sells chickens to customers. Although he does that too.

He sells organic chickens in his shop but as far as I know he doesn't supply any other shops with them.

V_tricky

My family made a choice about 3 years ago to only buy organic meat.

We don't buy organic veg all the time as it just doesn't have the same ethical considerations, although from time to time we do have a veggie box delivered, in truth, prob about once every couple of months.

Our decision largely stemmed from the concerns with animal welfare, and also our own health - I don't want to eat second hand growth hormones, fry bacon that disappears in a white scum or eat sausages that have 30% meat

This has meant quite a change in our household, as we always used to buy chicken breasts buy the huge packet and freeze them. Now we either buy organic thighs (boneless) legs, or whole birds.

This way, even on a budget, we have found that we can still eat moreorless the same. Once I started eating meat off the bone again (after not eating it like that since a young child) and actually started tasting Chicken again, we just wouldn't go back.

Of course it isn't just about the chicken either - it's about all the meat we eat, and there are ways of eating organic & free range that can be very economical.

We choose organic for ourselves, but of course if we were invited to a mates house, we would be grateful for whatever we were offered - it's up to the individual to hear what goes on and make their own choices.

V_tricky

PS - What REALLY narked me this week was buying a free range chicken sandwich in Boots, but them using battery hen eggs in the mayo!!!!!

I emailed them and got a crappy standard response. I think that's pretty bad.

geordie_joe

Plushchris wrote: »

Easy really, I dont need to tell you how because you have just done exactly the same to me.

So you believe two wrongs make a right? I criticised your critisism of someone you do know.

Plushchris wrote: »

Just a hunch, do you know her?

Not at all, but I believe people I don't know still have the freedom to chose.

Plushchris wrote: »

Again, do you know her? Are you not one of the SOME in her community?

Nope, I don't even live in the same county

Plushchris wrote: »

It could be, and you are trying to DEFEND eating the 2 for a fiver chickens????

I was defending a persons right to eat them. More importantly I was defending a persons right to eat them without being attacked by someone who doesn't agree with eating them.

For now these chickens, or they way they are produced is legal and I believe that you should not criticise anyone for buying them.

Plushchris wrote: »

It sounds like I hit a nerve there!

You were attacking someone for doing something you have decided is wrong, attacking that person did hit a nerve.

Then again, I was born in the 50's and brought up looking at photos of relatives and being told "they died in the war, fighting to make sure you and everyone else in this country is free".

Plushchris wrote: »

She has every right to spend her money how she sees fit,

I know she has, but what upset me was you describing it as

She could have at least tried for that week but no, she was too pig headed and stubborn and HAD to buy her two for a fiver, totally ignoring everything that Hugh F-W and the rest of her community was trying to do.

Plushchris wrote: »

I was pointing out that she shouldn't really be spouting off and claiming poverty

You never mentioned her "spouting off" You just mentioned that she bought 2 chickens for a fiver and bet she spent her money on sky, stella, fags etc. And that she did it because she was pig headed and stubborn. Your whole post was about the fact that she bought the chickens and why you thought she did it, there was no mention of anything she said.

Plushchris wrote: »

when she is spending money in the wrong place. I wouldnt put SkyTV fags and Stella above my kids health but each to their own I guess.

You and I are not in a position to judge whether she is spending money in the wrong place or not.

Nor do we know if she spends her money on stella and sky. We also do not know if eating cheap chickens will affect her childrens health. I suspect walking along a street and breathing in car fumes will cause more damage than eating a chicken.

Plushchris wrote: »

So the chickens in Tescos that are sold 2 for a fiver are actually sold by weight?

Yes, it's the law. If you look at a chicken, even the free range ones you will see a price per kilogram and the price the actual chicken costs. The price of the chicken is a multiple of the cost per kilogram.

Example: If a chicken costs £2 per kilogram and it weighs 1.5 kilograms then it costs £2 X 1.5.

However, there is nothing to stop any shop giving a discount. So, in the example above, a 1.5Kg chicken would cost £3 but a shop can say "if you buy two you can have then at £2.50 each".

Plushchris wrote: »

Do they all weigh EXACTLY the same then?

