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Hugh's Chicken Run (Merged Discussion)
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I wouldn't have thought she'd need 2 for £5 chickens now - can't imagine that her children would eat it given their reaction to what they saw.0
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jessbrown100 wrote: »Slight deviation form the thread but we're taking delivery of 4 'rescued' ex-battary chooks in 12 weeks time and are VERY excited about it! can't wait to see them stretching their toes in our back garden! if there are any chicken owners on the O/s board any advice would be more than welcome!
There is a post dedicated to keeping chickens on this site. It's on the Greenfingered Moneysaving thread. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=423623
I got 4 point of lay pullets in June this year, and it has been fantastic. I have lost one, not sure what happened, but was left with nothing but a pile of feathers, but apart from that, the experience has been great. The free range eggs produced are in a different class. As well as referring to this thread, I got myself a couple of books on starting out with chickens which was helpful.
Had thought of rescuing ex battery hens, but couldn't find anything out about it in my area.
My OH was a bit sceptical before I got them, but now loves the sound of the hens pecking at the back door.
If you do any gardening, then the poo is great for adding to the compost heap also.
Good luck with them.0 -
Hi All,
I watched last nights show again last night and im totally addicted to it, its really good.
Bf sat adn watched the second half with me and even he as a keen meat eater said that it was shockign how the birds were treated, he was kind of dumbfounded by the way the chickns were killed too by the group. and he ahs always said he will never eat anythign bar free range eggs so when i questioned him ont he 'can i get free range chickens now then?' he said an immediate 'YES!'. I mean we have a small food budget - £110 a month maximum!!! (£150 at christmas after saving up for the treats etc) but im damn sure that i can find a few extra quid or not buy something to being able to afford a free range chuck.
That hayley woman was doign my head in too - thinking shes a bloody know it all then totally going against the whole point of the bloody show cos she cant afford it because shes a single mum of 2. what with her rent and council tax paid no doubt and i bet she has more of an income than me and bf with our jobs and benefits put together!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Im hopign that when gordon adn Jamie do there shows it will show how the other animals are raised/treated etc to drill home to people about free range farming and the welfare of these animals.
Forgot to also mention has anyone left feedback on hughs site [EMAIL="food@rivercottage.net"]food@rivercottage.net[/EMAIL] - hes asked for comments on what they are doign right and wrong so ive jsut sent an email of thanks for being insightful abotu the state of the chicken famring in britain and vowign to join his free range scheme!!!Time to find me again0 -
Thanks for the bit about your childhood Margaret....how lovely that you have such wonderful memories.
It reminds me of something an older lady at work said to me when i was pregnant with ds and stressing about not being able to buy everything touted as "necessary" by my baby magazine.
"your child just needs to be warm,clothed,fed and loved....anything else is a bonus"
Made me realise my baby didnt need baby wipe warmers and the like :rotfl:
slightly off subject I know......re HFW programme last night....i have only ever looked at the free range birds in the butchers where i buy my meat and they are pricey....am going to look at supermarket websites and price them up on there0 -
Free range isn't always more expensive. I've just been to Waitrose and their free range skin-on chicken breasts are £11.99 a kilo, the same as their standard skinless chicken breasts. Now, I know Waitrose isn't as cheap as Tesco Value but it is worth comparing the unit price (per kilo).
Waitrose' standard British chicken has info on the packet about how the chicken is produced. I can't remember exactly what it said but it was along the lines of 'reared in buildings with natural light, room to move around and flap, places to perch'. I'm just wondering if there is in fact a reasonable compromise here. I personally don't have a problem with barn-raised birds if they are allowed to flap about and perch and can move around easily. I've seen systems like this on telly and they look fine -a far cry from the kinds of conditions some birds are kept in -I've seen those too. Maybe this is why Waitrose don't have a value line.0 -
Info on Waitrose chicken here. It's the British Select Farm chicken that is their standard range.0
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Thanks Margaretclair - a lovely post. My mum had a 2 mile walk to school when she was evacuated, down the hill and up again. The shop was half way at the bottom. Occasionally they had oranges. On these days she would run all the way home up the hill, collect a penny, run all the way back down, buy the orange (if lucky) and return with it. It would be shared for tea! No wonder your generation is fit!
I grow whatever veg I can and then I can justify the higher cost of free range chicken/meat form butcher. I haven't used major supermarkets for over a year and it has definately worked out cheaper in the long run (not tempted to buy extra and I rarely throw anything away)
Re the programmes - I wonder if the supermarkets will have chicken on fantastic special offer this weekend to encourage folk to buy cheap chicken and hope that they will forget by next week?Doing voluntary work overseas for as long as it takes .......
My DD might make the odd post for me0 -
Thriftlady - on last night's eposide it did say that Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Co-op were going to change the labelling on their chickens to be more informative to customers about how they were raised.
The thread over on the DFW board about this is really interesting reading, there's a real mixed opinion about this from some of those who are really penny pinching.0 -
Oh yes, one of the good things that I'm really pleased about nowadays is that we can get lots of citrus fruit, and DH and I do eat quite a bit. Because he's an insulin-dependent diabetic we never have puddings, cakes, things like that. We have fresh fruit instead. Fruit in my childhood was limited to what could be grown locally - apples stored over the winter, the hedgerow harvest of blackberries and even elderberries were made into a lovely syrup similar to Ribena. I still remember elderberry syrup which made a hot drink for when I had a cold.
Thanks for the kind words - sometimes I feel like a total dinosaur with comments like 'you don't know what it's like now - you have to have....' We've all become sucked into the 'because you're worth it' lifestyle.
Margaret[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Æ[/FONT]r ic wisdom funde, [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]æ[/FONT]r wear[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]ð[/FONT] ic eald.
Before I found wisdom, I became old.0 -
i've watched 2 out of the three shows so far. there are a couple of points i'd like to raise that haven't been addressed so far on this thread;
1. both chickens from the intensive and free range side where being culled if they were underweight or size and if they had leg problems. i had no idea that free range chickens reared this way were also culled if they were found to be 'econimically unviable'. i had visions of them being well looked after and allowed to grow at their own rate.
2. hayley did say she was a single mum, but didn't mention benefits and in the second episode she was wearing a paramedics uniform - so it would appear she does work.
3. the main problem seems to be that the supermarkets only pay the producer 3p per bird yet are selling them 2 for a fiver. obviously if the producers are being paid so little per bird then to be financially viable they have to 'cram' them in. even with the additional costs the supermarkets have there must be a large profit margin. this profit margin could be decreased slightly to increase the cost they paid per bird with set care guidelines.:love: married to the man of my dreams! 9-08-090
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