'Are cheap chicks chic?' Poll discussion & results

TNG

LouBlue wrote: »

Just because I eat a chicken doesn't mean I want to see it treated badly during its life. I only buy free range but not every week as it is more expensive, but hopefully if the demand increases, then the prices will drop.

That is how we got in to this situation in the first place. Demand grew, the farmers were put under pressure to produce more chickens and cheaper, so they stuck them in a shed to wallow in their own cack with no room.

Unfortunately, it will be extremely difficult to undo that and for people to accept that they would HAVE to buy free range chicken for double the price, so we're stuck with what we have

Thanks Mr T, Mr S, Mr A etc...

simondo

gritts wrote: »

The same situation exists if they lived in the wild. They would likely end up being 'executed' by a fox or disease. Whatever situation I think it is better to have a good life before the guaranteed eventual death that befalls us all.

There is a balance in the natural food chain. The sole purpose of all these chickens is to be executed. They were bred to die for business and economic purposes. No matter what argument you make, its fundamentally wrong.

Frugaldom

I haven't voted in this poll as there isn't an answer to suit. I have worked in the broiler/chicken industry, rearing up to 48,000 chickens at a time and at no point did I EVER see anything like the cruelty and neglect that can be seen on TV. I agree that there may be rogue breeders/rearers/dealers, but there are rogues wherever there is money involved. In defence of many farmers, TV programmes such as these have the funding to research and produce whatever they want the general public to see. Not all animals bred for killing are ill treated and I think it is extremely unfair to tar every meat-producer with the same brush. If someone has to stick to a very small budget then don't you think it's better that they pay a couple of pounds for a whole chicken than, say, pay the same amount for cheap meat pies or any other processed item compacted from mechanically extracted scraps?

ceridwen

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

I eat the cheapest of chicken whenever I can find it and will continue to do so untill I have more than five pounds per week to spend on food shopping to sustain myself.

As the old saying goes, beggars can't be choosers.

Except you can choose - you can choose not to eat chickens at all - at least until you can afford decently-treated chickens (and live with your conscience too) - particularly as you wont have to deny yourself chicken for long - as your estimated debt-free date is this year.

JCD_Capulet

ceridwen wrote: »

Except you can choose - you can choose not to eat chickens at all - at least until you can afford decently-treated chickens (and live with your conscience too) - particularly as you wont have to deny yourself chicken for long - as your estimated debt-free date is this year.

If I don't eat chicken I'll have no meat in my diet at all. Not all cheap chicken is treated in the way depicted on the tv program, it was showing worst case senario type farms.
Financially I can't afford 'premium' chicken (DFD estimated around december 08 btw) so I can take the cheaper option without any marks on my conscience.

Nigel1

Nail_Lad wrote: »

As was said in the program, if we rule out the production of cheap chickens in this country and the demand still exists then supermarkets will simply import the chickens from cheap chicken producing nations which may (I stress may) have less regulation or less adherence to regulation. A fine line here, that will only be changed by consumers buying habits. Proof enough, that cheap isn't always ethical as is mentioned often throughout this forum.

I read somewhere that most duck eaten in this country comes bizarrely from Thailand. If it's true, then I guess we can expect to see the big supermarkets shopping abroad for unregulated cheap chickens, adding more to carbon footprints. There seems little point tightening up on regulations here unless it's accompanied by restrictions on the import of foreign birds (and I suppose eggs?), which raises all sorts of other issues. How can you do that sucessfully?

Doozergirl

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

If I don't eat chicken I'll have no meat in my diet at all. Not all cheap chicken is treated in the way depicted on the tv program, it was showing worst case senario type farms.
Financially I can't afford 'premium' chicken (DFD estimated around december 08 btw) so I can take the cheaper option without any marks on my conscience.

Did you watch the programs? HFW's chicken's weren't being mistreated, they had food water and everything according to industry standard. Without a doubt he didn't want to see the chickens mistreated any more than they needed to be, to show us just how cramped the conditions are and how inept the chickens of these engineered, fast growing breeds are.

Just because you can't afford something expensive does that really mean you are entitled to have a clear conscience?

Jamie Oliver made a good point about legs tasting better anyway and free range legs costing the same as standard breast meat.

JCD_Capulet

Doozergirl wrote: »

Did you watch the programs? HFW's chicken's weren't being mistreated, they had food water and everything according to industry standard. Without a doubt he didn't want to see the chickens mistreated any more than they needed to be, to show us just how cramped the conditions are and how inept the chickens of these engineered, fast growing breeds are.


Jamie Oliver made a good point about legs tasting better anyway and free range legs costing the same as standard breast meat.

funnily enough no, I didn't watch the programs. I don't have a tv or tv liscence y'see. I was going on what I'd read from folks who had.

Doozergirl wrote: »

Just because you can't afford something expensive does that really mean you are entitled to have a clear conscience?

LOL! Are you trying to say that I shouldn't have a clear conscience, that I should feel bad for consuming cheap chicken? I really hope not because I find it hillarious. At the end of the day I'm living on the bread line and I'll eat what I have to to keep myself fed. My life is far more important to me than that of a chicken.

Doozergirl wrote: »

Jamie Oliver made a good point about legs tasting better anyway and free range legs costing the same as standard breast meat.

Standard breast meat which I still cannot afford. If I want to buy breast meat I need to figure out what to save from my food budget over three weeks, just the same as I would if I wanted to buy a whole chicken. I currently buy smartprice/value portions, and even then, it's budgeted for.

123xyz

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

If I don't eat chicken I'll have no meat in my diet at all. Not all cheap chicken is treated in the way depicted on the tv program, it was showing worst case senario type farms.
Financially I can't afford 'premium' chicken (DFD estimated around december 08 btw) so I can take the cheaper option without any marks on my conscience.

Anyone worried about eating chicken that has been farmed in this way should switch to game birds. As free range as you could possibly get, quickly and cleanly killed, and no more expensive than premium organic chicken.

teddyco

What a weird program about chickens! As though the country doesn't have better things to worry about.....like our economy that is on the verge of recession. This is just another by-product of the Labour Government: Folks fighting each other about fox hunting, chickens in too tight cages, arguments about parents who smack their children.

What worries me: Today I filled up with petrol at the local BP and the price was 1.05 per litre. Holy Mackerel! What's wrong with this
government?

Food is too expensive, petrol is too expensive, and now electric and gas is going up AGAIN!

I don't have time to worry about chickens!