No, but the cost of each individual chicken will be a multiple of the cost per kilogram.

e.g. if it is £2 per kilogram and a chicken weighs 1.8 kilogram then the cost of that individual chicken will be £2 x 1.8'. A chicken weighing 1.9Kg will cost 1.9 x £2, but a shop can offer to sell them to you for a fiver if you buy both.

Plushchris wrote: »

Free rangers are sold by weight,

All chickens are sold by weight, but any shop can offer a discount if you buy more than one.

Plushchris wrote: »

and a free ranger costing £7 or £8 will be bigger than one of the 2 for a fiver.

Yes but it won't be bigger than both of them put together! The person that buys 2 for a fiver knows they are getting a lot more meat for their money. Whether the quality of that meat meets my or your standards has nothing to do with it. It is of an acceptable standard to be sold to the public therefore it is down to individual choice on buying it.

Plushchris wrote: »

I'm fully aware you can do that with a "normal" chicken (if normal is what you choose to call them) but quite why you would want to is beyond me, but maybe you like eating stuff thats been living in its own !!!!!! for 40 days, again, thats up to you.

Why someone wanting to buy a battery chicken, or be in the position of having no choice, may be beyond you, but that does not make it an acceptable excuse for attacking that person.

Plushchris wrote: »

If you REALLY wish you were a vegan, why arent you?

Because I only wished I was one so I could attack you for eating chickens and know I had the moral high ground by not eating any animal products myself.

I guess I just wanted to show you what it was like to have some sanctimonious git attack you for doing something they didn't want you to do.

For the record I will state my position. I am a single person living in a small town in Dorset. I don't buy whole chickens as they are just too much for one person. I do sometimes but chicken breasts and have never bothered whether they are free range or not.

The nearest Cities are Poole 15 miles to the south and Salisbury 25 miles to the north. I do not drive and have to do all my shopping in town.
There is one butcher and in ten years of living here I have never seen them sell a chicken that wasn't frozen. To the best of my knowledge the only place to buy a free range chicken is the out of town Tesco.
To get to Tesco I would have to walk 5 minutes, wave to the girls as I passed Somerfield then continue another 15 minutes to Tesco. Because of this I have never shopped at Tesco, why walk past Somerfield to get to Tesco.

Also last year I had a heart attack and I doubt I could walk to Tesco now if I wanted to.

This means, for me, if I wanted to buy a free range chicken I would have to order one on the net and pay £10.99 plus postage. Not an option in my opinion.

One day my local Somerfield may stock free range chickens, and if/when they do I will look at the chicken and the price and make a personal decision whether to but one or not.

EDIT: Second last word of my first line should be don't and not do. Reason, I'm a rubbish typist

geordie_joe

competitionscafe wrote: »

He sells organic chickens in his shop but as far as I know he doesn't supply any other shops with them.

You and I will be the first to admit we don't know every thing.

But consider this.

The HFW program was not live, it was recorded earlier. This means the chicks we saw in the program could now be fully grown and ready to eat.

The program causes a huge demand for free range chickens, particularly in Axminster.

Suppliers of these chickens only "grow" what they know they can sell. It takes 3 weeks plus 45 days for a chicken to be ready to sell, so the suppliers would have had to hatch extra chickens 66 days ago to be able to meet the extra demand today. I doubt they did this, so they can't supply the extra chickens.

Luckily, HFW who created the extra demand in the first place, and is in the business of selling chickens, has a few thousand free range chickens going spare.

Think about it, once his chickens have reached 45 days old is he going to keep them as pets or is he going to sell them.

So, he has thousands of chickens ready to eat at the exact time the demand for free range chickens in Axminster goes through the roof. And he is the only person in a position to supply the extra demand.

I wonder if he set out to make the chickens lives better, or create a demand for chickens at a time when only he could supply the extra demand. It would be a good way of kick starting the "River Cottage Free Range Chickens" brand.

Looking at it with my Green and Ethical hat on, it looks like a great campaign to make chickens lives better.

With my business hat on it looks like the greatest sales campaign since that bloke invented the electric light bulb and set out to convince everyone that gas was dangerous.

Edit: when I said "hatch extra chickens 66 days ago" I meant begin to incubate the eggs 66 days ago. i.e. 3 weeks for the eggs to hatch plus 45 days for the chicks to grow.