Where do you get your eggs?

Now there's a question...

 

This has nothing to do with transgender but has everything to do with doing the right thing in life and being accountable for your actions.

So please read on.

 

I was busy shopping the other day, stopped at the isle with the eggs neatly stacked on the shelves, and thought about the choice on offer and importantly the price of eggs. Why are some so expensive compared to others on the shelves, a chicken egg is just a egg after all isn't it.

So I purchased our normal box of eggs and carried on shopping which is what 99% of us do every time we go shopping I guess. Only this time when I got home I started investigating the price difference and to my shock and horror discovered the multiple ways egg laying chickens are kept so let me explain further just in case like my you didn't fully understand the farming process for eggs.

Most commercial hens for laying can start to lay at 18 to 21 weeks old the commercial producers will keep the birds generally for no longer, than a little over 51 weeks, they then go for slaughter. A very short life for them, if they lived this life as perhaps we thought they did it would be a shame at least however, the majority of egg buying people don’t have any idea of the type of conditions the chickens live in.

The photo below is how caged bird spend the short life, not as you might of expected is it?

 

This is how caged battery hens have to live in some countries still…

In 1999 the EU agreed a Directive on Laying Hens (1999/74/EC) that resulted in the banning of the most inhumane of these systems, the barren battery cage. Producers were given a 12-year phase-out period, bringing the ban into effect on 1 January 2012.

In 2015, Compassion in farming’s Investigation Unit visited farms in four European countries to see what the impact of the barren battery cage ban meant for Europe’s hens, almost 60% of which continue to live in so-called ‘enriched’ cages. What they found were hidden factory farms where productivity rules the roost.  https://youtu.be/q_1omgiUWko

‘Enriched’ cages, whilst an improvement on the old barren cages, still do not permit Europe’s hens to carry out their natural behaviours’.

After all, a cage is still a cage.

 

 

 

The birds in the photographs above have no real space and nowhere to hide they are at times being pecked to near death by other chickens its hot and smelly and very noisy in these buildings.
The current law allows them to have a minimum of 9”x7” approx. for each chicken, it’s the size of an iPad not much is it, and as the farmer need to make a profit to keep in business I'm sure the bird's will get just enough to be within the legal requirements and no more.

I found out many chicken barn houses in the UK are a single level part-litter, part-slatted floor. In this system, the EU Welfare of Laying Hens Directive allows a maximum stocking density of 9 hens per square meter. (that's 9 fully grown chickens in one meter x one meter) The UK's Lion Quality Code of Practice stipulates that there is a maximum colony size of 6,000 birds that's not much space for the birds to live in 24/7. The heat inside and the smell of places like this takes your breath away when you enter the building, these poor birds are forced to live out their short life in such conditions is so wrong.

The hen house conditions for organic hens in the UK are set by the EU Organic Regulations and stipulate a maximum stocking density of 6 hens per square meter of useable area and a maximum flock size of 3,000 birds which is much better for the birds.  Hens must be provided with nest boxes.  Adequate perches, providing 18 centimeters of perch per hen, must also be provided.  Litter must be provided, accounting for one-third of the ground surface - this is used for scratching and dust bathing. So organically kept hens have a better but perhaps still not ideal living area, than the poor birds kept in the other "approved" methods of production farming eggs.

Additional requirements of the UK Lion code for Organic Egg production

The higher standards governing flocks producing British Lion organic eggs include the provision of outdoor shading, additional height and width of pop holes, open for 8 hours daily to allow access to the outside; and a maximum range area stocking density of up to 2,000 birds per hectare. 

If you need to buy eggs these are perhaps the best available form supermarkets and shops, buying organic really does make a difference to the hens operating under this system as public demand will change the way egg farms operate so please avoid the cheap eggs they are cheap for a reason and when you look into it the reason is not at all nice.

 

Upon finding all of this, I decided to rescue a few birds and have them in the garden at home, several hen charities in the UK arranges to collect the birds from the egg farms, before they are sent to slaughter.

The general public who express an interest in saving some, can collect the hens on a given day from a charity point most areas in the UK.  Sadly most of the rescue hens look almost “oven ready” when you pick them up which is very sad, but with some love and care the birds generally recover and soon begin to grow new feathers and look like a chicken should.

The egg producing farms tend to withdraw feed before they are disposed of, so rehydration and famine relief is required most of the times when you collect your ex-batt hens. Mine started to lay eggs after settling in, which was about 4 days. However, it's close to autumn time and chickens tend to go into an egg laying rest period during the winter months, unless stimulated by artificial heat and light. Ex Battery hens need this rest period and will continue to lay good quality eggs for many years but not as prolific as they once did in their prime.

I have a simple wooden coop and a wire enclosure for them to walkabout in, scratch for food as well as looking for the additional treats I leave them, (meal worms, corn and maze) as well as a large open area for them that is now protected by specialist electric chicken netting to keep foxes and the alike away from the hens. The ex-battery hens will lay for perhaps a further 4+ years and will enjoy retirement in the garden and bring the family great joy.

If you have any garden space that you think is suitable please investigate to see if you can rehome a couple of birds. Your partner and friends as well as children and grandkids all love to see the birds and really enjoy collecting the eggs when they are in lay.

The chickens will eat layers pellets or mash as well as garden worms, slug and snails also most garden weeds you have and they love to trim the lawn, aerating the grass as they scratch for the food. (The manure they produce is good fertilizer for the veg plot and borders as well!)

If you are a “prepper or survivalist” it’s good to keep chickens

If you care, where your food comes from, it’s good to keep chickens

If you want to live the “good life” it’s good to keep chickens

 

If you are happy with productive pet's it's good to keep chickens

I could list thousands of reasons to keep chickens and why it is important to me to keep chickens and rehome ex-battery hens but I will leave it to you to decide if you have had enough of the visible cruelty to animals in the food that you buy to do something about it.

(If you don't keep egg laying chickens at home and you buy eggs in the UK always avoid eggs laid in barren battery cages. To do this look for the British Lion mark on eggs and egg packs, which guarantees that the eggs are both legal and produced to slightly higher animal welfare and food safety standards.)

This is Ginger in the garden having a quick cuddle from my daughter.

Ginger is one of the ex-batt hen's we rescued in Aug 2016